Kishori Amonkar

Kishori Amonkar


Kishori Amonkar (Marathi: किशोरी अमोणकर) (born 1932) is an Indian singer who performs in the classical genre khyal and the light classical genres thumri and bhajan. Amonkar trained under her mother, classical singer Mogubai Kurdikar of the Jaipur gharana (musical tradition of Jaipur), but experimented with a variety of vocal styles in her career. She is considered one of the preeminent representatives of Hindustani classical music.


Life and career

In the early 1940s, Amonkar began to receive vocal lessons in Hindustani classical music from her mother Mogubai Kurdikar and later received training from tutors of several gharanas. Amonkar became interested in film music and sang playback for the movie Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne, but returned to classical music because of bad experiences in the movie industry. Amonkar lost her voice for two years in the late 1950s for unknown reasons.

Amonkar's work in light music has informed her classical singing and she modified her Jaipur gharana performance style by applying features from other gharanas. She has created many compositions for a number of ragas. Amonkar's students include Manik Bhide, Meena Joshi, Suhasini Mulgaonkar, Mira Panshikar, and her granddaughter Tejashree Amonkar.

Kishori Amonkar had two sons with her husband Ravindra Amonkar. She is sometimes described as "temperamental". Amonkar lives in Mumbai.



Recognition

Amonkar received the national awards Padma Bhushan in 1987 and Padma Vibhushan in 2002. She was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1985 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for 2009.


Kishori Amonkar - Raag Alhaiya Bilawal