Gauhar Jaan (1873-1930) was the first female singer to record music on 78 rpm records in India. She was born as Angelina Yeoward on 26 June 1873 in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Her Armenian father, William Robert Yeoward, worked as an engineer in a dry ice factory, and married her Indian mother, Victoria Hemmings, in 1872. She gave her maiden performance at the royal courts of Darbhanga Raj in 1887 and was appointed as court musician, after receiving extensive dance and music training from a professional dancer at Vanarasi.
The famous folk-music searcher Paul Vernon tells how recording music in India burst into life at the turn of the century HERE. This article was originally published in the magazine FolkRoots.
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Kodumudi Balambal Sundarambal (1908–1980) was an Indian theatre and film actress and singer from Erode district, Tamil Nadu. She performed in Tamil cinema and was referred to as the "Queen of the Indian stage". A political activist during the Indian independence movement, K.B. Sundarambal was the first film personality to enter a state legislature in India.
The french writer Henri Michaux was fascinated by her when he travelled in Asia.
"Je vis ensuite, à Madras, (Kodumudi Balambal) Sundarambal, la grande actrice tamoule, cantatrice merveilleuse, la seule très belle femme dravidienne que je vis et du plus vrai talent. Elle semblait avoir, à la fois, du sang dans le corps, et du pétrole. Quand elle apparut, elle écrasa les autres femmes (qui étaient des hommes). ... Elle essayait d'être humain. Elle y arrivait, sans doute." Henri Michaux - "Un barbare en Asie" 1933
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more infos about Kodumudi Balambal Sundarambal's life: here
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