Oct 24, 2015 Daily Life, Ramblings and Musings

I am sitting with a cup of coffee at my kitchen table on this chilly fall day, listening to the late great Hindustani vocalist, Padmabhushan Gangubai Hangal singing Raga Prabhat Bhairav.  Her voice is raw, uncompromising, full of pain and triumph, and not at all like the very high, pretty, curlicued vocalisms usually practised by classical female singers in India.

And I am in tears.

Here is a woman from the shudra caste who rose from outright poverty and deprivation to the heights of fame later on in her life, a woman who’s sung in front of Mahatma Gandhi, a woman who lost her beloved teacher (Sawai Gandharva), then lost her Brahmin husband whom she served devotedly and supported, who, despite his being a lawyer, lost any jobs he held, and was not financially capable.   Then, she lost her daughter, Hindustani vocalist Krishna Hangal, who succumbed to cancer to 2004.  In 2007, aged 97, Gangubai Hangal passed away after pledging that her eyes, still good, would be donated to the Eye Bank run Dr M.M. Joshi Eye Institute.  Her wishes were carried out by her remaining family.

I have to thank my husband, Warren Senders, for playing this recording, and of reminding me of her.  Here is his post on the life and times of Padmabhushan Shrimati Gangubai Hangal:  In Memoriam: Gangubai Hangal, 1913–2009

Warren is himself a great and impassioned vocalist, musician and teacher in the classical Indian vocal music called Khyal.  (He’s also a jazz bassist and composer of Indo-Jazz fusion, with the group called Antigravity, in which I played guitar — sadly, we don’t perform much anymore, being too caught up in the nowness of our current life, which is full of music at home, and homeschooling our daughter).  He is also a huge and highly informed Climate Change activist.  You can read more about him here, and about the blog he started to further Climate Change awareness (through the use of music from around the world), here.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Dreamer of Dreams

Tags: #Hindustani classical vocal music, #Warren Senders, Gangubai Hangal, Khyal