Laxmibai Jadhav | Pahadi | कुंजनमे खेलो बारो कन्हैया | kunjan meN khelo baaro kanhayyaa

Note: I’m operating on limited bandwidth for the next few days, and without access to a proper computer. So some recent uploads may look unfinished — missing lyrics, patchy metadata, the usual chaos. I’ll fix and fill things in once I’m back to civilisation (and a keyboard). Till then, thank you for your patience.


Bai Laxmi Bai - कुंजनमे खेलो बारो कन्हैया / मोरा बन्सीवाला कान्हा
Label: His Master's Voice – N. 4179
Manufactured By – The Gramophone Co., Ltd., Calcutta
Shellac, 10", 78 RPM
Released: 1932

A - Kunjanme Khekle Hori - Mishra Pahadi « कुंजनमे खेलो बारो कन्हैया - मिश्र पहाडी
B - Mora Bansiwala Kanha - Raag Pilu « मोरा बन्सीवाला कान्हा - राग पिलु

Side B of this was carried long back:    • Laxmibai Jadhav | Pilu | मोरा बन्सीवाला का...  

Laxmibai Jadhav, a disciple of Haider Khan, (brother of Atrauli-Jaipur founder Alladiya Khan), happened to be Kesarbai Kerkar and Mogubai Kurdikar's contemporary and Dhondutai Kulkarni's teacher.


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The Laxmibai Jadhav Playlist:    • Laxmibai Jadhav  

Laxmibai Jadhav's date of death is often wrongly given as March 5, 1979. As for her birth, the Who’s Who of Indian Musicians (New Delhi, 1984) records September 15, 1901. Some later listings record it as November 18, 1901.

All that can be said with certainty is that her period is (1901 or 1902 to March 5, 1965).

A disciple of Haider Khan (brother of Atrauli–Jaipur founder Alladiya Khan), Laxmibai was a contemporary of Kesarbai Kerkar and Mogubai Kurdikar, and the teacher of Dhondutai Kulkarni.

Born in Kolhapur to a modest Maratha family, she lost her parents early, but her relatives recognised her remarkable voice and arranged taaliim. Haider Khan trained her rigorously until the Jaipur idiom had entered her ang–pratyang.

By her early twenties she had become the court singer of Baroda, a position she held for over two decades. The Baroda court permitted her four months each year for travel, and her mehfils across Mysore, Indore, Kashmir, Nagpur, Kathiawad and Rajputana broadened her fame. She recorded extensively for Young India and HMV, with around fifty sides issued, and later became a regular voice on AIR Bombay.

As Dhondutai Kulkarni told Deepak Raja:

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In popular belief, my music is closest to Kesarbai’s. This may be true. But, not many people know how Bhurji Khan and Lakshmibai sang. So, the truth is more complicated. I cannot assess the impact of Natthan Khan’s initiation. It is Bhurji Khan who shaped the fundamentals of my music from the age of 13 to 23. He started with alankara-s (symmetric practice exercises) and shaped me into an “A” grade radio artist. Lakshmibai, Baba, and Kesarbai had just to build on the Bhurji Khan foundation.

All my Gurus sang and taught the same music, but each had an original way of interpreting it. To begin with, they came from different streams of the gharana. Natthan Khan and Lakshmibai belonged to the Hyder Khan stream, while Bhurji Khan and Kesarbai came from the Alladiya stream. More significant for me was the contrast between the voices and temperaments of Kesarbai and Lakshmibai. Kesarbai was like the Niagara Falls, while Lakshmibai was tranquility personified. I had to sort out and integrate a wide range of musical attitudes because, in the ultimate analysis, my music had to be mine.

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