Bhendibazaar gharana

The Bhendibazaar gharana is one of the vocal gharanas of Indian classical music, which originated in Bhendi Bazaar area of Mumbai in 1890.

History and features

The Bhendibazaar gharana was founded around 1890 by brothers Chhajju Khan, Nazir Khan and Khadim Hussain Khan in the Bhendi bazaar area of Mumbai. The features of this gharana include using 'aakaar' for presenting khyals in an open voice, with clear intonation, a stress on breath-control, singing long passages in a single breath, a preference for madhyalaya (medium tempo) and use of the well-known Khandmeru or Merukhand system for extended alaps. Ustad Chhajju Khan's son Ustad Aman Ali Khan, and Anjanibai Malpekar, are well-known exponents of this gharana. Amir Khan's father Shahmir Khan belonged to this gharana and passed on the tradition to his son.

Prominent exponents

First generation

Ustad Dilawar Hussain Khan

Second generation

Ustad Chhajjoo Khan, Ustad Nazeer Khan, Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan (sons of Ustad Dilawar Hussain Khan)

Third generation

• Ustad Fida Ali Khan (son of Ustad Chhajjoo Khan) (died prematurely)
• Ustad Aman Ali Khan (son of Ustad Chhajjoo Khan) (1888–1953)
• Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan (son of Ustad Nazeer Khan) (died prematurely)
• Pandita Anjanibai Malpekar (disciple of Ustad Nazeer Khan) (1883–1974)
• Shahmir Khan (Father of Ustad Amir Khan) (Sarangi)
• Kaderbaksh (Sarangi)

Fourth generation- Disciples of Ustad Aman Ali Khan (1888-1953)

• Pandit Shivkumar Shukla (1918–1998),
• Pandit Pandurang Amberkar (1914–2002),
• Master Navrang Nagpurkar (1919–1998),
• Pandit Ramesh Nadkarni (1921–1995),
• Ustad Muhammed Hussain Khan (1907–1988),
• Pandit T D Janorikar (1921–2006),

Fifth generation

• Disciples of Pandit Shivkumar Shukla:

Late Dayanand Dev Gandharva, Sangeeta Pandharpurkar, Indira Thapa, Late Anil Vaishnav,Vasanti Sathe, Suresh Trivedi, Prof. Dwarakanath Bhonsle,

• Disciples of Ustad Muhammed Hussain Khan:

Faiyyaz Khan (son of Ustad Muhammed Hussain Khan) (Violin) ; Dr. Jyoti Dhamdhere; Anupama Chandratreya

• Disciples of Pandit Ramesh Nadkarni:

Kamal Naik, Shubha Joshi, Shaila Piplapure, Meenaxi Mukherji,Mahesh Babu, Sushilarani Patel, Ramkishan Chandeshri (Bhopal) and Shailesh Mavinkurve.

• Disciples of T. D Janorikar:

Anupama Chandratreya; Anuradha Kuber; Anuradha Marathe; Kishori Janorikar; Kumudini Mundkur; Late Sadhana Joshi; Sharad Karmarkar; Dr. Suhasini Koratkar; Late Vasundhara Pandit; Shrikant Pargaonkar; Padmakar Kulkarni;Kedar Bodas

• Disciples of Master Navrang:

(Late) Neelatai Nagpurkar; (Late)Upendra Kamat; (Late) Mandakini Gadre; Shubha Joshi; Shaila Pipalpure; Pramila Datar; Madhura Jasraj;

• Disciples of Pandit Pandurang Amberkar:

Shubha Joshi;

Other disciples

Those disciples who took guidance from stalwarts of Bhendibazaar Gharana for some time but developed their own style and pursued Classical or Light Music or chose to work in Film industry:

• Disciples of the three brothers Ustad Chhajjoo Khan, Ustad Nazeer Khan and Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan:

Shahmir Khan (Sarangi player- father of Amir Khan); Chand Khan; Kaderbaksh (Sarangi); Mamman Khan; Zande Khan; Miyan Jaan; Wadilal Shivram

• Disciples of Ustad Aman Ali Khan:

Lata Mangeshkar; Nisar Bazmi; Vasantrao Deshpande; Manna Dey; Wali Ahmed Khan; B C Chaitanya Dev; Shantilal (Harmonium); Parshurambuwa Parsekar; Mridungacharya Narayanrao Koli

• Disciples of Pandita Anjanibai Malpekar:

Kumar Gandharva; Kishori Amonkar; Begum Akhtar; Nainadevi

• Disciples of Master Navrang Nagpurkar:

Asha Bhosle; Jitendra Abhisheki; Suman Kalyanpur; Pankaj Udhas

• Disciples of Pandit Shivkumar Shukla:

Mukund Vyas; daughters Kiran and Neelam Shukla

• Disciples of Pandit Ramesh Nadkarni:

Sakuntala Narsimhan; Mahendra Kapoor

• Disciples of Pt Dayanand Dev Gandharva ;

Narayan swami ( most popular folk singer of gujarat),vishwanath gandharva, prem bhandari, munir khan, swati, vimlaben,

External links

• Website devoted to BhendiBazaar Gharana
• Bhendibazar gharana at ITC Sangeet Research Academy