Bina Addy | |
|---|---|
 Bina Addy, from a 1937 Australian magazine. | |
| Born | Calcutta |
| Died | 1962 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Other names | Bini Addy |
| Occupation | singer |
Bina Addy (born 13 Jan 1894, died 1962), also seen as Bini Addy, was an Indian singer of popular Bengali and western songs.
Bina Addy was from Calcutta, from a Bengali Christian family; two of her brothers became college professors. [1] Her voice first attracted notice in a church choir in Calcutta. She studied music in Europe after 1928, with Elena Gerhardt in Leipzig and Mario Cotogni in Rome. [2]
Addy was considered a mezzo-soprano or contralto singer. [3] [4] She was promoted as the first Indian woman to study Western music in Europe, [5] and the first to become a professional singer touring internationally. [6] [7] She performed on BBC radio broadcasts between 1929 and 1932. [8] [9] In 1931, the League of Nations Union in Croydon held a reception for Addy, where she performed. [10]
Addy sang in concerts, on radio, and at benefits for the YWCA and other organizations, in Australia and New Zealand in the 1930s. [2] [11] [12] She was involved in the centenary celebrations in South Australia in 1936. [13] Her programs were mainly Bengali songs, including works by Rabindranath Tagore, [14] but she sometimes included British folk songs, African-American spirituals, Italian arias, and German lieder. [15] She also gave short talks during her programs, about Gandhi, Tagore, and other Indian topics. She was often accompanied by women musicians. [6] "Her technique is assured and well-founded, and with this she associates an impressive sense of style," noted one Australian critic in 1937. [16]
"It is my sincere desire to create a better understanding between my country and other nations," she told an interviewer in 1937, "and if I could feel that I had in any way provided a link between the East and the West, I should be content." [2]
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