Maithili Thakur (born 25 July 2000) is an Indian playback singer trained in

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the art music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is generally described using terms like ''Shastriya Sangeet'' and ''Marg Sangeet''. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as ...

and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. She has sung original songs, covers, and traditional folk music prominently in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Maithili,

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, English and more

Indic languages Indic languages may refer to: * Indo-Aryan languages, a subgroup of the Indo-European languages spoken mainly in the north of the Indian subcontinent (used in the context of Indo-European studies) * Languages of the Indian subcontinent, all the indi ...

Early life

Thakur was born in Benipatti, Madhubani district, Bihar to a

Maithil Maithils (Devanagari: मैथिल), also known as Maithili people, are an Indo-Aryan cultural and ethno-linguistic group from the Indian subcontinent, who speak the Maithili language as their native language. They inhabit the Mithila regio ...

musician and music teacher working in Delhi Ramesh Thakur and Bharti Thakur. She is named after goddess

Sita Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is t ...

as well as her mothertongue. Maithili, along with her two brothers, Rishav and Ayachi were trained by their grandfather and father in Maithili Folk,

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...

Harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

and

Tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

. Realising his daughter's potential around the age of 6, her father relocated themselves to Dwarka in New Delhi for better opportunities. She began learning music from her grandfather when she was only 4 years old. Maithili's first music master is her grandfather. At the age of 10, she started singing at jagrans and other musical functions.

Music career

In 2011, Thakur appeared in Little Champs, a singing competition television series telecast in

Zee TV ZEE TV also known as Z TV is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched on 1 October 1992 as the oldest privately owned television channel in India. History ...

. Four years later, she contested in ''

Indian Idol Junior ''Indian Idol Junior'' is an Indian Hindi-language reality television singing competition and is part of ''Indian Idol''. It began broadcasting on Sony Entertainment Television from 1 June 2013. Karan Wahi and Mandira Bedi were hosts of the sho ...

'', telecast in

Sony TV Sony Television, Sony TV, or Sony HD may refer to any of the following television-related products from Japanese conglomerate Sony: * Television sets designed and manufactured by Sony Corporation in Japan ** Trinitron, television hardware brand (196 ...

. She won the "I Genius Young Singing Star" competition in 2016, following which she launched her album, Ya Rabba (

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

Rising stars

In 2017, Thakur was a contestant in the

season 1 Season One may refer to: Albums * ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004 * ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughters album), 2012 * ''Season One'' (Saukrates album), 2012 See also * * * Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to: ...

of Rising Star, a television singing competition. Maithili was the first finalist of the show, singing

Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya (Sanskrit, Hindi, Devanagari: ; IAST: Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya) is one of the most popular Hindu mantras and the most important mantra in Shaivism. Namah Shivaya means "O salutations to the auspicious one!", or "adoration to Lord ...

which gained her direct entry into the final. She was runner up, losing out by just two votes. Following the show, her internet popularity rose significantly.

2019 onwards

After a huge success from videos on Facebook and YouTube the trio has been performing at various National and International Events, Literature Fests. Maithili has been awarded Atal Mithila Samman by the Government of India. In 2019 Maithili and her two brothers, Rishav and Ayachi, were made the brand ambassadors of Madhubani by the Election Commission. Rishav is on the

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

and Ayachi is a singer and performs often on percussion as well. She was awarded

Lokmat ''Lokmat'' ( ) is a Marathi-language newspaper published in Maharashtra, India. Founded in 1971 by Jawaharlal Darda, it is the largest read Marathi-language newspaper in India. and has presence in print, digital, TV and events.Sur Jytosna National Music Award 2021. in the hand of Information & broadcast Minister Anurag Thakur. Manaspath Maithili Thakur on her YouTube channel along with her two

younger brother Younger Brother is an electronic duo formed in 2003 by Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan. Their debut album '' A Flock of Bleeps'' was released in 2003, followed by '' The Last Days of Gravity'' in 2007 and ''Vaccine'' in 2011. After making ...

Rishav and Ayachi sings famous

Ramcharitmanas ''Ramcharitmanas'' ( deva, रामचरितमानस, rāmacaritamānasa), is an epic poem in the Awadhi language, composed by the 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Tulsidas (c. 1511–1623). It has many inspirations, the primary being t ...

Tulsidas Rambola Dubey (; 11 August 1511 – 30 July 1623pp. 23–34.), popularly known as Goswami Tulsidas (), was a Vaishnavism, Vaishnava (Ramanandi Sampradaya, Ramanandi) Hinduism, Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. H ...

. This Manaspath gives a huge success to Maithali as well as to her brothers. Currently they are on 302nd episode and couplet (doha) no. 236 of Ayodhya kanda as of 07 April 2024.

Awards and recognition

Maithili Thakur with Cultural Ambassador of the Year Award

* Maithili Thakur was awarded the Cultural Ambassador of the Year Award by the

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

at the inaugural National Creators Award on 8 March 2024.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thakur, Maithili Living people 2000 births People from Madhubani, India 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers Bhojpuri playback singers Singers from Bihar