ANNAPURNA DEVI: The Iconic And Famously Reclusive SURBAHAR Player...

Annapurna Devi is a reclusive Surbahar (bass Sitar) maestro of Indian Classical Music. Annapurna Devi represents a family of the great tradition of Indian classical music. She was born Roshanara Khan in April 1927 (the exact date is unclear) in Maihar, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, to Allauddin Khan and Madina Begum. Her father was a court musician at the time, and she was given the name Annapurna Devi by the local maharajah. She showed musical aptitude as a child, and her father began training her, alongside her brother. Her father and guru Ustad Alauddin Khan, founder of the "Senia Maihar Gharana" or "Senia Maihar School" of Indian classical music, was considered a singular phenomenon in twentieth-century Indian classical music. Her uncles Fakir Aftabuddin Khan and Ustad Ayet Ali Khan were revered musicians at their native place Shibpur in Bangladesh. Her brother Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is considered by many as one of the greatest living Sarode maestros. her former husband Sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar is perhaps the most well-known Indian classical musician abroad. Annapurna Devi was born in 1926 at Maihar, a small princely state of British India, (now a part of Madhya Pradesh state of India), where her revered father Ustad Alauddin Khan was a royal court musician at that time. But her family has their ancestry in the village of Shibpur in then British India, present Bangladesh. Annapurna Devi grew up in Maihar as Roshanara Khan. She was one of the daughters (Jahanara, Sharija, Roshanara) of Ustad Alauddin Khan. Sharija died an early death suffering from diseases in her childhood. When Alauddin's other daughter, Jahanara, got married, and a jealous mother-in-law burnt her Tanpura, Alauddin Khan decided not to train his other daughters. One day, however, he came home to discover Annapurna teaching her brother Ali Akbar Khan, and her talent made the emotional father change his mind. Annapurna, since then, started learning classical vocal music, Sitar, and Surbahar from her father.

Annapurna Devi became a very accomplished Surbahar player of the Maihar Gharana (school) within a few years of starting to take music lessons from her father, and started guiding many of his father's disciples, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee and Ustad Bahadur Khan) in classical music as well as in the techniques and intricacies of Sitar playing. She lives to impart her father's teachings. She said, once, when asked the reason why she chose the life of a recluse: "My father, during my years of studentship, would repeatedly tell me that music should not be treated as a product for public display. It was a means of achieving one's fulfilment which should lead to one's development as a human being. Annapurna Devi died of age-related issues on 13 October 2018 in Mumbai.

I do not own the copyright to any of the records used in this video. These music records will be copyrighted by those who have actual rights over them. I express my thanks and gratitude to all the collectors of records and those who made them available to music lovers!

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Links of some great songs.
I. Rag Manj Khamaj:    • Smt  Annapurna Devi Surbahar- Raga Manj Kh...  
II. Rag Yaman Kalyan:    • Smt  Annapurna & Pt  Ravi Shankar, Surbaha...  
III. Rag Kausi Kanada:    • Smt  Annapurna Devi  Surbahar- Raga Kaushi...  
IV. Debut Surbahar Recital:    • Annapurna Devi - Debut Surbahar Recital