Malka Jaan

Malka Jaan of Agra was one of Gauhar Jaan's contemporaries. Born in Azamgarh, she studied under several ustads of Agra. Later she became a court musician at the durbar of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in Calcutta. Malka Jaan Agrewali became popular for developing her new full-throated thumri singing style. She had a wide repertoire that ranged from dhrupad, khayal and thumri to the so-called light and folk pieces of hori, chaiti, kajri, tappa and ghazal. Her ‘Beete jat barkha ritu sajan nahin aaye’ (‘The rainy season is coming to an end but my beloved hasn’t returned’) in Raga Desh and ‘Papihara piu piu kare’ (The papihara bird melodiously calls, piu piu) in Raga Sawan were immensely popular with the audiences both in live concerts and on gramophone discs. Later in life, Malka Jaan Agrewali had a long and torrid love affair with the famed Ustad of the Agra Gharana, Ustad Faiyyaz Khan, who was much younger than her. Another musician, the extremely talented Maujuddin Khan, who was madly in love with her, almost ruined his life to alcohol when she spurned him.