Akhtaribai Faizabadi, or Begum Akhtar as she was more popularly known, was born on 7th October, 1914 in the small town of Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh in northern India. She was born in a high class family that was not musically inclined. However, at her uncle's insistence, she was sent to train under Ustad Imdad Khan, the great sarangi exponent, and later under Ata Mohammed Khan. Later she travelled to Calcutta with her mother and started learning music from classical stalwarts like Mohammad Khan, Abdul Waheed Khan and finally she became the disciple of Ustad Jhande Khan Saheb.

Her first public peformance was at the tender age of fifteen. She took the music world by storm. The famous poetess Smt. Sarojini Naidu appreciated her singing during a concert which was organised in the aid of victims of Bihar earthquake. This encouraged her to continue singing ghazals with more enthusiasm. She also cut her first disc for the Megaphone Record Company at that time. A number of gramophone records were released carrying her ghazals, dadras, thumris, etc.

With the advent of talkie era in India, Begum Akhtar acted in a few Hindi movies in thirties. East India Film Company of Calcutta approached her to act in KING FOR A DAY (alias Ek Din Ka Badshah) and NAL DAMAYANTI in the year 1933. Like others of that era, she sang her songs herself in all her films. She continued acting in the following years. The movies she acted in are: Ameena (1934), Mumtaz Begum (1934), Jawaani Ka Nasha (1935), Naseeb Ka Chakkar (1935).

Subsequently Begum Akhtar moved back to Lucknow where she was approached by the famous producer-director Mehboob Khan, as a result of which she acted in ROTI which was released in 1942 and whose music was composed by maestro Anil Biswas. ROTI contained six of her ghazals but unfortunately due to some trouble between producer and director, Mehboob Khan subsequently deleted 3-4 ghazals from the film. All the ghazals are available on Megaphone gramophone records. Begum Akhtar, meanwhile, left Bombay and returned to Lucknow.

In 1945, Begum AKhtar was married to barrister Ishtiaq Ahmed Abbasi and became known as Begum Akhtar. However, after marriage, due to her husband's restrictions, she could not sing almost 5 years, and subsequently, she fell ill. Music was prescribed as the only remedy! In 1949, she returned to the recording studios. She sang three ghazals and a dadra at Lucknow Radio Station. She wept aferwards and returned to singing in concerts, a practice which lasted until her death.

Begum Akhtar's involvement with films was not yet over. Music Director Madan Mohan persuaded her to sing in two Hindi movies viz. DAANA PAANI (1953 - ai ishq mujhe aur to kuchh yaad nahii.n hai) and EHSAAN (1954 - hame.n dil me.n basaa bhi lo). Satyajit Ray's Bengali film 'JALSA GHAR' (1958) was her last role where she played the role of a classical singer.

She acted on stage as well. However, the theatre required for her to raise her voice so that she could be heard in "the pit class" at the back. Her voice was adversely affected by it. So, she had to give it up.

Begum Akhtar is almost synonymous with the concept of ghazal gaayaki. She immortalized her own definitive style of singing - a style that few have been able to match. She is rightly known as Mallika-e-Ghazal.

Her voice matured with time, adding richness and depth. She sang ghazals and other light classical pieces, singing them in her inimitable style. She has nearly four hundred songs to her credit. She was a regular performer on All India Radio. She usually composed her own ghazals and most of her compositions were raag based.

During her last concert which was held in Ahmedabad, she had raised the pitch of her voice as she felt that her singing that day had not been as good as she had wanted it to be. She had not been feeling well that day to begin with. The additional demand and stress she put herself under resulted in her falling ill and being rushed to the hospital. She passed away on 30th of October, 1974 leaving a big void in ghazal lovers' hearts.

She was posthumously awarded the Padmabhushan. Just eight days before her death, she recorded Kaifi Azmi's ghazal:

sunaa karo merii jaan un se un ke afsaane
sab ajanabii hai.n yahaa.N kaun kis ko pahachaane

Source: Various articles, CD inlays, books, etc.

Few Pictures

Great info on Begum saahiba, BJ. BTW, good to see HF back in action. Thank you, BJ, Pradeep, Nimii, Chitrz, and others involved in bringing the servers up and running.

Applause time over .. moving on to Begum Akhtar, seeing this post, I am reminded of my childhood. I remember, as a kid, thanks to my mom, I was forced to listen to her while our tape recorder-cum-player blared out ghazals after ghazals of her which I never understood any words of and never understood why anyone sane might want to listen to her.

