If Music be the Food of Love…
Aside from her mother, her guru was Sawai Gandharva who also taught Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Firoze Dastur. He lived 30 kilometres away from her and Gangubai travelled daily by train to learn from him.
Her guru was a hard task master, notorious for unceasing riyaaz of the same taal; she recounted how much she respected him, and while learning from him was often boring and monotonous, she could never question him because she trusted his judgement and intentions unflinchingly.
Throat surgery left her with a masculine voice, but the doyenne of the Kirana gharana turned it into an advantage through years of hard work.
At a music conference in Calcutta, Gangubai was asked to sing in a private sitting the night before her concert was scheduled. She was asked to do so because the organisers couldn’t imagine a frail girl like her singing. She was awarded a gold medal by the Maharaja of Tripura that day.
Gangubai spoke of the charm of the All India Music…