One of the most revered thumri singers of her generation, Siddheshwari Devi was known for her mastery of the craft of the swara and the art of the sublime. A listening session, guided by singer and composer Shubha Mudgal, will highlight the full spectrum of the vocalist’s talent and ingenuity.
By Narendra Kusnur
In her 1981 book Great Masters of Indian Music, researcher and musicologist Susheela Misra mentions an incident that took place at an All-India Music Conference in Mumbai. She doesn’t specify the year, but the performers included Faiyaz Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Siddheshwari Devi. After Siddheshwari Devi sang ‘Kaahe Ko Daari Re Gulaal’ in Bhairavi, Faiyaz Khan, who was next in the line-up, refused to come to the mic. “After such music, there is no room for any more. After Gauhar Malika [Gauhar Jaan and Malika Jaan], the crown of the thumri rests on your head,” he is reported to have said.
One of the greatest thumri singers of the 20th century, Siddheshwari Devi embodied the style of the Banaras gharana, conveying emotions and expressions through artistic use of swaras and voice modulation. She was an iconic representative of Purab Ang gayaki, which is known for its unique and intricate style of thumri and its allied forms, besides seasonal and ritualistic songs associated with the Banaras region. She left behind a wealth of recordings, which are masterclasses in vocal artistry. Some of them, such as ‘Jaavo Baalam Naahi Bolo’, ‘Jaavo Jaavo Jaavo Ji’, ‘Sej Chadhat Dar Laage’ and the favourite, again in Bhairavi, ‘Khul Khul Jaaye Baaju Bandh’, can be accessed on streaming channels. Several others hold pride of place at the NCPA, where she was invited, soon after it was established, to record for its archives. These curated recording sessions veered away from the artistes’ popular concert repertoires to include renditions and demonstration-cum-interviews which offered insights into their musicality, training and artistic influences.
Siddheshwari Devi’s inimitable style can now be experienced at the upcoming edition of Nad Ninad: From Our Archives, a special listening session curated and guided by noted vocalist and composer Shubha Mudgal. “As a leading exponent of the Purab Ang thumri, her recorded music provides me with an absolute treasure of information about the art of thumri singing, demolishing in each rendering the misguided belief held by many, that thumri is a ‘semi-classical’ form, and suggesting that it is not as complex as other vocal forms,” says Mudgal.
The listening session will feature the NCPA’s archival collection of her recordings which includes her performances for the centre in the early to mid1970s, in some of which she was accompanied by the legendary tabla maestro Ahmed Jan Thirakwa and sarangi exponent Gopal Misra. These feature gems like ‘Suhaagin Barsat Kaahe’ and ‘Saloni Saawan Aayo Re’. According to Mudgal, “There will also be a rare interview of Siddheshwari Devi ji, which will provide invaluable information. The complex and nuanced quality of her bol-banao, her command of the idiom and the sheer passion of her renderings leave me moved and in complete awe. I find in her singing an incomparable baring of the soul which can only be achieved perhaps through mastery over the craft paired with a profound humility and intense desire to surrender oneself to the art, or maybe the Divine.”
Mudgal adds that for her, if there is one artiste who shows listeners the full spectrum of the thumri, from the sensuous to the sublime, “it would have to be Siddheshwari Devi ji.” Yet, though the thumri was her forte, she also excelled in tappa, a faster paced form known for its knotty construction and rolling pace. It may be worth noting that Mani Kaul’s National Award-winning 1989 film Siddheshwari, produced by Films Division of India, uses her tappa ‘Ae Nazar Daulat Aaye Bahaar’ in one of its early scenes.
Besides Kaul’s film, in which Mita Vasisht plays the doyenne, her life and music have been described in great detail by her younger daughter and classical vocalist Savita Devi in the book Maa: Siddheshwari, published in 2000 (currently out of print). A Padma Shri recipient, Siddheshwari Devi was born in Varanasi in the first decade of the 20th century. (Sources give different years of birth, ranging from 1903 to 1908.) She traced her musical lineage to her maternal grandmother Maina Devi. Having lost her parents when she was very young, she was brought up by her aunt Rajeswari Devi.
Savita Devi’s book talks about how her mother became involved with classical music by accident, before being trained by noted sarangi player Siyaji Maharaj. Her aunt Rajeswari had arranged music training for her own daughter Kamleshwari, while Siddheshwari did the small household chores. Once, Kamleshwari was unable to sing a tappa in the presence of Siyaji Maharaj, and her angry mother began caning her. Siddheshwari went to her cousin’s rescue, took the beating herself and showed her how the tappa was sung. The sarangi maestro was so impressed that he decided to invite Siddheshwari to be part of his own family and train her. In her interviews, the vocalist often talked about how her guru taught her the basic ragas, and besides thumri, gave her lessons in khayal, tappa and tarana.
After Siyaji Maharaj’s death, Siddheshwari Devi trained with Rajab Ali Khan of Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, Inayat Khan of Lahore and Bade Ramdas of Varanasi. She made her debut at a Kolkata conference at the age of 18, and there was no looking back. Her khayals in Malhar and Suha Sughrai, and her thumris were praised by eminent vocalists like Faiyaz Khan and Omkarnath Thakur, and later by Kesarbai Kerkar. Carnatic great M. S. Subbulakshmi also admired her and even learnt some bhajans from her.
Siddheshwari Devi passed away on 18th March 1977. Her contemporaries included Begum Akhtar (who was more known for ghazals, but also sang thumris), Badi Moti Bai, Rasoolan Bai and Mahadev Prasad Mishra, while Girija Devi, Shobha Gurtu and Naina Devi represented the next generation. Besides the recordings available online, her work has been restored by many private collectors. Though Mudgal did not get an opportunity to see Siddheshwari Devi in concert, she says, “I have revisited her recordings repeatedly over several years and decades, listening to them for the sheer pleasure of listening but also to analyse and learn and gain invaluable insights into her inspiring music.”
At the session, Mudgal will select samples that present thumri, dadra, seasonal forms like hori and kajri and other forms like tappa. “I will also look at renditions in diverse talas and ragas,” she says. According to her, music that is as moving and powerful as Siddheshwari Devi’s will always speak to listeners with or without guidance. “However, explanations of terms related to thumri and comments on individual styles can be helpful in preparing newer listeners on how to listen and what to look out for,” she adds. For those in attendance who are already familiar with the music, it will be a trip down melody lane, taking one through the serenity of the Ganga in Varanasi and the divine, river-like flow of that remarkable voice.
NCPA Citi Nad Ninad: From Our Archives, a listening session on the artistry of Siddheshwari Devi will be conducted on 17th May at the Experimental Theatre. To read more on the literary aspect of the thumri, please refer to the Archives section from the NCPA Quarterly Journal in this and the April 2025 issues of ON Stage.
This article was originally published in the May 2025 issue of ON Stage.
