Angurbala
- Actress
- Music Department
Angurbala was born on the seventh day of Sravan in the Bengalee year
1313 which should be around July, 1896. According to some she was born
in the village of Indas of Burdwan district of undivided Bengal while
some others say that her place of birth was in the Cossipore area of
Calcutta. There appears to be some confusion also regarding the name of
her father who was an army officer. Some say it is Bijoli Bhushan
Banerjee but some others give the name as Sudhir Kumar Banerjee. Her
mother's name was Harimati. Her real name was Prabhabati while Nera was
the name by which her mother called her. She received primary education
in her village with scholarship showing that apart from singing and
acting talents, she was also a good student as well. Nevertheless she
had to quit formal education and had to join the stage and took to
singing professionally at an early age for reasons of poverty. Her
first training in music was from Mr. Amulya Majumder, who was a friend
of her father. Later on she was given music lessons by Ustad Jeet
Prasad. Khayal and Thumri lessons were provided by Ustad Ram Prasad
Mishra. Ustad Jamiruddin Khan also taught her Thumris. Dance master
Lalit Mohan Goswami took the little girl to Star Theatre where she
could earn some money to support her family. At the same time the name
of Angurbala was given to her by Lalit Goswami for the stage and in
this name she went ahead in her career as a performing artiste on the
stage, on the screen and last but not the least music. Her first
encounter with the stage was when she was about eight under the
guidance of dramatist Nripendra Chandra Basu in minor roles. Her
services on the stage was necessitated in 1912 when in the Cornwallis
Theatre a play Muktar Mukti failed to draw the audience in spite of
Miss Kusum Kumari in the leading role. Dramatist Manilal Ganguly came
to the rescue of the theatre with the idea that songs by a well trained
singer could bring back the public to the stage. Thus Angurbala was
cast in a singing role in the play and as anticipated there were large
crowds to see her live on the stage. The song was Bhorer Pakhir Sure
Sure Mathay Baje Bina Benu in raag Bharavi tuned by none other than
Manilal Ganguly. Thereafter Angurbala became a regular artiste on the
stage and performed in plays like Ratneswarer Mandir 1922 at the
Cornwallis and Baruna 1923, Atmadarshan 1925, Satyabhama 1925, Tulsidas
1926, Byapika Biday 1926, Jug Mahatmo 1926, Nartaki 1927, Satyer
Sandhane 1928 and Jatichyuta 1928 each at Minerva Theatre. At Manomohan
Theatre she took part in Jahangir 1929, Shree 1929, rangapakhi 1930,
Desher Dak 1930, Abhijaat 1931, Kalir Samudramanthan 1931, Bamanabataar
1933 and Shiba Shakti 1935. Angurbala also appeared in different plays
at the star Theatre, Rangmahal, Kalika and other stages in Calcutta.
The Gramophone Company of India started to record her songs and Kaala
Tor Tarey Kadamtolay Cheye Thaki and Bandho Na Torikhani Amar E
Nadikuley were her first two songs to be published as records. The
record number was P 4721. Thereafter she became a regular artiste of
HMV cutting innumerable discs. Many of her stage songs were also
recorded by her for HMV. She also recorded a poem of Tagore tuned by an
unknown person. This song Tomari Grihe Palichho Snehe has never been
recognized as a Tagore song by Bishwa Bharati. 1923 was the year when
her first film, a silent one Indrasabha was released. Her first talkie
was Jamuna Puliney (1933) in which she played the role of Brindey.
Incidentally this film also had Indubala and Kamala Jharia included in
the cast. Soon she made her presence felt in singing roles in films
like Radha Krishna (1933), Char Darvesh (1933), Naseeb Ka Chakkar
(1936), Maa Ki Mamta (1936), Abartan (1936), Indira (1937), Devjani
(1939) and several others in many different Indian languages like Urdu,
Tamil and Telugu. As a record artiste her popularity hit the sky and
she was specially invited by The Nizam of Hyderabad to sing in court.
In one of the discs during this period, her photo was printed on one
side of a record with the photo of Hyderabad's Nizam on the other. That
was the extent she impressed the Nizam with her songs and earned his
respect. Her stage performances continued at the same time and her
songs were a source of major attraction for all those who queued up for
tickets of the plays. For the radio she started to sing from the very
first day broadcasting was started. Her first song over the radio was
Nithura Nagara Shyam. Her association with Najrul Islam broadened her
field and she recorded several songs of Nazrul gradually achieving not
only the status of a major exponent of such songs but also an authority
in the subject. She quit acting long back but never lost touch with
music which was her first love. Apart from a Gold disc from HMV, she
was given the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy Award from Delhi and
honorary D.Litt from Kalyani University. Angurbala was popularly known
as Sangeet Samragyee or empress of the Music World along with
contemporary artiste Miss Indubala, who was also her close personal
friend. A documentary film, titled Teen Kanya featuring her along with
two other artistes namely Indubala and Kamala Jharia_ was made in 1972.
She was appointed Nazrul music trainer by HMV and trained artistes like
Manabendra Mukherjee and others in Nazrul songs. Even in advanced age
she participated in music functions and gave public performances.
Angurbala had a younger sister who looked after her in her old age. Her
name for the stage was Bedanabala. Angurbala had two houses in
Calcutta. One of them, bought when she was at the height of her career
was named Drakhshakunja by dramatist Amrita Lal Bose. This house still
stands at Durga Charan Mitra Street of North Calcutta. About eighteen
months before her death she suffered from a stroke that caused loss of
memory. The end came on the seventh day of January, 1984. Her foster
son Mr Amal Banerjee and his wife were present when she breathed her
last.