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{{short description|Indian singer}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2026}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Zohrabai Ambalewali
| image = Zohrabai Ambalewali.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name = Zohrabai
| birth_date = 1918
| birth_place = [[Ambala]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British Raj|British India]] (present-day [[Ambala]], Haryana, India)
| death_date = {{death date and age|1990|02|21|1918|df=y}}
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| burial_place =
| occupation = Singer
| other_names =
| height =
| signature =
| yearsactive = 1932–1953
| known_for = ''[[Rattan (film)|Rattan]]'' (1944)<br/>''[[Zeenat (1945 film)|Zeenat]]'' (1945)<br/>''[[Anmol Ghadi]]'' (1946)
}}
'''Zohrabai Ambalewali''' (1918 – 21 February 1990) was an Indian classical singer and playback singer in [[Hindi cinema]] in the 1930s and 1940s. She was considered one of the most popular female playback singers of early and mid 1940s.

She is best known for her [[contralto]] or low voice range singing in the film songs, "Ankhiyan Milake Jiyaa Bharmaake" and "Aai Diwali, Aai Diwali" in 1944 hit ''[[Rattan (film)|Rattan]]'' (1944), with music by [[Naushad]], and "Uran Khatole Pe Ud Jaoon", duet with [[Shamshad Begum]] in ''[[Anmol Ghadi]]'' (1946), also under Naushad's music direction. She, along with [[Rajkumari Dubey|Rajkumari]], [[Shamshad Begum]] and [[Amirbai Karnataki]], were amongst the leading first generation of playback singers in the [[Hindi film industry]]. However, by the late 1940s, the arrival of new voices like [[Geeta Dutt]] and [[Lata Mangeshkar]], meant Zohrabai Ambalewali's career faded away.

==Early life and background==
Born and brought up in [[Ambala]] in present-day [[Haryana]], to family of professional singers, which lend to her surname, 'Ambalewali', started her musical training under Ghulam Hussain Khan and Ustad Nasir Hussain Khan. Subsequently, she was trained in music by the [[Agra gharana]] of [[Hindustani music]].<ref name=women/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tahera |first=Khadeeja |date=2 December 2024 |title=कौन हैं ज़ोहराबाई अंबालेवाली |url=https://hindi.feminisminindia.com/2024/12/02/zohrabai-ambalewali-the-singer-who-broke-stereotypes-and-achieved-fame-hindi/ |access-date=28 December 2024 |website=फेमिनिज़म इन इंडिया |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Career==
Ambalewali started her career at age 13, as a singer with the [[All India Radio]], singing mainly classical and semi-classical numbers. This led to recording a few albums of [[thumri]]s with [[Saregama|His Master's Voice]]. Eventually she made her Hindi film debut as a playback singer with film ''Daku Ki Ladki'' (1933) with music by Pransukh Nayak.<ref name=women/> After initial years in [[Lahore]]-based film industry, she shifted to [[Bombay]] (now Mumbai).<ref name="Sundar2007">{{cite book|last=Sundar|first=Pavitra|title=Sounding the Nation: The Musical Imagination of Bollywood Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUAeAQAAMAAJ|page=73|year=2007|publisher=University of Michigan.}}</ref> Her musical success came with film ''[[Rattan (film)|Rattan]]'' (1944) under music director [[Naushad Ali]], and such hit songs as "Aai Diwali Aai Diwali" and "Akhiyan Mila Ke, Jiya Bharma Ke".<ref name="GokulsingDissanayake2013">{{cite book|last1=Gokulsing|first1=K. Moti|last2=Dissanayake|first2=Wimal|title=Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djUFmlFbzFkC&pg=PA264|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-77284-9|pages=264–}}</ref> She sang for music director Naushad, again in hit films like ''[[Anmol Ghadi]]'' (1946), ''[[Mela (1948 film)|Mela]]'' (1948), and ''Jadoo'' (1951).<ref name=upperstall>{{cite web|url=http://www.upperstall.com/people/zohra-ambala|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123041710/http://www.upperstall.com/people/zohra-ambala|access-date =15 April 2024|title=Filmography of Zohrabai Ambalewali|website=Upperstall.com website|url-status=dead |archive-date=23 January 2013}}</ref> She also sang a [[qawwali]] with [[Noor Jehan]] and Kalyani "Aahen Na Bhareen Shikway Na Kiye" in ''[[Zeenat (1945 film)|Zeenat]]'' (1945), which was the first ever Qawwali recorded in female voices in South Asian films and became very popular among the public.<ref name="Aziz2003"/>

