Begum Akhtar

occupation = Singer years_active = 1929 – 1974

Akhtari Bai Faizabadi (7 October 1914 – 30 October 1974), also known as Begum Akhtar, was an Indian singer and actress. Dubbed "Mallika-e-Ghazal" (Queen of Ghazals), she is regarded as one of the greatest singers of ghazal, dadra, and thumri genres of Hindustani classical music.

Early life

Akhtari Bai Faizabadi was born on 7 October 1914 to Asghar Hussain, a lawyer and his second wife Mushtari. Asghar Hussain subsequently disowned Mushtari and his twin daughters Zohra and Bibbi (later known as Begum Akhtar).

Career Akhtar was barely seven when she was captivated by the music of Chandra Bai, an artist attached to a touring theatre group. However at her uncle's insistence she was sent to train under Ustad Imdad Khan, the great sarangi exponent from Patna, and later under Ata Mohammed Khan of Patiala. Later, she travelled to Calcutta with her mother and learnt music from classical stalwarts like Mohammad Khan, Abdul Waheed Khan of Kirana Gharana, and finally she became the disciple of Ustad Jhande Khan.

Like others of that era, she sang her songs herself in all her films. She continued acting in the following years. Subsequently, Begum Akhtar moved back to Lucknow where she was approached by the famous producer-director Mehboob Khan, to act in Roti which was released in 1942 and whose music was composed by the maestro Anil Biswas. "Roti" contained six of her ghazals but unfortunately due to some trouble with the producer, Mehboob Khan subsequently deleted three or four ghazals from the film. All the ghazals are available on Megaphone gramophone records. Begum Akhtar, meanwhile, left Bombay and returned to Lucknow. Her name appears differently in various film credits as Akhtaribai Fyzabadi, Akhtaribai Faizabadi, Akhtari and Begum Akhtar. She sang three ghazals and a dadra at Lucknow All India Radio station. She started crying afterwards and returned to singing in concerts, which she continued to do unto death. She sang publicly in Lucknow, in a women's only concert in aid of the war with China, which was held in 1962.

Death During her last concert in Balaramapuram near Thiruvananthapuram in 1974, she raised the pitch of her voice as she felt that her singing had not been as good as she had wanted it to be and felt unwell. The stress she put herself under resulted in her falling ill and she was rushed to the hospital. Attempts are on to convert her home built in 1936 in China bazaar, Lucknow into a museum.

Her disciples include Shanti Hiranand, who later received Padma Shri and wrote a biography Begum Akhtar: The Story of My Ammi (2005).