17/06/2017
Vinyl Records are the new craze ! And when we talk about Indian Recordings the first name which comes to mind is Gauhar Jan.
Gauhar Jan was born in Azamgarh on June 26 1873, as an Armenian Christian, Eileen Angelina Yeoward, Gauhar led a life replete with ups and downs. After the divorce of her parents, she followed her mother, converted to Islam and adopted the name Gauhar Jaan. They moved to Benaras where Gauhar had the good fortune of training under eminent gurus.
The mother and daughter later moved to Calcutta in 1883 and established themselves in the court of the exiled Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.
In 1902, when the gramophone company came to India to record native artistes, Gauhar became destiny’s chosen child as the first Indian voice to be recorded by the agent Frederick William Gaisberg. - But this information is not correct. Research shows that two nautch girls Sashi Mukhi and Phanibala aged 14 and 16 were the first Indian to record their voices with Gaisberg at Great Eastern Hotel, 3 days earlier to Gauhar. However, Gauhar was the first professional singer to record and in her lifetime she cut close to 600 records in nearly 20 languages.
Just managed to get her 22nd recording on a &* rpm shellac. This is an acoustic recording where the artist needed to sing inside a horn similar to the old record players. Accompaniment can be faintly heard and though a lot of noise I could listen clearly - "My Name is Gauhar Jan" - in the very end. This was the practice as the master recording travelled to Germany for final production and they printed the name of the artist based on the recording.
Send us a message if you are interested to buy her records.
