Kishori Amonkar (10 April 1932 – 3 April 2017) was an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the Jaipur Gharana, or a community of musicians sharing a distinctive musical style. She is considered to be one of the foremost classical singers in India. She has stated in an interview that her mother was an exacting teacher, initially teaching her by singing phrases and making Amonkar repeat them.
Amonkar has expressed her views on how musical education should be conducted, emphasising the importance of enabling students to move beyond repetitive techniques and learn the tools that allow them to improvise on their own.
In 2010, she published a book in Marathi titled Swaraartha Ramani in which she elaborated her views on musical theory and practice.
Classical vocalist
Amonkar's career as a classical vocalist grew in the 1960s and 70s. Prior to this, she briefly stopped performing because of an illness that affected her ability to sing. Amonkar has said that she used this hiatus in her career to consider and develop her own style of singing, that transcended classical schools (gharanas) of music. Amonkar was also a popular speaker and travelled throughout India; she was best known for lectures on the role of rasa (feelings or emotions) in music. She sang for the soundtrack of the 1990 Hindi film Drishti. She became interested in film music and sang playback for the 1964 movie Geet Gaya Patharon Ne and Drishti . She decided to stay away from film music further because she found it compromising on the swaras over the lyrics, the essential element of any genre of music. Also her mother Mogubai Kurdikar disapproved of working in film music; Kurdikar is reported to have told Amonkar that she would be forbidden from touching her mother's tanpura if she would continue to work in the film industry.
Personal life and death
Kishori Amonkar was born in Bombay on 10 April 1932. That day, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, issued a statement on Twitter mourning her loss, writing: "Demise of Kishori Amonkar is an irreparable loss to Indian classical music. Deeply pained by her demise. May her soul rest in peace."
Recognition and legacy
Amonkar received several of India's national awards and civilian honours, including the Padma Bhushan, in 1987, and Padma Vibhushan in 2002. She was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1985 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for 2009. She was awarded the prestigious Dr. T. M. A. Pai Outstanding Konkani Award in 1991.
Amonkar was recognised by several of her contemporaries and fellow musicians for her skill and technique in classical music. The tabla musician, Zakir Hussain, has said that Amonkar's performances of several ragas, such as Raga Bhoop, are "... landmark performances that take place over hundreds of years and you will talk about them for the rest of your life and rest of the many centuries to come."
Amonkar is the subject of a documentary titled Bhinna Shadja, which was directed by Amol Palekar and Sandhya Gokhale. Suhasini Mulgaonkar, Malati Kamat, Arun Dravid, Mira Panshikar, Sulabhatai Pishawikar, Meena Joshi, Vidya Bhagwat, Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, Devaki Pandit, Sangeeta Katti, Manjiri Asnare-Kelkar, Papri Chakrabarti, Shivraj Shitole Amonkar's granddaughter, Tejashree Bibhas Amonkar, is also a budding classical musician and was trained by Amonkar.