Gauhar Jaan’s thumri is food for the soul, many people believe. One of India’s earliest female voices, Gauhar inspired many Indian singers, especially women, to take up music. A historical figure who did not leave much of a visual memory, Gauhar, who had her face emblazoned on matchboxes and postcards can now be felt and experienced the way she once was: a fiery, indomitable spirit who took the Indian music industry by storm.
Indian artist and theatre director Lillete Dubey has brought the singer to life with her musical play, Gauhar’. First staged in 2015, the play has been running for over a decade and has had nearly 80 performances. Adapted by Mahesh Dattani from Vikram Sampath’s book, My Name is Gauhar Jaan, the play is an ode to her announcement at the end of of all Gauhar’s recordings.
Gauhar, Lillete says over the phone, was one of the earliest women artists to seize the opportunity that came her way with the advent of recording technology. “Her independent life style and feisty nature symbolise the indomitable spirit of the pioneering women musicians of her time. She changed the way Indian classical music was heard, recorded, and remembered.”
Angelina Yeoward became Gauhar Jaan after her mother converted to Islam and started singing after moving to Kolkata with her mother. Lillete says she wants to show Gauhar’s life to the world, because her story has the power to resonate with people.
“With my company, The Primetime Theatre Co, I want to provide a platform for Indian writing. I want to show rare Indian voices to the world. Not many people know about Gauhar. Coupling this with my love for music, I took Gauhar’s little-known, fascinating, historical legacy and captured it on stage. She was a path-breaker who broke a huge glass ceiling, and as a woman, this was inspiration enough to do it.”
With a wide repertoire, Gauhar recorded close to 600 songs in 20 languages. Lillete, through Gauhar, has introduced people to her unique music. “I chose not to use Gauhar’s original recordings in the play because I felt it would do an injustice to her voice. The primitive recordings are not in great shape, which is why we took her music, recomposed and rerecorded it. All the classical singing in the play is live and we have only recorded the soundtrack.”
With a wide repertoire, Gauhar recorded close to 600 songs in 20 languages.
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It was not easy for Gauhar to balance her personal life and her career as an artist. This situation has not changed even today, Lillete believes. “A woman artist has to juggle her family, her personal life, career, and one of them usually suffers. Men do not have to go through such things. Gauhar had an unhappy personal life. Many female artists go through what she went through. This point appealed to me.”
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Not many people remember Gauhar today. This is both a challenge and an advantage, Lillete says. “There is a challenge in portraying a historical figure on stage. Luckily, nobody has a memory of how she was. There is only the written word. So there is a creative liberty to build her character from scratch. Pia Benegal’s costumes, Salim Akhtar’s set and design, and Uma Dogra and Pooja Pant’s Kathak choreography lend an evocative period texture and old-world charm to the play.”
Mostly in English, with a little bit of Hindi, Gauhar is anchored by Girija Oak and Neena Kulkarni, with the production featuring Danny Sura, Rajeev Siddhartha, Varun Narayan, Gillian Pinto, and Aakanksha Kadre.
Gauhar will be staged at the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts on January 17, at 7 p.m. Tickets on bookmyshow.