Thankfully, my mother never listened to my incessant demands of playing only Mithun Starrer Disco Dancer so that I could dance on "Jimmi Jimmi Jimmi, Aaaja Aaaja aajaa..." and looking at my musical inclinations today, I can safely say listening to her, I must have subconsciously subsumed an understanding of the elements of good singing with an appreciation for finer taste in music.

As an adult, I love this particularly very famous ghazal by her which I am uploading.

If someone can upload, I'd love to listen to "Ulti ho gayee sub tadbeeren" which I would distort to "Ulti ho gayee sub tasveeren" as a kid.

Thatz a beautiful ghazal... Ulti Hogayi Sab Tadabeeren.. Kuch Na Dava Ne Kaam Kiya... would upload it laterz from home.

Here is a video of Begum Akhtar singing - Tabiyat In Dinon.

It is a treat for the eye and a feast for the years.

Hope you enjoy it.

Prabhakar

Here is a video of Begum Akhtar singing - Tabiyat In Dinon.

It is a treat for the eye and a feast for the years.

Hope you enjoy it.

Prabhakar

A video file with just 382kbytes... Well when downloaded , I could not extract it from .rar...

I bet it must be really a treat for an eye and feast for years....so just cant wait till you re-upload it once again so we can see/hear it

Thanks once again Prabhakar.

Arre kaha pe thay Anurag bhai... maine HF pe saab ladkiyo ko PM karke request ki aapko bata de ki HF is up.... socha that was the better way to reach HF ke Kishen Kanahiya.... ... ha ha JK...

Coming back to point.... I dont have the Ulti ho gayee sub tadbeeren , will check later on if there somewhere on some CD yet to be ripped....

My fav from begum akhtar ji... Deewana bana na hai tau deewana bana de... just because... even when i like all the singers... I think none could have sung better than her... waah kya gaaya hai... From an article on Pt Jasraj ji ---- "However, Jasraj’s passion for music began much earlier when he was only six years old. On day on his way to school, he was overwhelmed when he listened to a ghazal (Deewana banana hai to deewana bana de) rendered by Begum Akhtar. The rest, as they say, is history. He soon became the darling of the Mewati gharana.
"

I just love this number by her ... kya wordings haii...

Deewana banana hai to
deewana bana de
warna kahin takhdeer
tamasha na bana de
aai dekhne walo
mujhe has has ke na dekho
tumko bhi mohabbat kahin
mujhsa na bana de

Ok here is another article from web somewhere... dunno the URL right now .. but will paste it from my offliner archives


Begum Akhtar

About 25 years ago I had arranged a mehfil of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi at my residence. A few select friends were invited, amongst whom was the late Ramubhaya Date of Indore. The mehfil was fixed for 4.30 in the afternoon but Ramubhaya arrived a little before the lunch hour. There was nothing unusual in this. Ramubhaya had often arrived thus and joined us at the table. I always appreciate such a simple and informal attitude, and so I heartily welcomed Ramubhaya to lunch with us. We did full justice to the food. After lunch Ramubhaya helped himself to paan. Normally I do not eat paan or supari but on that day, after the excellent lunch, I accepted the patti prepared by him. He also gave one each to my wife and daughter and said, 'Look, an excellent meal like this must be followed by paan, and along with it you must try this "Akhtari". Phir maja dekho!'

He produced from a small bottle a number of pills covered with silver leaf and gave one to each of us. The pills, chewed with the paan, were wonderful in flavour and taste. I said. 'Ramubhaya, this little Akhtari of yours and our Faizabadi Akhtari seem to be equally delicious in sweetness and fragrance.' 'Aare yaar,' he retorted, 'It is your Faizabadi Akhtari after whom I have named these pills. I have listened to Begum Akhtar's singing countless times, and each time she so hypnotizes me that I take this pill with paan every ten or fifteen minutes just to keep the memory and aroma of her singing fresh in my mind.'

Since I heard Begum Akhtar sing 'Koyaliya mat karo pukar, lagi kalejava katar', that 'katar' has gone so deep that I will always remember her,' I said reminiscently. Only those who were fortunate enough to see and hear Begum Akhtar in person would understand the full meaning of these words. In 1914 at Faizabad, a village in U.P., a teenaged girl made her debut as a singer and took listeners by storm. Those who heard her acknowledged her to be a singer of great promise. And from that day on she came to be known as Akhtari Faizabadi.

In due course, age brought about changes in her voice and style. Maturity and experience lend grace to an artist's presentation and make it blossom forth in its full beauty. Begum Akhtar, no wonder, very soon reached the heights of fame and popularity. The one-time Akhtari Faizabadi now came to be known as Begum Akhtar. 'Real beauty can weather any storm', turned out to be very true in her case. During recitals whenever she reached a high note her voice would crack, but strangely enough this was considered by connoisseurs as the highlight of her recital. The audience would wait eagerly for that delicious crack in her voice.