This was the era when heavy [[thumri]]-style and the leading playback singers with nasal voices were singing in the Hindi cinema, with singers like [[Shamshad Begum]], [[Khursheed Bano|Khurshid]], [[Amirbai Karnataki]]. This was right before the arrival of [[Lata Mangeshkar]] in 1948, which along with [[Geeta Dutt]] and [[Sudha Malhotra]] shifted the popular taste towards finer voices, effectively bringing their careers to a gradual end. Another major film playback singer of that era [[Noor Jehan]] decided to migrate to [[Pakistan]] and had a highly successful singing career in [[Pakistan]] until she died in 2000.<ref name="Aziz2003">{{cite book|last=Aziz|first=Ashraf|title=Light of the universe: essays on Hindustani film music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cOUIAQAAMAAJ|pages=14, 21|year=2003|publisher=Three Essays Collective|isbn=978-81-88789-07-8}}</ref>

Zohrabai Ambalewali retired in the 1950s from the film industry, though she continued to sing at the performances of her daughter [[Roshan Kumari]], a noted [[Kathak]] dancer, who also performed in [[Satyajit Ray]]'s film ''[[Jalsaghar]]'' (1958).<ref name=women>{{cite web|title=Zohrabai, Amirbai and Rajkumari profiles |website= Women on Record website |url = http://www.womenonrecord.com/music-makers/artists/zohrabai-amirbai-rajkumari |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122111907/http://www.womenonrecord.com/music-makers/artists/zohrabai-amirbai-rajkumari|access-date =4 November 2024|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 November 2022}}</ref>

==Filmography==
* ''Daku Ki Ladki'' (1933)
* ''Gramophone Singer'' (1938)
*''[[Geet (1944 film)|Geet]]'' (1944)
* ''Pehle Aap'' (1944)
* ''[[Rattan (film)|Rattan]]'' (1944)<ref name=upperstall/>
* ''[[Zeenat (1945 film)|Zeenat]]'' (1945)<ref name=upperstall/>
* ''[[Sohni Mahiwal (1946 film)|Sohni Mahiwal]]'' (1946)
* ''[[Anmol Ghadi]]'' (1946)<ref name=upperstall/>
* ''[[Devar]]'' (1946)
* ''[[Elaan (1947 film)|Elaan]]'' (1947)
* ''[[Mela (1948 film)|Mela]]'' (1948)<ref name=upperstall/>
* ''Chunariya'' (1948)
* ''[[Mahal (1949 film)|Mahal]]'' (1949)<ref name=upperstall/>
* ''Dil Ki Basti'' (1949)
* ''Preet Ki Manzil'' (1950)<ref name=upperstall/>
* ''Jadoo'' (1951)
* ''Kashmir'' (1951)
* ''Usha Kiran'' (1952)<ref name=upperstall/>
* [[Amber (film)|Amber (1952 film)]]<ref name=upperstall/>

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0024254}} Filmography of Zohrabai Ambalewali

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambalewali, Zohrabai}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women classical singers]]
[[Category:People from Ambala]]
[[Category:Hindustani singers]]
[[Category:Indian women playback singers]]
[[Category:Hindi-language playback singers]]
[[Category:Singers from Haryana]]
[[Category:Women Hindustani musicians]]
[[Category:Women musicians from Haryana]]
[[Category:All India Radio people]]

Zohrabai Ambalewali - Revision history

Addie15A4298: put up new bio from scratch.