Begum Akhtar Biography 
Begum Akhtar is one among the most prominent names in Indian music. Her contributions to dadra, ghazals and thumbri are immensely huge! She has been addressed as ‘Mallika-e-ghazal’ (queen of ghazals). She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for vocal music and Indian government has given her Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan (posthumously) for her contributions to Indian music. She is one of great names and inspirers of yesterdays, whose name is always taken with respect by music lovers.
Begum Akhtar was born in Bada Darwaza, Faizabad of Uttar Pradesh. Akhtar was barely seven when she was captivated by the music of Chandra Bai. Later she received training from different music maestros like Ustad Imdad Khan, Ata Mohammed Khan, Mohammad Khan, Abdul Waheed Khan and finally she became a disciple of Ustad Jhande Khan. Her first public performance was at the age of fifteen. Once she received appreciation from Sarojini Naidu and this encouragement helped her to continue singing ghazals with more enthusiasm. She recorded her first record for Megaphone Record Company in middle 30’s. Later many of her ghazals, dadras and thumris were released that became immensely popular.
Begum Akhtar's good looks and sensitive voice made her an ideal candidate for a film career and she has acted in a few Hindi movies during 1930’s. It was a time when the actors had to sing onscreen as well. East India Film Company approached her to act in "King for a Day" (Ek Din Ka Badshah) and Nal Damayanti in 1933. In 1942, she acted in the movie ‘Roti’ and sang a few ghazals for the movie as well. In 1945, Akhtaribai married a barrister, Ishtiaq Ahmed Abbasi and became known as Begum Akhtar. But he put restrictions on her singing career. However she returned back and continued singing till the end of her life!
Her voice matured with time, adding richness and depth. She has sung more than 400 songs and it included ghazals as well as thumris. She composed ghazals of her own and most of them were raag based. She was active in AIR as well. Whole music lovers’ world is to celebrate her centenary year on 2014.
Published: N/A
Updated: September 16, 2013
