Not many of us know that India’s first disc had Gauhar Jaan singing a ‘khayal’ in ‘Raag Jogiya’ recorded on 2nd November 1902.
The recording was done in a makeshift recording studio in 2 large rooms of a Calcutta hotel. In the trial recording, she announced- ‘My name is Gauhar Jaan’ and then started to record. Later, she asked for a princely sum of Rs 3,000 in the recording season for her records to appear in Indian markets, which was in great demand at that time. Many of us don’t know that Singer Gauhar Jaan was born as an Armenian Christian from Kolkata.
(caption: Actress Rajeswari Sachdev enacts as Legendary dancer-singer Gauhar Jaan.)
Later, she got converted to Islam religion and changed her name from Angelina to Gauhar Jaan due to some financial condition. In her lifetime, she recorded more than 600 records from 1902 to 1920 in more than 10 languages including Bengal, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Arabic, Persian, Pushto, French, and English. Gauhar Jaan aka Malka Jaan literally ruled Kolkata with her music.
This legendary dancer-singer changed the lengthy Hindustani classical style to just 3 and half minutes for a record and brought the trend of thumri, dadra, kajri, chaiti, tarana style. This flamboyant lady was the Amy Winehouse of her time.
