THE ROMANCE OF GAUHAR JAAN
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April 16 2010
India’s first recording artiste was talented, flamboyant and unlucky
in love
In December of 1911, at the famous Delhi Durbar, Emperor George V
was crowned the paramount power of British India in the presence of
Indian princes and aristocrats. While the announcement by the emperor
that the capital of his Indian territories would be shifted to Delhi
from Calcutta might have cast a pall of gloom in "the second city
of the empire", the durbar itself brought unprecedented glory to one
Calcuttan–the legendary Hindustani vocalist Miss Gauhar Jaan.
At that glittering ceremony, in the presence of the emperor and
his queen and all of India’s royalty, Gauhar Jaan, along with her
contemporary Janki Bai, were bestowed the rare privilege of presenting
a song specially composed for the occasion Yeh jalsa taajposhi ka
mubarak ho mubarak ho! They were escorted to the emperor after the
concert and he praised them profusely for their talent and presented
them with a hundred guineas as a token of his appreciation.
Such was the fame of the first Indian and woman to record on the
gramophone, Gauhar Jaan. Born Eileen Angelina Yeoward in Azamgarh,
in what was then the United Provinces, in 1873, Gauhar was a woman
of exceptional beauty, talent and grace. She seemed to symbolize the
secular ethos that Indian classical music is known for–her grandmother
was Hindu, grandfather British and father Armenian Christian. Gauhar
embraced Islam and remained a devout Muslim all her life, though most
of her compositions are replete with Krishna bhakti.
The marriage of her parents ended in a bitter divorce when she was
barely six years old. Angelina and her mother Victoria then moved
to Benaras, where they converted to Islam and took on the names of
Gauhar Jaan and Badi Malka Jaan, respectively.
In the culturally vibrant atmosphere of Benaras, Gauhar’s innate
talents in music, dance and poetry blossomed. Fortunes turned for
the mother and daughter as they moved to Calcutta and established
themselves in the court of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. They were counted as
among the most famous baijis of Calcutta. No wonder then that in 1902,
Frederick William Gaisberg, the Gramophone Company’s first India agent,
chose Gauhar as the first Indian artiste whom he wanted to record.