Subhra Guha

Subhra Guha a competent exponent of the Agra Gharana is today accepted as one of the leading female singers of the country. Subhra possesses an extremely melodious voice and has successfully eliminated the masculinity of the Agra Gharana gayaki, giving it a definite feminine charm at the same time keeping the salient characteristics of the Gayaki intact.

Coming from music loving family Subhra started showing signs of exceptional talents at a tender age and received her earliest traning from Late Shri Satish Bhowmik.As she started maturing, she came under the tutelage of one of the most learned Pandits of the Agra Gharana,Pandit Sunil Bose, for serious and advanced training.

Later in 1982 she also joined the prestigious Sangeet Research Academy of Kolkata where Pt Sunil Bose was a Guru and received undilluted and uninterrupted training from him for about ten years as a scholar of the Academy. Subsequently she also received training from the stalwart Late Pandit K.G Ginde at the Academy.From Late Pandit D.T Joshi, apart from overall sense of musicality and aesthetics, she also learnt the art of Thumri Singing and with a collection of rare thumries, today she is also acknowledged as one of the finest thumri singers of the Benaras Ang of the younger generation.

She also received valuable guidance from Pt Vijay Kichlu in polishing and forming an attractive structure of her Gayaki. Subhra today not only possesses a magnificient and cleat voice, but her rendition displays all characteristics where 'vidya', 'impeccable raagdari' and 'rich gayaki' comprise the edifice of the creativity. She has one of the largest and most exhaustive collection of some rare raagas and compositions. Her reportoire of thumri, dadra, kajri, chaiti, etc in pure Benaras tradition is also matchless.

She has intelligently maintained the balance between the two streams of Khyal and Thumri keeping intact all the academic excellance with measured blend of aesthetics and musical semantics. Open throated 'akar', her taans and bol-bants are extraordinary features of her gayaki. Her command over laya is outstanding. She has earned praises practically from all the leading musicians of our country.

She is a regular artiste of the A.I.R and television and has given memorable performances all over India and abroad. In India her performances at prestigious Music Conferences like the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival Pune, The Dover Lane Music Conference Kolkata, Vishnu Digambar Sangeet Samaroh Delhi, ITC Sangeet Sammelans Delhi, Kolkata and Bombay, Gharana Sammelan Bangalore, etc have been greatly appreciated and acclaimed by critics and music lovers.

Subhra is being invited regularly by various renowned organizations in the USA, Canada, UK, France, Gemany,etc and has also given apart from performnaces, lecture demonstrations for various universities in the USA and Canada. She has several cassettes and Cds to her credit.

VIEWS:

“ Subhra Guha is a talented and versatile singer of the younger generation having received sound grooming in the Agra tradition. Gifted with a rich, melodious voice, she is equally proficient both in khayal, thumri and dadra. In addition, she has a vast repertoire of bandishes”.

Padmabhushan Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan.

“ I know Subhra since 1982 and I have had a hundred occasions to hear her and undoubtedly she is a singer of the highest order in both Classical and Light Classical Music”.

Padmabhushan Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh.

“ She has developed proficiency in both classical and light classical vocal music. I pray to the Almighty for her all round success in life with music”.

Padmabhushan Smt Girija Devi.

“ Her command over ‘sur’ and ‘laya’ is of high order and she has a very classical approach to music making. Her performance bear the testimony of proper ‘talim’ and good ‘riyaz’ and deep perception”.

Padmabhushan Pandit V.G.Jog.

REVIEWS:

“ Her repertoire of the monsoon melody was characterized by a sound grasp of the aesthetics as well as the musical semantics of the raga… Her 45 minute ‘Miyan Ki Malhar’ emerged as a shining example of her dedication to the art”.

INDIAN EXPRESS, BOMBAY 5.9.91.

“ (In Subhra’s singing) the swing and dance of the ‘Agra Gharana’ come through with weird power and appeal”.

TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI, 9.5.93

“ Gifted with a clear and forceful voice, with slight huskiness to it, she regaled the audience with her unencumbered movement in all the octaves in the Raga Jaijawanti. Precision in the notes, command over the rhythm and an excellent rapport with the accompanists were the impressive feature of her presentation”.

TIMES OF INDIA, PUNE PLUS, 25.12.93

“ Her voice after years of diligent practice, can develop a raga into a blooming spectacle. Among musicians of her generation, her grasp over classical ragas is undoubtedly uncontroversial…”

AJKER KAGAJ, BANGLADESH

“ Dem Zauber der indischen Musik konnen sich wohl die wenigsten ihrer Zuhorer entziehen. Das mag an den exotischen Klangen leigen, fur das Ohreines Mitteleuropaers ungewohnt. Die indischen Kunstler Sajal Karmakar und Subhra Guha sind zu ei-nem Sonderkonzert am 23. October in der Auerbacher Nikolaikirche zu erleben”.

AUERBACH (RED), GERMANY, 1998

“ Subhra created magic with her powerful, full throated gayaki … her tonal quality, … range and maturity of style were truly magnificent. Her elaboration of the raga and the variety in ‘bol upaj’ and ‘layakari’ were superb. Her rendition of the thumri was particularly pleasing as result of the clarity of words and musicality. She is a finished product of excellent technique and aesthetic appeal”.

THE TRIBUNE, CHANDIGARH, 8.4.94

“ Two beauty spots came off extremely well in Subhra’s rendition. The hairline accuracy of her notes, saturated with rich sensibility, conduced to the realization of a deep impact. Her grip over Tilak Kamod could be ascertained by just two phrases, ‘RI PA MA GA’ and ‘PA PA SA, PA DHA MA GA’.”

THE HINDU, NEW DELHI, 24.1.03

“ Gifted with deepest grainy timbre that completed the onset of winter, Guha’s tone acquired an enticing beauty as she delved within an elaborate filigree of ‘meend’, making the most of her natural malleability to carve out poised gratifying music. Her excellent ‘tappakari’ rippled across the Khayal in Raag Kedar”.

THE TELEGRAPH, KOLKATA, 8.11.02

“ Sun peeps from Subhra’s voice. She is born to rule. Her voice reverberated from every nook and corner of the auditorium. An undoubted asset”.

THE HINDU, NEW DELHI, 7.12.90

"Among the vocal recitals, Subhra Guha's vilambit and drut khayals in the rare raga Hem Nat impressed the most. Positioned just before the Shiv Kumar Sharma-Zakir Hussain piece de resistance, the singer not only developed the vilambit in the best possible manner but, following the Agra gharana vilambit format expertly, also delivered a khayal that was at once traditional, tidy and appealing. This included typically Agra style swingy phrase development, rhythmic elaboration and taankari. The drut teentaal khayal in this raag had all the virtues of the vilambit. Here the singer delivered absolutely contextual rhythmic elaboratation and taankari impressively. equally impressive were the Khamaj Thumri and the Hori Dadra sung at the end."

THE TELEGRAPH JANUARY 23 2004