Ashrafi Khanam, also known as Kumari Baby, was a Bengali singer who specialized in
Nazrul Geeti. She was the first female
Bengali Muslim to have her songs recorded on a
phonograph record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...
.
Biography
Ashrafi Khanam was born into a well off land owning family in Paril-Naohadda,
Singair Upazila,
Manikganj
Manikganj is a district situated in Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. Manikganj is one of the green and pollution free towns in Bangladesh. The recent urbanization and highway built joining Dhaka and Shingair Upazilla has given it an outstanding road ...
,
East Bengal,
British Raj. Both her father, Ali Ahamd Hamidullah Khan, and grandfather, Muazzam Hussain Khan, were patrons of music who had a keen interest in it. They supported and fostered her appreciation for music during her childhood. She studied music at a young age with the support of her family.
Khanam moved to
Kolkata,
West Bengal with her aunt
Begum Badrunnessa Ahmed
Begum Badrunnessa Ahmed (1903 – 20 April 1980) was a Bangladeshi social activist.
Biography
Early life and education
Ahmed was born in 1903 in Singair Upazila, Singair, Manikganj District in the then British India into the Paril Zamidar f ...
. She wanted to broaden her horizon with the increased opportunities available in Kolkata. She studied
Nazrul Geeti, the songs by
Kazi Nazrul Islam. She studied under Kazi Nazrul Islam, the future National Poet of
Bangladesh. She started using the pseudonym Kumari Baby. In 1934 she recorded four Nazrul Geeti in a Phonograph record at the Twin Brothers studio in Kolkata.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khanam, Ashrafi
People from Manikganj District
Bengali Muslims
Bangladeshi Nazrul Geeti singers
Bengali singers
Bengali women artists
Singers from Kolkata
Women musicians from West Bengal
20th-century Indian women singers
20th-century Indian singers