About Book
In its original Hindi version, Pandit Tejpal Singh’s Biography of Ustad Amir khan (1912-74), One of the greatest vocalists of north Indian classical music in the twentieth century , has been described by S K Saxena , the distinguished music scholar , as ‘decidedly the most significant homage to the maestro.’ Trained by Khansahab directly over a long period , Tejpal Singh and his disciple Prerna Arora have reconstructed the master’s life and provided a comprehensive account of his insight and perceptions about music , drawing on Singh ‘s conversation with him. But the most invaluable part of the book is the collection of the rare bandishes that khansahab sang, with their notations . With his great concern for the meaning of the lyrics, he had ensured that the texts were preserved by his disciple in their authentic form.
About Author
Tejpal Singh (b. 134) is best known as one of the couple of singers (the other being surinder Singh ) who describes themselves as ‘Singh bandhu.’ The duo received their initial training in vocal music from Sri G S sardar, and thereafter from Ustad Amir Khan of the Inode Gharana. Well known exponents of Gurbani and shabad Kirtan, the Singh bandhu brothers have produced a large number of recording of both Hindustani classical and sikh devotional music. With a Master in Mathematics from deli University , Tejpal Singh has taught at the Government college, Gurgaon and headed the music Department of the Government Music college for women in Rohtak. He has directed music for films and television serials including Govind Nihalani’s Tamas. Tejpal and Surinder Singh have been honoured by many organizations including the Shaitya kala Parishad , Delhi (11986). They have also been recipients of the State Awards of the Punjab and Haryana Governments , the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial award (1995) and the Sangeet Natak Akademi award (2004).
Prerna Arora is a Disciple of Pandit Tejpal Singh . With a PhD in Music from Delhi University, she is associate Professor and head of the Department of music a Janki Devi Memorial college , One of the Constituent college under Delhi University.
Meena Banerjee, Musicologist and critic; received her training in Hindustani classical music from Pandit Amarnath of Indore gharana , and in Rabindrasangeet from SM sumitra Sen; and has been widely acclaimed for her recitals an lecture-demonstrations in north Indian classical vocal music throughout India., southeast Aasia, Europe and Africa. With a Aster in Sanskrit, a deft Command over Hindustani dialects, as well as Hindi, English and Bengali , she has published several research papers and translation. She has held administrative positions in Sahitya Kala Parishad., Delhi; and teaching and editing positions in ITC Sangeet Research Academy , Kolakata. A regular contributor to major newspaper and periodicals since 1984, She has been awarded for r cultural journalism With the Media Excellence Award, 2015 and the abhinavgupata Samman , 2016.
She Follows up her widely appreciated Bengali translation of Sangeetsurya Ustad Amir Khan With the Present translation in English , also containing her own Evaluation of Khansahab