Rita Ganguly | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Occupation | Classical musician |
| Known for | Hindustani music |
| Spouse | Keshav Kothari |
| Children | a son and a daughter Meghna Kothari |
| Parent(s) | K. L. Ganguly Meena |
| Awards | Padma Shri Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Priyadarshi Award Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani award Critics Circle of India Award Broadcasters Association Lifetime Achievement Award |
Rita Ganguly is an exponent in the Indian classical arts. An accomplished dancer, musician and vocalist, she was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2000 [1] and with the Padma Shri in 2003. [2] She is the mother of actress Meghna Kothari and the younger sister of the famous Ravindra Sangeet singer Gita Ghatak.
Rita Ganguly was born in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, into a Bengali Brahmin family, and is the daughter of K. L. Ganguly, and Meena Ganguly. K. L. Ganguly was a freedom fighter and member of the Congress party. In 1938, he was selected by Jawaharlal Nehru to become the first editor of the National Herald, a newspaper founded by Nehru. [3] [4]
Rita therefore grew up in Lucknow, where the newspaper was based. She started learning Rabindrasangeet at the age of 12 under Gopeshwar Banerjee. [3] She later joined Visva-Bharati University, along with her elder sister, Gita Ghatak with an emphasis on the arts whilst studying the Indian classical dance forms of Kathakali and Manipuri. [4] She did further studies in Kathakali under renowned gurus, Kunchu Kurup and Chandu Pannikar [5] and trained in modern dance at Martha Graham School, New York. [3] [4] She performed at various stages including the Bolshoi Theatre, Russia and joined the National School of Drama (NSD) as a faculty member of dance where she is known to have introduced a new course of Movement and Mime. [3] [4] [6] She taught at NSD for thirty years [6] and during her tenure there, she is known to have contributed in productions and costume designing. [3] She is also credited with efforts in the recreation of the classical theatre and in the construction of Vikrishta Madhyam Auditorium. [3] Under the aegis of NSD, she visited many countries such as Australia, England, Sri Lanka and Israel where she presented performances and held workshops on Indian Classical Theatre. [3]
In the fifties, a chance opportunity to sing during a performance in Delhi changed her career and she started concentrating more on singing. [4] Encouraged by Shambhu Maharaj, renowned Kathak guru, she performed at many places in India along with Siddheshwari Devi, a known classical singer. [3] [4] It was during one of these performances, Begum Akhtar, renowned Hindustani singer, met Ganguly and took her as her disciple. [3] [4] The bond between the singers lasted till Akhtar's death in 1974. [3]
Ganguly is a Ford Foundation Fellow and has a doctoral degree for her thesis on the female singers of Indian subcontinent. [3] She produced a multimedia production, Ruh-e-ishq, incorporating the seven stages of Sufism, in 1997, to celebrate the fifty years of Indian Independence. [3] She is known to have a liking for nazms, a genre of Urdu poetry and has composed music for the poems of such Bengali poets as Jibanananda, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Subhash Mukherjee, Shankho Ghosh, Sunil Gangopadhyay and Joy Goswami. [3] She was involved with the Soumitra Chatterjee production, Homapakhi for which she composed the theme song. [3] She has also acted in Darmiyaan, a feature film by Kalpana Lajmi. [4]
Ganguly has performed at the Festival of India events held in UK and France. She is the author of a number of books related to art and music such as Bismillah Khan and Benaras, the Seat of Shehnai [7] and Ae Mohabbat... Reminiscing Begum Akhtar. [3] [8] She is the founder of Kaladharmi, [9] a non-profit organization to promote young talents in arts and the Begum Akhtar Academy of Ghazal, [10] an academy for nurturing Ghazal tradition [3] which has instituted annual awards to recognize excellence in Ghazal music. [11] Her play on Begum Akhtar, Jamal-e-Begum Akhtar, [12] has been staged on many occasions [6] and she is planning a film on the life of Begum Akhtar [4] in association with the known ghazal singer, Anup Jalota, involving filmmaker, Ketan Mehta and music director, A. R. Rahman. [11]
Rita Ganguly received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for music in 2000. [1] The Government of India honoured her with the civilian award of Padma Shri in 2003. She is also a recipient of Priyadarshi Award, Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani award, Critics Circle of India award and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Broadcasters Association of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. [3]
Rita Ganguly is the founder of Kaladharmi, [9] a non-profit organization for the promotion of performing arts and Begum Akhtar Academy of Ghazals (BAAG), [10] a ghazal academy. [3]
Rita Ganguly was married to Keshav Kothari, a former secretary of Sangeet Natak Akademi and the couple has two children, son Arijeet a poet [13] and a daughter, Meghna Kothari who is an actress in Hindi films. [4]
She appeared in the film Parineeta (2005 film) and is credited for the song Dhinak-Dhinak-Dha [14] composed by Shantanu Moitra penned by Swanand Kirkire.