There is virtually no difference between English lyrics, Marathi bhavgeets and Urdu ghazals. Eminent Urdu poets of yesteryear such as Mirza Ghalib, Daag, Jigar Muradabadi, Phani, Behejad Lucknowi Jaukh, Shakil Badayuni and Sahir Ludhianvi, and contemporary living poets like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, or Josh Malihabadi have written ghazals which are the hot favourites of discerning readers of Urdu poetry and knowledgeable listeners of ghazal singing. In order to become a successful bhavgeet or ghazal singer it is very necessary to select a lyric which is easy to understand, and has meaningful verses, with flashes of playful poetic imagination. Having come across such a piece of poetry the singer has to put it across musically in a suitable tune with a complete understanding of the poetry, in perfect diction and in an expressively emotional style. Begum Akhtar possessed all the qualities that are so vital for a good ghazal singer. The notes which she produced were so limpid, so hauntingly sweet, that the audience was immediately captivated. She had the uncanny knack of choosing the right kind of ghazal and adorning it in a befitting tune; she would render it so endearingly that her every note would grip the hearts of the audience.

At 15, she cut her first disc for the Megaphone Record Company - again one of the sister concerns of H.M.V. I did not have the good fortune to hear her when she was in her heyday. I first saw and met her in the year 1952. My friend Nawab Zahir Yar Jung of Hyderabad (a close relation of the late Nizam) was on a visit to Bombay and he was staying in Krishna Nivas on Marine Drive. The wealthy are famous for their vices or fads, but this artistocratic friend of mine had only one 'vice', and that was his passion for good music. Nawab Saheb was also exceptionally generous. He bestowed his wealth liberally on singers and musicians. During his two month stay jn Bombay it was my pleasant job to take a new outstanding talented artist to Nawab Saheb's residence every evening. It was part of his daily routine to enjoy the music of a newcomer for an hour or two, after which Begum Akhtar would invariably wind up the music session with a thumri, dadra or lilting ghazal. Nawab Saheb would then present each artist with Bidagi in the form of gold mohurs. Intoxicated by the sweet music the Nawab and I would then have a sumptuous Hyderabadi Nawabi style dinner at which Begum Akhtar would also join us.

The late Rai Bahadur Chunilal, one of the directors of Bombay Talkies, had a son who was passionately fond of music. One day our manager, Mr. H. C. Lal, came to me with the boy and told me to give him all possible musical guidance. I gave him a tanpura and told him to sing. He sang a ghazal and a thumri which had been broadcast by Begum Akhtar on the radio. These gave me ample indication of his musical talent. After that, for a few months, whenever we had the studio free he would come and would do his riyaz on the tanpura. Later the young boy enlisted in the army, but the rigours and discipline of military life clashed with his artistic nature, therefore he got out of the forces and accepted a job in All India Radio. While in Lucknow and Delhi he had opportunities to listen to various illustrious singers. It was in Lucknow that he met Begum Akhtar in person and developed a lasting friendship with her.

Whenever Begum Akhtar came to Bombay for programmes. she stayed at the Sea Green South Hotel on Marine Drive. It was my privilege and practice to be with her every evening during her stay. The music-mad son of Rai Bahadur Chunilal had by now turned his attention to films and had become a music director. During Begum Akhtar's stay in Bombay he also would come to the hotel to meet her. He chose many beautiful compositions sung by Begum Akhtar and gave them his own tunes in order to incorporate them in films. His artistic creativity found a new outlet in Begum Akhtar's ghazals and very soon he became a famous and popular music director. Dastan, Hakikat, Bahana, Mera Saya, Suhagan, Wo Kaun Thi, Bhai Bhai and Chirag were some of the films for which he wrote his superb music. This gifted person was none other than Madan Mohan, who passed away at an early age.

I got Begum Akhtar for recordings several times during her visits to Bombay . A very strange incident took place at one of the recording sessions. The Muslims are usually extremely fond of devotional songs - religious songs about Allah, Paigamber, Khwaja Saheb Ajmeri, Mecca, Medina or the Kaaba are always in great demand. Years ago a song, 'Deewana banana hai to deewana bana de', written by the well-known Urdu poet Behejad Lucknowi and recorded by Begum Akhtar, was a hit all over the country. She had not cut another religious record after that. Therefore, that evening, I pressed her to record a couple of naats (religious songs) and she agreed.

