Angurbala

Biography

Angurbala was born on the seventh day of Sravan in the Bengalee year 1313 which should be around July, 1896. According to some she was born in the village of Indas of Burdwan district of undivided Bengal while some others say that her place of birth was in the Cossipore area of Calcutta. There appears to be some confusion also regarding the name of her father who was an army officer. Some say it is Bijoli Bhushan Banerjee but some others give the name as Sudhir Kumar Banerjee. Her mother's name was Harimati. Her real name was Prabhabati while Nera was the name by which her mother called her. She received primary education in her village with scholarship showing that apart from singing and acting talents, she was also a good student as well. Nevertheless she had to quit formal education and had to join the stage and took to singing professionally at an early age for reasons of poverty. Her first training in music was from Mr. Amulya Majumder, who was a friend of her father. Later on she was given music lessons by Ustad Jeet Prasad. Khayal and Thumri lessons were provided by Ustad Ram Prasad Mishra. Ustad Jamiruddin Khan also taught her Thumris. Dance master Lalit Mohan Goswami took the little girl to Star Theatre where she could earn some money to support her family. At the same time the name of Angurbala was given to her by Lalit Goswami for the stage and in this name she went ahead in her career as a performing artiste on the stage, on the screen and last but not the least music. Her first encounter with the stage was when she was about eight under the guidance of dramatist Nripendra Chandra Basu in minor roles. Her services on the stage was necessitated in 1912 when in the Cornwallis Theatre a play Muktar Mukti failed to draw the audience in spite of Miss Kusum Kumari in the leading role. Dramatist Manilal Ganguly came to the rescue of the theatre with the idea that songs by a well trained singer could bring back the public to the stage. Thus Angurbala was cast in a singing role in the play and as anticipated there were large crowds to see her live on the stage. The song was Bhorer Pakhir Sure Sure Mathay Baje Bina Benu in raag Bharavi tuned by none other than Manilal Ganguly. Thereafter Angurbala became a regular artiste on the stage and performed in plays like Ratneswarer Mandir 1922 at the Cornwallis and Baruna 1923, Atmadarshan 1925, Satyabhama 1925, Tulsidas 1926, Byapika Biday 1926, Jug Mahatmo 1926, Nartaki 1927, Satyer Sandhane 1928 and Jatichyuta 1928 each at Minerva Theatre. At Manomohan Theatre she took part in Jahangir 1929, Shree 1929, rangapakhi 1930, Desher Dak 1930, Abhijaat 1931, Kalir Samudramanthan 1931, Bamanabataar 1933 and Shiba Shakti 1935. Angurbala also appeared in different plays at the star Theatre, Rangmahal, Kalika and other stages in Calcutta. The Gramophone Company of India started to record her songs and Kaala Tor Tarey Kadamtolay Cheye Thaki and Bandho Na Torikhani Amar E Nadikuley were her first two songs to be published as records. The record number was P 4721. Thereafter she became a regular artiste of HMV cutting innumerable discs. Many of her stage songs were also recorded by her for HMV. She also recorded a poem of Tagore tuned by an unknown person. This song Tomari Grihe Palichho Snehe has never been recognized as a Tagore song by Bishwa Bharati. 1923 was the year when her first film, a silent one Indrasabha was released. Her first talkie was Jamuna Puliney (1933) in which she played the role of Brindey. Incidentally this film also had Indubala and Kamala Jharia included in the cast. Soon she made her presence felt in singing roles in films like Radha Krishna (1933), Char Darvesh (1933), Naseeb Ka Chakkar (1936), Maa Ki Mamta (1936), Abartan (1936), Indira (1937), Devjani (1939) and several others in many different Indian languages like Urdu, Tamil and Telugu. As a record artiste her popularity hit the sky and she was specially invited by The Nizam of Hyderabad to sing in court. In one of the discs during this period, her photo was printed on one side of a record with the photo of Hyderabad's Nizam on the other. That was the extent she impressed the Nizam with her songs and earned his respect. Her stage performances continued at the same time and her songs were a source of major attraction for all those who queued up for tickets of the plays. For the radio she started to sing from the very first day broadcasting was started. Her first song over the radio was Nithura Nagara Shyam. Her association with Najrul Islam broadened her field and she recorded several songs of Nazrul gradually achieving not only the status of a major exponent of such songs but also an authority in the subject. She quit acting long back but never lost touch with music which was her first love. Apart from a Gold disc from HMV, she was given the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy Award from Delhi and honorary D.Litt from Kalyani University. Angurbala was popularly known as Sangeet Samragyee or empress of the Music World along with contemporary artiste Miss Indubala, who was also her close personal friend. A documentary film, titled Teen Kanya featuring her along with two other artistes namely Indubala and Kamala Jharia_ was made in 1972. She was appointed Nazrul music trainer by HMV and trained artistes like Manabendra Mukherjee and others in Nazrul songs. Even in advanced age she participated in music functions and gave public performances. Angurbala had a younger sister who looked after her in her old age. Her name for the stage was Bedanabala. Angurbala had two houses in Calcutta. One of them, bought when she was at the height of her career was named Drakhshakunja by dramatist Amrita Lal Bose. This house still stands at Durga Charan Mitra Street of North Calcutta. About eighteen months before her death she suffered from a stroke that caused loss of memory. The end came on the seventh day of January, 1984. Her foster son Mr Amal Banerjee and his wife were present when she breathed her last.