Sharan Rani
| Sharan Rani Backliwal | |
|---|---|
Sharan Rani
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sharan Rani Mathur |
| Born |
April 9, 1929 Delhi |
| Died | April 8, 2008 (aged 78) Delhi |
| Occupation(s) | classical musician, music scholar |
| Instruments | sarod |
Sharan Rani Backliwal (née Mathur) (9 April 1929 – 8 April 2008) was an Indian classical instrumentalist and music scholar, best known for her expertise with the sarod.
Her private collection of 370 musical instruments ranging from the 15th to the 19th century are now part of the "Sharan Rani Backliwal Gallery of Musical Instruments" at the National Museum, New Delhi.
She was born Sharan Rani Mathur in Walled city of Old Delhi to a conservative Hindu family of well-known businessmen and educationists. As a young girl, Sharan Rani learned to play the sarod from the master musicians Allauddin Khan and his son Ali Akbar Khan.
Sharan Rani began her musical career in spite of immense familial opposition. During this period in Indian history, a career as a musician was seen as something for gharanas (families where music was a hereditary profession) or was the profession of nautch girls or baijis, not something appropriate for the daughter of a respectable, non-musician family. She also learned the Kathak form of classical Indian dance from Achhan Maharaj and Manipuri dance from Nabha Kumar Sinha. In 1953, she did her M.A from Delhi University, and studied at Indraprastha College for Women.
From the late 1930s, Sharan Rani presented her sarod recitals on the concert stage in India for over seven decades, receiving unprecedented critical acclaim. Since the 1950s she presented her sarod recitals abroad becoming the very first musician from India to go to many countries in all the continents. She played a vital role in introducing and popularising Indian classical music abroad. She was one of the very first to record for UNESCO and to release musical recordings with major record companies in the United States, Britain and France.
...
Wikipedia