Sunday, September 22, 2013
SHUBHA MUDGAL (born
1959) is a well-known Indian singer of Hindustani classical
music, Khayal, Thumri, Dadra, and popular Indian Pop music.
She has been awarded the 1996 National Film Award for Best
Non-Feature Film Music Direction for 'Amrit Beej', the 1998 Gold
Plaque Award for Special Achievement in Music, at the 34th Chicago
International Film Festival, for her music in the film Dance of the
Wind(1997), and the Padma Shri in 2000. She is also close to
movements like ANHAD and SAHMAT.
Born in an academic family to Skand and Jaya Gupta in Allahabad, Uttar
Pradesh. Both her parents were Professors of English Literature at Allahabad
University, with deep interest in Classical Hindustani Music and
Kathak. Her paternal grandfather, Prof. P. C. Gupta was also a Professor at Allahabad
University.
She attended St. Mary's Convent Inter College. As a
young girl she started learning Kathak in Allahabad following
the foot steps of her sister. She once replied to a dance examiner's routine
query of "Aap kis gharaane ki naachti hain? (What style/form do you
dance?)" with the retort, "Hum apne gharaane ki naachti hain (I dance
my own style)". She later switched to Hindustani Classical Music as
her vocation of choice while maintaining the same individualistic attitude. Her
first traditional teacher (guru) was Pandit Ramashreya Jha inAllahabad.
Shubha moved to New Delhi, and enrolled at the Delhi
University. She continued her musical education under Pandit Vinaya Chandra
Mudgalya at the urging of her first guru. After graduating from the University,
her training continued under Pandit Vasant Thakar in Delhi, and more
informally with other established singers as Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki, Naina
Devi and Pt. Kumar Gandharva.
Shubha Mudgal started performing as a Hindustani classical singer
in the 1980s, and gained a certain reputation as a talented singer. In the
1990s, she started experimenting with other forms of music, including pop and
fusion varieties. She says, "I believe in music. Khayal and Thumri are my
favourites, but that does not mean that I should not experiment with other
forms. Why should I curtail my musical urges?" asks the singer and adds,
"I want to allow the artist in me to come through. If you are a musician,
how can you say, 'this one is from devotional poetry, so I am not going to sing
it. In addition to her recordings and concerts, she briefly runs a website
called raagsangeet.com aimed at lovers of Classical Indian Music.
Mudgal sang the title track of Star Plus's No.1 serial Diya
Aur Baati Hum along with Kailash Kher. It is a very
soulful, classical-based Rajasthani folk song.
After graduating from University, Shubha married Pt. Mudgalya's
son Mukul Mudgal who was a promising lawyer. Shubha Mudgal however got divorced
from him, and married Aneesh Pradhan. Her only son from her previous marriage,
Dhaval, is a member of a Delhi-based band and a promising poker player.
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