Asha Bhosle

Asha Bhosle (Marathi: आशा भोंसले) (born September 8, 1933) is an Indian singer. She is best known as a Bollywood playback singer, although she has a much wider repertoire. Her career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over 1100 Bollywood movies and sold many records. She is the sister of the equally accomplished Lata Mangeshkar.
Bhosle is considered one of the most versatile South Asian singers — her range of songs includes film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian Classical music, folk songs, qawwalis, Rabindra Sangeets and Nazrul Geetis. She has sung in over 14 languages including Assamese, Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, English, Russian, Czech, Nepali, Malay and Malayalam.
Bhosle is believed to have sung over 12,000 songs. Though her sister, Lata Mangeshkar was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records during 1974-1991, for having sung the most songs in the world, reputed sources have introduced concerns to its veracity, claiming that the Guinness counts were exaggerated and Bhosle had recorded more songs than Mangeshkar. Bhosle herself pointed out that she had made the most recordings by any singer - 12,000.

Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar (Marathi: लता मंगेशकर; born September 28, 1929) is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in the Hindi film industry. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She sang in over 980 Bollywood movies and has sung songs in over twenty regional Indian languages, but primarily in Hindi. She is the elder sister of the equally accomplished singer Asha Bhosle and lesser-known singers, brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar and sisters Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar.
Lata is the second vocalist ever to have received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.
Mangeshkar was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for having made the most recordings in the world. The claim was that she has recorded no less than 25,000 solo, duet, and chorus-backed songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 to 1974 (30,000 songs between 1948 and 1987, according to 1987 edition). Over the years, while several sources have supported this claim, others have raised concerns over its veracity, claiming that this number was highly exaggerated and that Mangeshkar's sister, Asha Bhosle, had more song recordings than she had.

USTAD MEHDI HASAN

Hassan was born in the village of Luna in Rajasthan, India in 1927 into a family of rich traditional musicians. He claims to be the 16th generation of hereditary musicians hailing from the Kalawant. Kala means "Art" and Kalawant means "artist" (in any Indian language).
He received his musical training under his father, Ustad Azeem Khan and his uncle Ustad Ismail Khan who were classical musicians, well-versed in the dhrupad style of singing. They instructed him in classical music and voice production within the framework of classical forms of thumri, dhrupad, khayal and dadra, from the young age of eight.
Hassan started to perform at a young age and the first concert of dhrupad and kheyal with his elder brother is reported to have been held in Fazilka Bungla near Ferozepur. After the Partition of India, 20-year-old Hassan and his family migrated to Pakistan and suffered severe financial hardships. To make ends meet, Hassan began working in a bicycle shop and later became a car and diesel tractor mechanic. Despite the hardships, his passion for music didn't wither and he kept up the daily routine of practice.

Noor Jehan

Noor Jehan (Urdu: نور جہاں) was the adopted stage name for Allah Wasai (September 21, 1926 – December 23, 2000) who was a singer and actress in British India and Pakistan. She is renowned as one of the greatest singers of her time in South Asia and was given the honorific title of Mallika-e-Tarranum (Urdu: ملکہ ترنم, English: the queen of melody).
Born in a family of musicians, Wasai was pushed by her parents to follow in their musical footsteps and become a singer but she was more interested in acting in films and graced the earliest Pakistani films with her performances. She holds an astounding record of 10,000 songs to her singing credits in various languages of Pakistan including Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi languages, she is also considered to be the first female Pakistani film director.
In 1957, Jehan was awarded the President's Award for her acting and singing capabilities.

USTAD TARI KHAN

Ustad Tari Khan's percussion art is a rare experience, a combination of artistic purity, charisma, lyricism, and expressive innovation. The work characterized by his impeccable understanding of music and a sensitivity to artistic values, Ustad Tari Khan is considered as one of the most accomplished exponents of tabla in the world today, and is indeed a torchbearer of the Punjab Gharana.

