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 Merukhand or Khandmeru system for extended alaps. Chhajju Khan's son 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

Third generation

• Anjanibai Malpekar (disciple of Ustad Nazeer Khan) (1883–1974)

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

• Pandit Shivkumar Shukla (1918-1998)

• Ramesh Nadkarni (1921–1995)
• T.D. Janorikar (1921-2006)

Fifth generation

• (Late)Neelatai Nagpurkar; (Late)Upendra Kamat; (Late)Mandakini Gadre; (Late)Pt. Jagannath 'Sangeetmurti' Prasad; Vasanti Sathe

Other disciples

• Disciples of Aman Ali Khan: Ashraf hussain

Lata Mangeshkar; Vasantrao Deshpande; Manna Dey

• Disciples of Anjanibai Malpekar:

Kumar Gandharva; Kishori Amonkar; Begum Akhtar; Naina Devi

• Disciples of Navrang Nagpurkar:

Asha Bhosle; Jitendra Abhisheki; Suman Kalyanpur; Pankaj Udhas

External links

• Website devoted to Bhendi Bazaar gharana
• Bhendi Bazaar gharana at ITC Sangeet Research Academy