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{{short description|Indian classical vocalist (1892–1977)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{More citations needed|article|date=June 2008}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name = Kesarbai Kerkar
| image =Kesarbai Kerkar awarded by President Rajendra Prasad.jpg
| caption = Kesarbai Kerkar receiving [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] in March 1953
|background = solo_singer
|birth_name = Kesarbai Kerkar
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|7|13|df=yes}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1977|9|16|1892|7|13|df=yes}} ??
|origin = Keri, [[Goa]]
|genre = [[Hindustani classical music]] – [[Khayal]]
|occupation = Hindustani classical vocalist
|years_active = 1930-1964
}}

'''Kesarbai Kerkar''' (13 July 1892 – 16 September 1976 (?)
) was an Indian [[Hindustani classical music|classical]] vocalist of the [[Jaipur-Atrauli gharana]].<ref name="Haḷadaṇakara2001">{{cite book|author=Babanarāva Haḷadaṇakara|title=Aesthetics of Agra and Jaipur Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ktS00KztX3YC&pg=PA33|date=1 January 2001|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7154-685-5|pages=33–}}</ref> A protege of [[Ustad Alladiya Khan]] (1855–1946), the founder of the gharana, she went on to become one of the most noted [[khayal]] singers of the second half of the 20th century.<ref name="NettlArnold2000"/><ref name="Purohit1988">{{cite book|author=Vinayak Purohit|title=Arts of Transitional India Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ae1Zrmz6ETwC&pg=PA864|year=1988|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-0-86132-138-4|pages=908}}</ref><ref>[http://www.indianmelody.com/kesarbaiarticle1.htm Surashri Kesarbai Kerkar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511140445/http://www.indianmelody.com/kesarbaiarticle1.htm |date=11 May 2021 }}. Retrieved on 2009-12-27</ref>

She was 67 when she was awarded the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] in 1953, followed by [[Padma Bhushan]] the third highest civilian award in India, in 1969.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref> One of her recordings is included on the [[Voyager Golden Record]].

==Biography==

===Early life and training===
Born in the tiny village of Keri (also spelled "Querim"), in a family from [[Ponda, India|Ponda]] ''[[Tehsil|taluka]]'' of [[North Goa]], [[Goa]] (then a Portuguese colony), at the age of eight Kerkar moved to [[Kolhapur]], where she studied for eight months with [[Abdul Karim Khan]]. Upon her return to Goa, she studied with the vocalist Ramkrishnabuwa Vaze (1871–1945), during his visits to Lamgaon.<ref name="NettlArnold2000">{{cite book|author1=Bruno Nettl|author2=Alison Arnold|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC&pg=PA413|year=2000|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1|pages=413–}}</ref><ref name="Vaz1997"/>

Meanwhile, Mumbai (then Bombay) under British Raj, was fast developing as a business and trade centre of the country. Several musicians and singers from North India and Central India, facing declining patronage from princely states started migrating to the city. At the age of 16, she too moved to [[Mumbai]] with her mother and uncle. A wealthy local businessman Seth Vitthaldas Dwarkadas helped her study under with Barkat Ullah Khan, sitar player and court musician at Patiala State. He taught her intermittently for two years, during his visit to the city. However, when Khan, became court musician at Mysore State, she trained under [[Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale]] (1869-1922) and Ramkrishnabuwa Vaze for short periods.<ref name=under/>

Eventually ending up as disciple to [[Ustad Alladiya Khan]] (1855–1946), the founder of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, beginning in 1921, and trained rigorously under him for following eleven years. Though she started singing professionally in 1930, she continued learning from Khan, despite his failing health, till his death in 1946.<ref name="Vaz1997">{{cite book|author=J. Clement Vaz|title=Profiles of Eminent Goans, Past and Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DJLxYBYA-YC&pg=PA78|date= 1997|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-7022-619-2|pages=78–79}}</ref><ref name=under>{{cite web | title = Kesarbai Kerkar |work= Underscore Records | url = http://www.underscorerecords.com/artistes/detail/66/Kesarbai_Kerkar | access-date = 2014-09-13 }}</ref>

===Career===
Kerkar eventually achieved wide renown, performing regularly for aristocratic audiences. She was very particular about the representation of her work and consequently made only a few 78 rpm recordings, for the [[Saregama|His Master's Voice]] and Broadcast labels. In time, Kerkar became an accomplished ''[[Khayal]]'' singer of her generation, and seldom sang light classical music, often associated with female vocalists. Her success as a public singer, along with that of [[Mogubai Kurdikar]] (mother of [[Kishori Amonkar]]), [[Hirabai Barodekar]] and [[Gangubai Hangal]], paved the way for the next generation of female vocalists, away from singing ''[[mehfil]]''s or private gatherings that women of previous generations had to settle for.<ref name="NettlArnold2000"/>

Kerkar was awarded the 1953 [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]], given by the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama, as the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm |title=SNA: List of Akademi Awardees |publisher=[[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] Official website |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530204253/http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm |archive-date=30 May 2015 }}</ref> This was followed by the decoration of [[Padma Bhushan]] by the government of India in 1969,<ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2013) |publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]] |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref> and in the same year the government of the Indian state of [[Maharashtra]] conferred upon her the title of "Rajya Gayika." Indian [[Nobel Prize|Nobel laureate]] [[Rabindranath Tagore]] (1861–1941) is said to have been very fond of Kerkar's singing. Her honorific title "Surashri" (or "Surshri") literally means "one with a mastery over notes" (''sur'' meaning "notes" in Indian classical music and ''shri'' which is an honorific title used in this context as ''lord'' or ''master''), and was bestowed on her in 1948 by the Sangeet Pravin Sangitanuragi Sajjan Saman Samiti of Calcutta. She retired from public singing in 1963–64.<ref name="Vaz1997"/>

