Anjani Bai Malpekar

Anjanibai Malpekar
Malpekar became the muse for Raja Ravi Varma's "Lady in the Moon Light" (1889)
Background information
Born	(1883-04-22)22 April 1883 Malpe, Goa
Died	7 August 1974(1974-08-07) (aged 91) Bombay, Maharashtra
Genres	Hindustani classical music
Occupation(s)	vocalist, music educator
Years active	1899-1970s

Anjanibai Malpekar (22 April 1883 – 7 August 1974) was a noted Indian classical singer, belonging to the Bhendibazaar gharana of Hindustani classical music. She was a disciple of Ustad Nazeer Khan of the gharana, with whom she started training at age 8. She made her professional debut at age 16 in Mumbai, where she spent the rest of her life. She had a flourishing music career, till 1920, when after death of her guru, she moved away from public performances, eventually retiring from public after 1923. Thereafter she focussed on training her music disciples, notably Kumar Gandharva and Kishori Amonkar.

In 1958, she became the first woman to be awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.

Acclaimed for her beauty in her youth, Malpekar was the muse of painters Raja Ravi Varma and M. V. Dhurandhar.

Malpekar was born on 22 April 1883, in Malpe in Goa, in music loving family that belonged to Goan Kalavant community. Both her grandmother Gujabai and mother Nabubai were respected names in music circles. At young age of 8, she started her musical training under the tutelage of Ustad Nazeer Khan of Bhendibazaar gharana. The gharana had its origins in the much older Moradabad gharana, and was based in the Bhendi Bazaar area of Mumbai.

Malpekar gave her debut performance at a concert in Mumbai in 1899, at the age of 16. In those days, women of "respectable families" never sang in public, while Malepakar went on to have a flourishing singing career, with both public and royal patronage. In time, she became the doyenne of the gharana.

Besides her singing, she also got acclaim for her beauty. When painter M. V. Dhurandhar did an oil painting of her, another painter Raja Ravi Varma was inspired, and went to do a series of paintings with her as muse, including "Lady in the Moonlight", "Lady Playing Swarbat", "Mohini" and "The Heartbroken", She modelled for him during his stay in Mumbai in 1901 and 1903. However this wasn't without its drawback, especially when singing in public concerts meant singing primarily to a male audience, this often led to harassment. Thus in 1904, she even developed fear of singing in public, and lost her voice, though she regained it after a year.