Malati Ghoshal (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Bose) () (17 December 1902 – 17 July 1984) was an Indian

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

singer and one of Rabindranath Tagore's 'Panchakanya' exponents.

Career

Malati Ghoshal was born in Kolkata to Hemendra Mohan Bose, a leading

Swadeshi The Swadeshi movement was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. Before the BML Government's decision for the partition of Bengal was made public in ...

entrepreneur in

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, and Mrinalini Bose. Mrinalini was a sister of

Saradaranjan Ray Saradaranjan Ray (26 May 1858 – 30 October 1925) was a Bengali teacher of mathematics and Sanskrit who worked at Aligarh University and at Calcutta. He was also a cricket enthusiast and promoter who has been called the "W.G. Grace of India" a ...

, father of cricket in Bengal known to be the

W. G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English cricketer who is widely considered one of the sport's all-time greatest players. Always known by his initials as "WG", his first-class career spanned a record-equalling 4 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and renowned writer Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, and therefore a cousin of poet

Sukumar Ray Sukumar Ray (; 30 October 1887 – 10 September 1923) was a Bengali writer and poet from British India. He is remembered mainly for his writings for children. He was the son of children's story writer Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury and the fat ...

, the father of

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

. She learnt ''

Tappa Tappa is a form of Indian semi-classical vocal music. Its specialty is a rolling pace based on fast, subtle and knotty construction. Its tunes are melodious and sweet, and depict the emotional outbursts of a lover. Tappe (plural) were sung mostly ...

'' from Manada Sundari Dasi, ''

Kirtan Sikh ''kirta''n with Indian harmoniums and '' Kenya.html" ;"title="tabla'' drums (a common and popular pairing), in Kenya">tabla'' drums (a common and popular pairing), in Kenya (1960s) ''Kirtana'' (; ), also rendered as ''Kiirtan'', ''Kirt ...

'' from Purnakumari Dasi,

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 ...

from Gopeshwar Bandyopadhyay, Surendranath Bandyopadhyay and Shyam Sundar Mitra. She also played

Sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

well. She became a well known exponent of Rabindrasangeet, having sung directly for

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

along with her contemporaries Amiya and Amita Tagore. She was married to Dr. Sushanta Chandra Ghoshal in 1935. Dr Ghoshal was a noted microbiologist and Head of the School of Tropical Medicine in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, and had worked on the deadly diseases kala azar and cholera with the likes of Dr. U N Brahmachari. He was also a proficient singer who supported and encouraged her singing talent. She comes from an eminent family of

Brahmo Bengali Brahmos are those who adhere to Brahmoism, the philosophy of Brahmo Samaj which was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy. A recent publication describes the disproportionate influence of Brahmos on India's development post-19th Century as un ...

Samaj and performed at Brahmo ceremonies. She used to sing duets with her husband also. Her first gramophone record, containing two Tagore Songs, "Ke Bosile Aji" and "Hridayo Basona Purno Holo", was released in 1940. Her second gramophone record, containing two other Tagore Songs, "E Parabase Rabe Ke" and "Jodi E Amaro Hridayo Duaro", was released in 1950. These four songs made her very popular in those days. During the Tagore centenary celebrations of 1961, she released her third disc (both songs duets with Ramesh Bandyopadhyay) with the songs "Anondodhwoni Jagao Gogone" and "Sokolkolushotamosohor". After her husband died in 1952 she gave up singing. She is survived by a daughter, Aloka Mitra, herself well known in the sphere of social work in Bengal. and grandchildren who are NRIs.

References

External links

*
Malati Ghosal
at ''

last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Utilizing a music recommender system known as "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm creates a detailed profile of each user's musical preferences by recording the details of the tracks they ...

'' *
Swarnalatha
at '' www.lakshmansruthi.com'' 1902 births Bengali singers Performers of Hindu music Singers from Kolkata 1984 deaths Rabindra Sangeet exponents 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian women singers Women musicians from West Bengal 20th-century Indian women composers 20th-century Indian composers Satyajit Ray {{India-singer-stub