Malabika Kanan (27 December 1930 – 17 February 2009) was an

Indian classical Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were no ...

vocalist.

Biography

Kanan was born in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

on 27 December 1930 to Rabindralal Roy, a musicologist and a disciple of

Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (10 August 1860 – 19 September 1936) was an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani classical music, an art which had been propagated for centuries mostly through oral traditions. ...

. In her early years she trained in the musical genres of

dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music, Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampraday and also related to the South In ...

, dhamar and

khyal Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian/Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with romantic poetry, and allows the perfo ...

for a number of years under her father. She also got training in

Rabindrasangeet ''Rabindra Sangeet'' ( bn, রবীন্দ্র সঙ্গীত; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Li ...

from

Santidev Ghosh Santidev Ghose (also Santidev Ghosh, Shantidev Ghosh and Santideb Ghosh) (Santiniketan, 7 May 1910 – 1 December 1999) was an Indian author, singer, actor, dancer and maestro of Rabindra Sangeet. Sagarmoy Ghosh, the renowned editor of Bengal ...

and Suchitra Mitra. She traveled with her father on musical concerts in many places within the country. Her first music rendering was in raga

Ramkali Raga Ramkali is an early morning raga in Hindustani classical music which belongs to Bhairav Thaat. In this raga, as in Bhairav, Rishabh and Dhaivat are Komal( flat), but the Teevra and the flat nishad are added. The vadi-samvadi are Pancham a ...

on the

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

when she was 15 years old. Her first performance on stage followed the next year at the Tansen Sangeet Samaroh. Kanan married

A. Kanan A. Kanan / Arkut Kannabhiran (18 June 1920 – 12 September 2004), more popularly known as A. Kanan, was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition and one of the legendary vocalist from Kirana Gharana. He is known for the khayal f ...

, another singer, on 28 February 1958, and developed a new style of singing by adopting his Kirana style. She was also trained by him in

thumri Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dr ...

. She was very proficient in singing

bhajans Bhajan refers to any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Indian religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root word ''bhaj'' ...

. She performed in several concerts and in many Radio Sangeet Sammelans. At the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, where her husband was a guru, she also became a teacher in July 1979, and was a Member of the Expert Committee of the Academy. She died in Calcutta on 17 February 2009.

Awards

Kanan received the

ITC Sangeet Research Academy ITC Sangeet Research Academy is a Hindustani classical music academy run by the corporate house, ITC Ltd. It is located in Kolkata, India. Noted musicians associated with the academy include Ulhas Kashalkar, Falguni Mitra, Ajoy Chakrabarty, U ...

Award in 1995 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1999-2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanan, Malabika 1930 births 2009 deaths Hindustani singers Singers from Lucknow Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Singers from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian singers Indian women classical singers Women Hindustani musicians 20th-century Indian women singers Women musicians from Uttar Pradesh