I always used to be under great tension during recording sessions, from the moment the artist entered the studio till the recording was successfully completed. It was always an ordeal for me, as I had to keep the artist in a pleasant mood and humour his or her whims. I had to be very observant of the likes and dislikes of these artists and arrange everything to their liking. Some loved perfumes, some liked fragrant flowers, some preferred to have maghai paans; some took delight in having knowledgeable listeners around, while others resented the presence of outsiders. One notable Gujarati singer had to be surrounded by a bevy of beautiful young girls while the recording was in progress. 'They produce electricity in me,' he said. He always brought a consignment of these 'batteries' with him. It was a very bothersome and taxing job to have to constantly cater to the demands of these artists and to keep them in a good mood. On this particular day Begum Akhtar was in excellent form. We had just completed the recording of two bewitching ghazals and were getting ready for the recording of naats, when my Punjabi boss walked in. 'Well, Begumsab, what is it you are recording now?' he asked casually. On being told that she was recording two naats, the officer said, with a knowledgeable air, 'Look here, Begumsab, we have recorded some really good naats sung by famous qawals like Ismail Azad Qawal and Usuf Azad Qawal of Bhendi Bazaar and these records sell like hot cakes. I suggest you also sing in the same style.' I was taken aback by his audacity. To suggest to an illustrious singer of national repute like Begum Akhtar that she should copy the manner and style of an ordinary qawal of Bhendi Bazaar was terribly insulting. Begum Akhtar was red and speechless with anger and indignation. She controlled herself, and pushing the harmornum away, lit a cigarette and began smoking furiously. I immediately saw that all hopes of further recording that evening had gone up in smoke. The officer went away after a while, not even aware of his blunder. Begum Akhtar was still red in the face and was puffing at her cigarette in an agitated manner. I said to her, 'Begumsab, we won't do any more recording today. I am as upset as you are. We will proceed with the recording tomorrow; please forget the incident and sing in your usual style.'

I do not know,' she said seething with anger and disgust, 'why Yeh Kudhon ke Badshah set foot inside the studio. How dare he make such silly and rude suggestions!' However, by the next morning she had regained her normal poise, and I met her at the hotel and brought her to complete the recording. Begum Akhtar recorded the naats in her usual captivating style.

My boss had absolutely no business to tender such uncalled-for advice to the great artist, but there was nothing I couId do about it. For a long time after, whenever Begum Akhtar came to our studios, she would ask me, 'Woh Kudhon ke Badshah kahan hai?' In 1970 I officially retired after 32 years of service, but the company prevailed upon me to go to Delhi on an important mission. In the archives department of the central office of All India Radio is a large collection of tapes and discs of eminent artists from all over India. I was deputed to select recordings of deceased artists to be used for commercial records.

During my absence a recording of Begum Akhtar was made in our studio. She usually had a tanpura, tabla, harmonium and sarangi to accompany her, but this time the recording was carried out with an orchestral accompaniment under the supervision of a music director from the films. When I heard the tape of the recording on my return to Bombay, my first reaction was decidedly unfavourable. I sincerely felt that Begum Akhtar had not sung with her usual abandon and free style. Her voice sounded restrained to me. After the astayee each antara was preceded by various instruments like the sitar or flute, in the style of a film song. Because of these musical interludes to which she was not at all used, her singing sounded rather artificial. The recording, therefore, was no more than ordinary. This was my reaction and I casually voiced it aloud. Someone who heard my remark repeated it to Begum Akhtar. We had been close friends for a long time and my unfavourable reaction to her recording made her miserable. So much so that she cancelled all her engagements for the day and sat in her room deep in gloom, lamenting her 'bad' performance. I came to know of this and, putting aside all work, I hurried to Sea Green South Hotel. She was lying in her room; she had not taken any food and her eyes were red and swollen with weeping. The moment she saw me she burst into tears. It was a tremendous shock to see her in this state. That a chance remark of mine should have caused her so much pain was unbearable to me. She had complete faith in my judgement and when she was told that I did not like her recording she had concluded that she had given a most wretched performance. I had thus unintentionally caused her a lot of anguish. The thought of this brought tears to my eyes also. Later, when we had both regained our composure, I explained that it was not her singing that had displeased me, but the fact that she had not been given a chance to sing in her normal unrestrained style and to display her talents. At last she was pacified; all doubts vanished from her mind and she was convinced that I had meant no offence to her. The atmosphere cleared as if by magic. Both of us then partook of food, but in spite of her regained tranquillity, she cancelled a musical sitting arranged for that night as she did not feel physically and mentally up to it. Such was the extreme sensitivity of her nature.