Ustad Tari Khan has performed in virtually every part of the globe, participating in prestigious festivals and concerts, dazzling and captivating audiences by his extraordinary versatility. Tours abroad have taken him to all continents and almost every major city of the world, and he enjoys a large following. A leading percussionist, he gave a solo tabla recital at the world famous Percussive Arts Society convention in Nashville, and performed at the Boston Conservatory of Music. Ustad Tari Khan has received the highest acclaim for both his accompaniment and solo performances.

Apart from his musical renderings, Ustad Tari Khan holds workshops, seminars, and teaching assignments in cultural institution and universities throughout the world. He conducts individual and group lessons through his school the Tabla Learning Center.

An erudite musician, Ustad Tari Khan has been honored by numerous public and private organizations both at home and abroad, and has carved a permanent niche for himself in the world of fame. He has been crowned with the title of "Tabla Prince of India and Pakistan" and has been decorated with the prestigious Hazrat Ameer Khusro Award.

By the time he was 16 Ustad Tari Khan had already made a name for himself in the art of Ghazals around the world. Having played with such artists as Ghulam Ali, Pervez Mehdi, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and the great Mehdi Hassan. His tabla is in fact revolutionary in the art of Ghazals and is a model for all ghazal tabla players today. At the age of 16, Ustad Tari Khan began showing great creativity in making his own items. His first original item was the "train". In this item he used the tabla to mimic the sounds of a train. Soon he invented his most popular item "International Kherwa". This item showed how different parts of the world play Kherwa or four beats, including Punjab, the Middle East, Europe, America, and Africa.

Lalmani learnt Dhruvapada

Lalmani learnt Dhruvapada (Dhrupad) Dhamar in the tradition of Pt. Shankar Bhatt and Munshi Bhrigunath Lal. He learnt Khayal singing with Ustad Mehndi Hussain Khan, a disciple of Ustad Vazir Khan of Rampur Seni Gharana. He received training in Dhruvpad, Bhajan and Tabla from Swami Pramodanand; in sitar from Shri Shukdev Roy. Under the tutelage of Ustad Amir Ali Khan he perfected several other musical instruments.
Lalmani was appointed on the post of assistant music director in Shehanshahi Recording Company, Calcutta at the tender age of twelve. He worked in several films for the next two years. His interaction with these two, kindled an interest for orchestration in Lalmani.

Ustad Karim Khan

Ustad Abdul Karim Khan was invited to the Mysore court where he met famous Carnatic music Carnatic masters which also influenced his music In particular the singing of his Sargam was a direct influence of Carnatic practice He became a frequent visitor to Mysore Darbar which conferred on him the title Sangeet Ratna On the way to Mysore he used to stay with his brother in Dharwad where he taught his most famous disciple Sawai Gandharva In 1900 for eight months he taught Surashri Kesarbai Kerkar Kesarbai Kerkar who would go on to be one of the 20th centurys most renowned vocalists In 1913 he founded the Arya Sangeet Vidyalaya in Poona to teach students He would wholeheartedly teach all his students unlike other family ustads of the era He finally settled down in Miraj till his death in 1937 when returning from a concert tour of the south Every year in August commemorative music concerts are held in Miraj
The innovations he brought to his vocal style distinguishes Kirana style from others The slow melodic development of the raga in Vilambit laya slow tempo was the most characteristic aspect of his music He worked hard to maintain his voice to be sweet and melodious which shaped his music The thumri style he developed as also quite different from the poorab ang or punjabi ang His thumri progresses in a leisurely languor with ample abandonment He was also the first Hindustani musician to seriously study Carnatic system and probably the first to be invited to sing all over the south He has even recorded a Thyagaraja Krithi He was also influenced by Rehmet Khan of the Gwalior gharana and adopted the direct style of presentation Bhairavi of Rehmat Khan used to be bright and cheerful Karim Khan perfected it and was able to present an equally bright and cheerful rendering R.C. Mehta