Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

BHOSLE, Asha

(b 8 Sep. '33, Sangali, Maharashtra, India) Playback singer, the sister of the most influential voice of India, Lata Mangeshkar. The family also incl. other sisters and brother Hridaynath, a music director. Her father Dinanath Mangeshkar died '42, which meant moving from Pune initially to Kolhapur and then to Bombay. Around age ten she sang her first film song in the Marathi film Majha Bal singing 'Chala Chala Nav Bala' (or possibly Badi Maa '45; accounts differ); made Hindi film debut in Hansraj Bahl's Chunaria '48 singing 'Saawan Aaya Saawan Aaaya Saawan Aaya Jaage More Bhaag Sakhi Ri': the film also featured Zohrabai and the then Geeta Roy (later better known as Geeta Dutt). First duetted with sister Lata in film Daman '51 but the relationship became increasingly adversarial and has endured periods of non-communication. Cassette compilations and recyclings are numerous; to commemorate her 60th birthday in '93 EMI India released three cassettes: a set of devotional material, Bala Main Bairagan Hoongi; a set of non- film ghazals by composers such as Ghulam Ali, R. D. Burman and Nazar Hussain called The Golden Collection: Memorable Ghazals; and The Golden Collection: The Ever Versatile Asha Bhosle, a 44-song anthology of popular film hits. To no little degree her success can be attributed to her versatility: she has sung in many different voices and styles. Sizzling Hits (EMI India) '89, despite its title, had little to attract the average listener. By '94 Asha Bhosle had sung in virtually every regional language of India including Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sindhi, Tamil and Telugi, her mother tongue Marathi, and Hindi. Her popularity transcends linguistic difference; she is enormously popular in the worldwide Indian community and beyond wherever Indian film is popular. She has also sung in Russian and Malay; has performed the art songs of Rabindra Sangeet (the words of Bengali poet and 1913 Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore); with the bhangra group Alaap, the Indian rap act Baba Sehgal, and with Boy George. While Lata Mangeshkar's voice is the epitome of the Indian nightingale, Asha Bhosle's has the greater versatility and the ability to adopt theatrical shadings (as opposed to theatricality): she can sound young, middle-aged or old and deservedly has acquired a reputation for innovation and crossing conservative chalk lines. She demonstrated more versatility and made further history in '95 by undergoing the ganda bandan (thread-tying) ceremony with Hindustani classical maestro Ali Akbar Khan in order that she might be taught a classical repertoire held within the Maihar gharana (stylistic school) as handed down to Ali Akbar Khan by his father Allauddin Khan (also the guru of Ravi Shankar). Once an initiate she could be taught the repertoire, and in August they recorded eleven fixed compositions (or bandishes) in California for Legacy on AMMP '96.