Amit raj: new first post w/ refs

2026-02-06T06:06:45Z

new first post w/ refs

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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bina Addy
| image = BinaAddy1937.jpg
| alt = A middle-aged Indian woman wearing a printed sari with the tail draped over her head.
| caption = Bina Addy, from a 1937 Australian magazine.
| birth_name = 
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Calcutta
| death_date = 1962
| death_place =
| other_names = Bini Addy
| occupation = singer
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}

'''Bina Addy''' (born 13 Jan 1894, died 1962), also seen as '''Bini Addy''', was an Indian singer of popular Bengali and western songs.

== Early life ==
Bina Addy was from Calcutta, from a Bengali Christian family; two of her brothers became college professors.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131201781?searchTerm=Bina%20Addy&searchLimits=|title=Education in India; Increasingly Popular Among Wealthy People|date=9 March 1937|work=News|access-date=24 November 2019|page=8|via=Trove}}</ref> Her voice first attracted notice in a church choir in Calcutta. She studied music in Europe after 1928, with [[Elena Gerhardt]] in Leipzig and Mario Cotogni in Rome.<ref name=":0">[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-680059182/view?sectionId=nla.obj-710929041&partId=nla.obj-680089053#page/n66/mode/1up "Bina Addy Indian Contralto to Tour A. B. C."] ''The Wireless Weekly'' (5 February 1937): 67. via Trove</ref>

== Career ==
Addy was considered a mezzo-soprano or contralto singer.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/maltribune19320630-1.2.100|title=Indian Songstress in London; Miss Bina Addy's Work in England|date=30 June 1932|work=Malaya Tribune|access-date=24 November 2019|page=10|via=NewspaperSG}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-xHDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Bina+Addy%22&pg=PT379|title=Ibbs and Tillett: The Rise and Fall of a Musical Empire|last=Fifield|first=Christopher|date=2017-11-22|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-351-12572-7|language=en}}</ref> She was promoted as the first Indian woman to study Western music in Europe,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39582573/bina_addy_1931/|title=An Indian Singer; Miss Bina Addy's Recital at Rutland House|last=E. B.|date=19 January 1931|work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=24 November 2019|page=11|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and the first to become a professional singer touring internationally.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19360624.2.118.9|title=Miss Bina Addy; 'At Home' in Concert Chamber|date=24 June 1936|work=Evening Star|access-date=24 November 2019|page=15|via=Papers Past}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19360711.2.134?items_per_page=10&page=2&phrase=2&query=Bina+Addy&snippet=true|title=Talented Bengalese Vocalist; Miss Bina Addy at Savoy|date=11 July 1936|work=Evening Star|access-date=25 November 2019|page=19|via=Papers Past}}</ref> She performed on BBC radio broadcasts between 1929 and 1932.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/158ec506323547a387385899a100d174|title=Bina W. Addy (Mezzo-Soprano)|date=1929-09-13|work=The Radio Times|access-date=2019-11-25|issue=311|pages=42|language=en-GB|issn=0033-8060}}{{dead link|date=September 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5de09925fdf1445d9f044165e3976b34|title=The Gershom Parkington Quintet|date=1931-11-27|work=The Radio Times|access-date=2019-11-25|issue=426|pages=70|language=en-GB|issn=0033-8060}}{{dead link|date=September 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In 1931, the [[League of Nations Union]] in [[Croydon]] held a reception for Addy, where she performed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thecroydoncitizen.com/history/peace-weeks-croydon-1930-1934/|title=The original Croydon Peace Festival: the town's 'peace weeks' in 1930 and 1934|last=Creighton|first=Sean|date=2018-08-29|website=The Croydon Citizen|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref>

Addy sang in concerts, on radio, and at benefits for the [[YWCA]] and other organizations, in Australia and New Zealand in the 1930s.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19360620.2.174|title=Miss Bina Addy; Drawing Room Recital|date=20 June 1936|work=[[Otago Daily Times]] |access-date=24 November 2019|page=22|via=Papers Past}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-may-18-1936-1448083/|title=Miss Bini Addy, A Bengalese Singer|date=18 May 1936|work=[[Auckland Star]] |access-date=25 November 2019|page=11|via=NewspaperArchive.com}}</ref> She was involved in the centenary celebrations in [[South Australia]] in 1936.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-may-02-1936-1448076/|title=Indian Singer Aids our Centenary|date=2 May 1936|work=Adelaide News|access-date=25 November 2019|page=1|via=NewspaperArchive.com}}</ref> Her programs were mainly Bengali songs, including works by [[Rabindranath Tagore]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39579573/bina_addy_1937/|title=From India; Mezzo-Contralto to Broadcast|date=21 January 1937|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |access-date=24 November 2019|page=20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> but she sometimes included British folk songs, [[Spiritual (music)|African-American spirituals]], Italian arias, and German [[lied]]er.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/74353648|title=Bina Addy to Assist Y. W. C. A. Fund|date=5 May 1937|work=The Advertiser|access-date=24 November 2019|page=11|via=[[Trove]]}}</ref> She also gave short talks during her programs, about [[Mahatma Gandhi|Gandhi]], Tagore, and other Indian topics. She was often accompanied by women musicians.<ref name=":1" /> "Her technique is assured and well-founded, and with this she associates an impressive sense of style," noted one Australian critic in 1937.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36884077?searchTerm=Bina%20Addy&searchLimits=|title=Recital of Indian Songs|date=12 February 1937|work=The Courier-Mail|access-date=24 November 2019|page=15|via=Trove}}</ref>

"It is my sincere desire to create a better understanding between my country and other nations," she told an interviewer in 1937, "and if I could feel that I had in any way provided a link between the East and the West, I should be content."<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Addy, Bina}}
[[Category:Bengali singers]]
[[Category:1962 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:1894 births]]

Bina Addy - Revision history

Amit raj: new first post w/ refs