In her ancestral village of Keri, the Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar High School now occupies the site of Kerkar's former second home, and the house where she was born still stands, less than one kilometer away. A music festival called the Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Smriti Sangeet Samaroha is held in Goa each November, by [[Kala Academy]], Goa.<ref>{{cite web | title = Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Smriti Sangeet Samaroha |work=Kala Academy Goa| url = http://kalaacademygoa.org/surashree-kesarbai-kerkar-smriti-sangeet-samaroha/| access-date = 2014-09-13}}</ref> and a music scholarship in her name is awarded annually to a [[University of Mumbai]] student by [[National Centre for the Performing Arts (India)|National Centre for the Performing Arts]] (NCPA) via Kesarbai Kerkar Scholarship Fund.<ref name="Vaz1997"/> Unlike her Guru, Kerkar was not fond of teaching, and thus taught only one disciple, [[Dhondutai Kulkarni]], who has previously learned from Ut. Bhurji Khan, the son of Alladiya Khan and Ut. Azizuddin Khan, grandson of Alladiya Khan.<ref>{{cite web | title = Dhondutai Kulkarni: A life steeped in simplicity, soaked in music | url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Dhondutai-Kulkarni-A-life-steeped-in-simplicity-soaked-in-music/articleshow/35911853.cms | author=Namita Devidayal|date= 2 Jun 2014|access-date = 2014-09-12 | work =The Times of India}}</ref><ref name="Grimes2008">{{cite book|author=Jeffrey Michael Grimes|title=The Geography of Hindustani Music: The Influence of Region and Regionalism on the North Indian Classical Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eoNVmfGBLoC&pg=PA144|year=2008|isbn=978-1-109-00342-0|pages=144– }}</ref>

Kerkar has the further distinction of having one of her recordings, "Jaat Kahan Ho", duration 3:30 (an interpretation of [[raga]] [[Bhairavi (music)|Bhairavi]]) included on the [[Voyager Golden Record]], a gold-plated copper disc containing music selections from around the world, which was sent into space aboard the [[Voyager 1]] and [[Voyager 2|2]] spacecraft in 1977.<ref>{{cite news |last=Laxman |first=Srinivas |date=7 August 2017 |title=40 years of Voyager-2: Indian music still resonates in space |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/40-years-of-voyager-2-indian-music-still-resonates-in-space/articleshow/59946678.cms |work=[[The Times of India]] |access-date=10 August 2017 }}</ref> The recording was recommended for inclusion on the Voyager disc by the ethnomusicologist [[Robert E. Brown]], who believed it to be the finest recorded example of Indian classical music.

Since 2000, several CDs of her archival recordings have been released, including one on the ''Golden Milestones'' series, which contains several of her most famous songs.

==Recordings==
* ''Classical Vocal'' CD (2008) from Sangeet Natak Akademi
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160308235550/http://khazana.com/et/products/product.asp?country=india&department=music&mscssku=inmu7107&mscsstcid=&mss.request.category%20name=&mss.request.product%20name=golden%20milestones%20%20-%20surshri%20kesarbai%20kerkar&mss.request.sku=inmu7107&new_target=%2Fet%2Ffeatured_includes%2Ffeatured_column_kesarbai.asp&region=&sub_dept= ''Golden Milestones'' (2003)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160307113301/http://khazana.com/et/products/product.asp?country=india&department=music&mscsregion=&mscsstcid=&mss.request.category%20name=&mss.request.product%20name=vintage%2078%20rpm%20recording%20on%20cd%20-%20classical%20vocal%20-%20%20%20kesarbai%20kerkar&mss.request.sku=inmu7925&new_target=%2Fet%2Ffeatured_includes%2Ffeatured_column_kesarbai.asp&sku=inmu7925&sub_dept= Vintage 78 Rpm Recording on CD]
* [http://www.underscorerecords.com/catalog/audio/details.php?cat_id=04AM011 ''Living Music of the Past'' CD from Underscore Records site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201184427/https://underscorerecords.com/catalog/audio/details.php?cat_id=04AM011 |date=1 December 2021 }}
* [http://www.sangeetkendra.org ''Baithak Series – Live concert Recordings'' A set of 4 CDs Published by Sangeet Kendra]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.parrikar.org/vpl/?page_id=328 Kesarbai's music page from Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music]
* [http://www.parrikar.org/photos/kesarbai-kerkar-photo-album/ Kesarbai's Photo Album from Rajan Parrikar Music Archive]

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1960–69}}
{{Voyager Golden Record}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerkar, Surashri}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1977 deaths]]
[[Category:Hindustani singers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]
[[Category:Musicians from North Goa district]]
[[Category:Indian women classical singers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:Singers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Jaipur gharana]]
[[Category:Women Hindustani musicians]]
[[Category:Singers from Goa]]
[[Category:Women musicians from Goa]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century Khyal singers]]

Kesarbai Kerkar - Revision history

imported>Saprativadhikary at 02:50, 14 January 2026