MALKA PUKHRAJ’S MEMOIRS, Song Sung True, begin with the story of her birth, in 1912, in a small village called Hamirpur Sidhar, along the banks of the Chenab, at a time when Jammu and Kashmir was still a princely state and British colonisation of the subcontinent was on its last legs.
A celebrated ghazal and folk singer, Malka was employed at the court of Hari Singh, the king of Jammu and Kashmir, when she was only nine years old. After she left his court, she moved to Pakistan, prior to Partition, and settled in Lahore, gave private concerts and began singing for the radio. Like her contemporary Begum Akhtar, Malka made a name for herself as a singer of ghazal, thumri and dadra, as well as folk songs in her native Dogri. She is especially remembered for her rendition of Hafeez Jallandhari’s “Abhi toh main jawan hoon,” but her repertoire was vast, and she had a long and prolific career. She passed away in Lahore, in 2004, but before that, she completed her memoirs, which were edited and translated into English by the historian Saleem Kidwai.
Esta historia es de la edición November 2019 de The Caravan.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición November 2019 de The Caravan.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Mob Mentality
How the Modi government fuels a dangerous vigilantism
RIP TIDES
Shahidul Alam’s exploration of Bangladeshi photography and activism
Trickle-down Effect
Nepal–India tensions have advanced from the diplomatic level to the public sphere
Editor's Pick
ON 23 SEPTEMBER 1950, the diplomat Ralph Bunche, seen here addressing the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The first black Nobel laureate, Bunche was awarded the prize for his efforts in ending the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Shades of The Grey
A Pune bakery rejects the rigid binaries of everyday life / Gender
Scorched Hearths
A photographer-nurse recalls the Delhi violence
Licence to Kill
A photojournalist’s account of documenting the Delhi violence
CRIME AND PREJUDICE
The BJP and Delhi Police’s hand in the Delhi violence
Bled Dry
How India exploits health workers
The Bookshelf: The Man Who Learnt To Fly But Could Not Land
This 2013 novel, newly translated, follows the trajectory of its protagonist, KTN Kottoor.