She has also sung for the film Sarkar (2005) the song Deen Bandhu . [15]
Shobha Gurtu (1925–2004) was an Indian singer in the light Hindustani classical style. Though she had equal command over pure classical style, it was with light classical music that she received her fame, and in time came to be known as the Thumri Queen, and for the 'Abhinaya' sung in her full-throated voice.
Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, also known as Begum Akhtar, was an Indian singer and actress. Dubbed "Mallika-e-Ghazal", she is regarded as one of the greatest singers of ghazal, dadra, and thumri genres of Hindustani classical music.
Ustad Bismillah Khan, often referred to by the title Ustad, was an Indian musician credited with popularizing the shehnai, a reeded woodwind instrument. He played it with such expressive virtuosity that he became a leading Hindustani classical music artist. His name was indelibly linked with the woodwind instrument. While the shehnai had long held importance as a folk instrument played primarily schooled in traditional ceremonies, Khan is credited with elevating its status and bringing it to the concert stage.
Kumudini Lakhia is an Indian Kathak dancer and choreographer based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where she founded Kadamb School of Dance and Music, an institute of Indian dance and music in 1967.
Ahmed Hussain and Mohammed Hussain are ghazal singers from Jaipur. They are two brothers who sing classical ghazals. Born in Rajasthan as sons of the famous ghazal and thumri singer Ustad Afzal Hussain, the duo touches genres like Indian classical music and bhajan as well as ghazal. They started their singing career in 1958 as classical and thumri artists belonging to Jaipur Gharana. Their first album Guldasta was released in 1980 and was a critical and commercial success. Since then they have released around 50 studio albums. They attempted popularizing their music by turning to tempo music in Maan bhi ja.
Begum Parveen Sultana is an Indian Hindustani classical singer of the Patiala Gharana. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1976 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014 by the Government of India and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1998.
Raj Begum was a Kashmiri singer. She was also known as the Melody Queen of Kashmir. She was honoured with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2002. Begum was born in Srinagar in 1927 and died in 2016, aged 89.
Ustad Sabri Khan was an Indian sarangi player, who was descended on both sides of his family from a line of distinguished musicians.
Samta Prasad was an Indian classical musician and tabla player from the Benares gharana. He played tabla in many Hindi films including, Meri Surat Teri Ankhen (1963) and Sholay (1975), and film music composers Rahul Dev Burman and Bappi Lahiri were his disciples.
Rasoolan hussain was a leading Indian Hindustani classical music vocal musician. Belonging to the Benaras gharana, she specialized in the romantic Purab Ang of the Thumri musical genre and tappa.
Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan was an Indian sitar player. Khan received the national awards Padma Shri (1970) and Padma Bhushan (2006) and was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1987.
Ghulam Mustafa Khan was an Indian classical musician in the Hindustani classical music tradition, belonging to the Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana.
Rajendra Prasanna is an Indian classical flautist and shehnai player from Benares Gharana.
Pandit S. Ballesh Bhajantri is a popular Indian classical Hindustani shehnai player. He is a disciple of shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan, he is benares gharana shehnai player and a patiala gharana hindustani vocalist, ghazal singer, Indian playback singer and musician, Ballesh is credited with popularizing the shehnai, a reeded woodwind instrument. He is also a Prasar Bharati's All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan artist.
Shanta Rao was a notable dancer from India. She studied and performed Kathakali, Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi.
Sunayana Hazarilal Agarwal is an Indian classical dancer, known for her expertise in the classical dance form of Kathak and reportedly the only surviving practitioner of the Janakiprasad Gharana of Kathak, also known as Banares Gharana. The Government of India honored her in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Roshan Kumari Fakir Mohammad is an Indian classical dancer, actor and choreographer, considered by many as one of the foremost exponents of the Indian classical dance form of Kathak. She follows the Jaipur Gharana and is the founder of Nritya Kala Kendra, Mumbai, an academy promoting Kathak. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975, she received the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1984.
Shanti Hiranand was an Indian vocalist, classical musician and writer, known for her proficiency as a ghazal singer. She was the author of the book Begum Akhtar: The Story of My Ammi, a biographical work on Begum Akhtar, a renowned Ghazal singer.
Jatin Goswami is an Indian dancer and choreographer, known as one of the prominent exponents of the classical dance form of Sattriya. He is the founder director of Sattriya Akademi, Guwahati, a sitting member of its Advisory Committee, and a former member of the General Council of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. He is also the founder of Alok Shilpi Sangha, a dance academy and Pragjyoti Kala Parishad, a cultural organization, and is a recipient of the 2004 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to Sattriya dance.
Krishna Ram Chaudhary was an Indian musician. In 2017, he was awarded Padma Shri by the Indian Government for his contribution in music.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
