Moradabad town in Uttar Pradesh and its neighbouring areas were once home to migrant communities from Afghanistan, who not only assimilated the local culture but also contributed elements from their own. Not surprisingly, therefore, the region has offered such diversity and richness to Hindustani music.
Many hereditary musicians consider Moradabad their place of origin and can list ancestors who lived in the city back in the early 19th century. They studied initially with elders at home, but later took up tutelage under ustads belonging to other families.
But a century later, they moved from Moradabad to Mumbai and other parts of the country, to avail themselves of performance opportunities that colonial cities had to offer. For instance, towards the latter part of the 19th century, the brothers Nazir Khan, Chajju Khan and Khadim Hussein Khan, who created the Bhendi Bazaar gayaki, or vocal style, named after a locality in Mumbai, established themselves in this city.
Unfortunately, there are no known recordings of the three brothers. But below is a short audio clip of one their foremost disciples, Anjanibai Malpekar, demonstrating sargam, or solfège, in raga Hameer.
Tabla player Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, also originally a resident of Moradabad, made his stage debut in Mumbai at the age of 16, when he presented a tabla solo the Khetwadi area in the south of the city. Some readers might remember Thirakwa's earliest film recording produced by JBH Wadia Movietone. Fortunately, he was recorded several times over a long period. Below is his tabla solo, recorded on film in 1961.
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Many hereditary musicians consider Moradabad their place of origin and can list ancestors who lived in the city back in the early 19th century. They studied initially with elders at home, but later took up tutelage under ustads belonging to other families.
But a century later, they moved from Moradabad to Mumbai and other parts of the country, to avail themselves of performance opportunities that colonial cities had to offer. For instance, towards the latter part of the 19th century, the brothers Nazir Khan, Chajju Khan and Khadim Hussein Khan, who created the Bhendi Bazaar gayaki, or vocal style, named after a locality in Mumbai, established themselves in this city.
Unfortunately, there are no known recordings of the three brothers. But below is a short audio clip of one their foremost disciples, Anjanibai Malpekar, demonstrating sargam, or solfège, in raga Hameer.
Tabla player Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, also originally a resident of Moradabad, made his stage debut in Mumbai at the age of 16, when he presented a tabla solo the Khetwadi area in the south of the city. Some readers might remember Thirakwa's earliest film recording produced by JBH Wadia Movietone. Fortunately, he was recorded several times over a long period. Below is his tabla solo, recorded on film in 1961.