The mesmeric voice lives on...

Music was an inseparable part of Begum Akhtar's life and it remained so till the end. M. Q. KHAN remembers the Queen of ghazals who passed away on October 26, twenty six years ago.

THE POPULARITY of the ghazal owes a lot to ghazal queen Begum Akhtar. In the Iwan-e-Ghalib, under the banner of ``Bazm-e-Rooh-e-Ghazal'', in 1974 the 60th birthday of Begum Akhtar was being celebrated, where she sang a ghazal of Kaifi Azmi:

``Woh tegh milgayi jissay huatha qatl mera,

Kisi kay hath lekin nishan nahin milta''.

(The sword which had killed me was traced,

But there was no mark of any one's hand on it.)

She was not keeping well then. When she sang the lines her disciples and audience began sobbing. How prophetic these lines were and how apprehensive she had been about her death which laid its icy hands on her shoulder just 25 days later on October 30, 1974!

Begum Akhtar's name was Akhtari and she was born on October 7, 1914, in Faizabad (U.P.). After her marriage to Quazi Ishteyaque Ahmad Abbasi, bar-at-law in Lucknow, she was known as Begum Abbasi. In the realm of ghazals she is known as Begum Akhtar and she reigned supreme for about 35 years.

She had an inherent fondness for Urdu which grew stronger as time went by. After marriage, she discovered the literary environment. Poets from all parts of the country came to Lucknow and stayed at the residence of Quazi Ishtayaque Ahmad Abbasi and many Mushairas were held there.

After primary lessons in music, Ustad Atta Mohammad Khan of Patiala gave her lessons in Indian light classical music. After him, Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan of the Kirana school of music, the brother of Ustad Abdul Karim taught her music, especially khayal and dhrupad.

She was about nine or ten years old when some of the inhabitants of her own mohalla (area) developed a deep enmity with her mother. One night they set her house on fire. Scared of the constant danger, her mother took her to Gaya in Bihar. Later on they shifted to Calcutta. Some time later a music conference was organised to raise funds for the victims of the 1934 earthquake in Bihar. It was here, for the first time, that she sang before an audience and won the hearts of her listeners.

It was a turning point in her life. Renowned singers and musicians from all parts of India were invited to take part in this function. Begum Akhtar went there with her teacher Ustad Atta Mohammad Khan simply as part of the audience. There was no idea of including her in the programme. At the function time was running out but the artists who had to perform had not arrived. The audience grew restless. The organiser approached Atta Mohammad Khan who requested Begum Akhtar to sing and engage the public for a while.

Her first ghazal was well appreciated. It encouraged her and she continued singing for more than an hour. The audience forgot everything and sat spellbound. When she came off the stage, a khadi clad woman congratulated her saying, ``I'm very pleased with your singing. I listened to you today, you remember to listen to my lecture tomorrow.'' After this she disappeared. Begum Akhtar later came to know that the person was Sarojini Naidu.

Her fame spread and gramaphone companies began recording her. She had more than 400 songs recorded. She also worked in theatre and cinema. Entering the film world in 1937, she worked in a few films, notable among them being - ``Roti, Ek Din Ki Badshah'' and ``Mumtaz Begum''. She also sang for films such as ``Nal-o- Damyanti'', ``Nach-Rang'' and ``Ehsan''. In the Satyajit film, ``Jalsaghar'' she performed live and the film was widely acclaimed for its superb music.

Fortune always smiled on her. Whatever she aspired for, she got. She won innumerable awards and was honoured with Padmashri. Padma Bhushan was conferred on her posthumously. She is well known as the Queen of Thumri and the Queen of Ghazal. Her individuality lies in the fact that she was a great exponent of light classical music, and more so in the fact that it was she who raised its status to great heights.

She was an expert in the Punjab Ang and Purbi Ang; but she fused the two and produced a third which came to be called after her as Begum Akhtar Ang. This new ang gave the thumri a new tone, elasticity and a turning point which was totally the creation of Begum Akhtar.

While singing dadra she included suitable Urdu lines so deftly that people who did not like anything else other than classical songs also listened with rapt attention. She very often said that dadra properly handled could be very interesting and touching.

So far as ghazal singing is concerned she is peerless. She sang the ghazal in different ragas and made them so popular that musical meets are now seldom successful without ghazals.

In 1967 she had her first heart attack. In spite of having been advised complete rest she began giving recitals within a fortnight. She had a second attack again on July 25, 1974. She recovered but lost her stamina. And finally on October 26, 1974, after singing at a musical meet in Ahmedabad she had third attack. Four days later, the singing bird flew away.

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