In the year 1971, on my return from a world tour, the company persuaded me to work for them again. I therefore had one more chance to record Begum Akhtar. This was the last recording made by her and on this occasion she excelled herself. After the recording she asked me mischievously, 'Do you think I sang well today?' In August 1974 I went to America. While there I got the sad news of her death in Ahmedabad. For days I was haunted by memories of the many recording sessions, the many mehfils we had enjoyed. Thoughts of our long association and friendship since 1951 brought tears to my eyes. I paid mute tribute to cherished memories of her which are all she left behind and offered my last salutation to her - 'Alwida...'



Posted on RMIC by Rajan Parrikar as part of Great Masters Series
From: G.N. Joshi's "Down Melody Lane" (1984)

BJ, It's a good thing that you have made me kaaliya-killer, not Caligula.

Vaise meree saaree gopiyan kanha hain aaj-kal? All I see around is some Baware Bails these days at HF. LOL...JK...

Here is Ulti Hogayi Sab Tadbeeren and Voh Jo Ham Mein Tum Mein

Thanks Bawraji, Pradeepji, Prabhakarji and Anuraag suhc great posts on Begum Akhtar. Indeed she was a great ghazal singer.

As a tribute to her I post her memorable ghazal-

Ai Mohabat tere anjam pe rona aya..

Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni


Enjoy,

Mohd.

mohd, here is another one penned by Shakil Badayuni and sung marvellously by begum. One of my favorites by her.

Mere Humnawas Mere Humnawaaz..

Yaar BJ, that was a very informative post from RMIC. Thanks.. I wonder what's up with RMIM and RJGK now? Been there lately?


Pradeep, thanks for the "ulti ho gayee sab tadabeeren"...

I have the video of Begum Akhtar singing Tabiyat In Dinon but can not shrink it down to the size for me to be able to upload it. The size of the original video is 21.1 MB and when I used winzip program, the zipped version is not substantially different in size.

I am not technology-literate so if someone can suggest how I can shrink down the file, I will try to do my best.

Prabhakar

Sorry about the typo in my previous post (ears/years)

Prabhakar

1) If you have winrar, you can split it in two parts with 10 MB each. Just click the wizard button and follow the prompts.

2) If you have winzip 9.0, this directly from winzip.com:

To split a Zip file, open the Zip file in WinZip. (If WinZip starts in Wizard mode, switch to the Classic interface by clicking the WinZip Classic button.) Then open the Actions menu and choose Split. Specify a filename and the size you want each part to be, then click OK.

Hi!
Can we have the songs of Begum Akhtar sung in films or atleast a list of songs she sang for films?
Thanks in advance.
Abbasi

Yaar last time I was there... few weeks back... same like here in conspiracy thread... people instesd sharing information... ek dusre ke garibaan pakde huye aur bina fizul ki tauhmaat lagate thay... also some narazgi against senior / old members of forming some lobby and etc...

Aab yahan se bhi kuch jyada fursaat nahi milti tau wahan pe jaana kuch kum hi ho gaya hai but ya I do visit on and off at some free time ... just to keep seeking some nice cool info

I dont have the list but my guess would sure like 6 - 8 movies and roughly around 25 to 30 songs.... 'rehne lagaa hai dil mein andhera tere bagair', 'phir fasale bahaar aayi' and 'chaar dinon ki jawaani' are I think from Roti which had 4 to 5 songs by her and the latest or say the last one mehfil song maybe a ghazal from movie Stayajit Ray's Jaalsaghar or something like that.

Would love if anyone has the complete ROTI album and would upload it here ... I've heard its a must to have for all COOL MUSIC LOVERS

Here is a great ghazal-by Begum Akhtar

Ab chalakte huwe sagar nahin dekhe jate..

Lyrics: Ali Ahmed Jaleeli


Enjoy,

Mohd.

BegumAkhtar-

Lyrics:Behzad-


...Diwana Banana Hai Tu...


Enjoy,


Mohd.

kya batt hai mohd bhai apne to aaj hamara din bana diya .Thanks

regards

sanjiv

Here are two more Ghazals:



6-Dayam pada hua tere dar par ---- Mirza Ghalib

7-Kuch to duniya ki inayat ne dil tod diya--------Sudarshan Fakir




Enjoy,

Mohd.

Mohd. bhai sudharshan fakir ka ye ghazaal be joad hai . aap nyae thread mein fakir ke likhe kuch aur ghazal upload karenge kya?

I have moved those 2 post on Sudarshan Fakir sahab here --> http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=4907

Another Ghazal-

BegumAkhtar

-Na Socha Na Samjha


Enjoy,

Mohd.