Gauhar_Jan_first_dancin_girl

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	Page 1 of 2 'My name is Gauhar Jan' 'First dancing girl, Calcutta' by Suresh Chandvankar L-R:Young Gauhar Jan ca.1890; Gauhar with gramaphone ca. 1905 Gauhar ca. 1896 Gauhar Jan was an accomplished singer and dancer of Calcutta in 1890s. She was the first Indian artist to be recorded for the Gramaphone Company. The early records of Gauhar Jan are labelled ‘First dancing girl, Calcutta’. The word ‘first’ indicates her elevated position as the premier vocalist in Calcutta's musical world of 1890-1910. Gauhar Jan recorded prolifically, a total of over 600 songs over the period 1902 to 1920, which she sang in more than ten languages. She mastered the technique of presenting a musical item in just three minutes. Gauhar Jan used to travel all over India, as a guest of patrons in the various Princely states. Gauhar Jan lived a very affluent life. She was fond of horse-racing and would visit Bombay during the racing season - spending the day at the Mahalakshmi racecourse, and the evenings and nights at concerts. November 14,1902: A very rudimentary and makeshift recording studio had been set up in two large rooms of a hotel in Kolkata by the Gramophone Company. Frederick William Gaisberg and his assistants had arrived just three weeks before from England on their first Far East recording expedition for the Gramophone Company, which had been founded in England in 1898. They had appointed a local agent for selecting and training artists for recording on gramophone discs. However, the agent selected Anglo-Indian artists and completely ignored local talent. Gaisberg then sought the help of the local Police Superintendent, visited several theatres, attended mehfils at wealthy Zamindars’ palaces, and thus found at least one promising artist to begin with. The artist was a very famous dancing girl, and her voice was very sweet; although not for European ears. She agreed to a recording session for the handsome fee of 3,000 rupees. Such an artist was necessary in order to build a firm business foundation on the Indian scene, especially when several other German, French and American recording companies were also planning to capture the Asian market in general and the Indian market in particular. At around 9.00 a.m. a young lady entered the studio with all her paraphernalia, including accompanists and relatives. Loaded fully with very expensive ornaments and jewellery, this 30 year old, fair, medium-built lady went onto the stage and prepared for the recordings. Sarangi, harmonium, and tabla players began to tune their instruments. Gaisberg personally checked the equipment. A thick wax master record was placed on the turntable rotating at 78 rpm. A huge recording horn was fitted on the wall behind her and close to her face, and she was asked to sing loudly into the horn. At the narrow end of the long horn a diaphragm fitted with a needle was connected to the recording machinery, with a needle placed on rotating disc for cutting the grooves. Gaisberg requested her to sing for three minutes and announce her name at the end of the recording. At the end of the trial recording she announced - "My name is Gauhar Jan". This announcement was necessary since the wax masters were sent to Hanover in Germany for pressing the records and the technicians would make proper labels and confirm the name by listening to these announcements at the end of the three minutes performance. Although sound recording was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in 1877, it took 20 years for the technology to mature, and after 25 years, in 1902, the first ever recording of Indian Classical music was engraved in the grooves of a gramophone record. The song can be played even today in 2003 on a shellac record and Gauhar Jan will sing it faithfully for the music lovers and listeners as long as the technology to play back that singing exists. Who was this Gauhar Jan - the first dancing girl of Calcutta? Born to Anglo-Indian parents, her name was Miss Angelina Yeoward. Her father, William Robert Yeoward, was an Armenian Jew working as an engineer in a factory producing dry ice at Azamgarh near Benares. He married a Jewish lady, Miss Victoria Hemming, around 1870, who was born and brought up in India and had learnt Indian dance and music. Angelina was born in 1873 and was baptized in the Methodist church in Azamgarh. This marriage did not last long due to Victoria’s love for dance and music and her relationship with a Muslim friend named Khurshed. So after the divorce, she moved to Benares with Angelina and Khurshed, adopted Islam as her religion, and daughter and mother chose new names; Gauhar and Malka respectively. In those days, Benares was not only a sacred place, but also a seat of learning, a centre for all the performing arts, including dance, drama and music. Malka spent eight years learning the art to perfection and emerged a well-trained Baiji, a profession she had decided to take up. She became popular as Badi Malka Jan; badi (elder) because at that time three other Malka Jans were famous (viz. Malka Jan of Agra, Malka Jan of Mulk Pukhraj and Malka Jan of Chulbuli) and she was the eldest among them. next page Disclaimer
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