THE RECORD NEWS - The Digital South Asia Library - University of ...

long playing (four minute) 78 rpm shellac disc in which he has sung raga
jaijaiwanti and the bandish is:
“Tujhe malrani tuhi manmen mane, vidya saraswati
Vaikunth nishani tuhi pragat tu hi nikat vidya…..”
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From HMV catalogue (C.1933)
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Gramophone Celebrities – 46
Moghubai Kurdikar – (1904-2001)
Moga was born at Kurdi (a small place in Goa) in a family of musicians. Later on
she was known as Moghubai Kurdikar and lived for 97 years. She spent major
part of her life in pursuit of Jaipur-Atrauli gayaki. As a child, she learnt music and
dance at home. Her mother Jayashreebai also had a sweet voice but both could
not afford the fees to get the proper training. Both mother and the daughter
joined ‘Chandreshwar Bhootnath Sangeet Natak Mandali’ of Goa. Little Moga
played roles in ‘Bhakta Dhruva’ and ‘Bhakta Pralhad’ plays. Layabhaskar
Khaprumama Parvatkar played tabla in this company. He taught little Moga for a
while and introduced her to the world of music. She joined ‘Satarkar Sangeet
Mandli’ after her mother passed away. Here she learnt music from Chintuboa
Gurav and dance from Ramlal.
Around 1920, Moghubai Kurdikar settled at Sangli and decided to quit drama
company to devote her life in pursuit of pure classical music. Initially she learnt
from Ustad Inayat Khan R. Pathan who was visiting Sangli during his tour. Later
on she learnt from many gurus. One evening she was singing a famous Marathi
natyapad – ‘Madivari chal ga gade’ and was fully engrossed in it. Khansaheb
Alladiya was passing by her house. He listened to the music and came in her
house. He was pleased with her singing and taught her for few days. When he
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