CDS (I) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 111 of 120

Correct — A, Kirana Gharana. Prabha Atre (13 September 1932 - 13 January 2024) was one of the senior vocalists of the Kirana gharana, having learnt from Sureshbabu Mane and Hirabai Barodekar, who were themselves of that lineage. Her death in January 2024 is the 'recently' of the stem, three months before this paper. She was among the rare Indians to receive all three Padma awards — Padma Shri in 1990, Padma Bhushan in 2002 and Padma Vibhushan in 2022 — and she was also a scholar of music who took a doctorate on sargam and headed the music department at S.N.D.T. Women's University in Mumbai.

• (b)Patiala Gharana — A distinct khayal lineage with its own aesthetic, associated above all with Bade Ghulam Ali Khan; Prabha Atre did not belong to it.
• (c)Gwalior Gharana — The oldest of the khayal gharanas and the parent of several others, which makes it a safe-sounding guess — but she trained in the Kirana line, not the Gwalior one.
• (d)Agra Gharana — Another major khayal gharana, known for a robust, rhythm-forward style quite unlike the slow-unfolding Kirana manner she was known for.

A gharana in Hindustani music is a lineage of training rather than a school with a building — a set of stylistic choices handed down from teacher to student over generations. The Kirana gharana takes its name from Kairana, and was carried into prominence by Abdul Karim Khan and Abdul Wahid Khan. Its hallmark is an unhurried unfolding of the raga with great care over the exact intonation of each note, extended vilambit sections, and elaborate sargam passages — the very subject of Prabha Atre's own doctoral research.

Questions of this kind are easiest to answer through the teacher, not the singer: knowing that Prabha Atre learnt from Sureshbabu Mane and Hirabai Barodekar puts her in the Kirana line at once, since both of them are themselves listed among that gharana's singers. The same route works for the distractors — Bade Ghulam Ali Khan for Patiala, Bhimsen Joshi and Gangubai Hangal for Kirana, and so on. Also note the difference in the labels: gharanas of khayal singing and gharanas of Kathak dance are separate systems that share some place-names, so a Lucknow or Jaipur answer belongs to a dance question rather than to this one.

• Prabha Atre (1932-2024) was an exponent of the Kirana gharana, trained by Sureshbabu Mane and Hirabai Barodekar.
• The Kirana gharana takes its name from Kairana and was made prominent by Abdul Karim Khan and Abdul Wahid Khan.
• She received the Padma Shri (1990), Padma Bhushan (2002) and Padma Vibhushan (2022), and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1991.
• Other well-known Kirana singers include Sawai Gandharva, Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal and Hirabai Barodekar.

• Answering with a Kathak gharana on a vocal-music question because the place-names sound familiar.
• Defaulting to Gwalior because it is the oldest khayal gharana.
• Confusing Prabha Atre with other women vocalists of the same generation who belonged to different lineages.

Usually triggered by a death or an award in the news — the artist is named and the gharana, dance form or instrument must be supplied. Learn artist, form and lineage as a single unit.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Kirana gharana of Hindustani vocal music takes its name from a place in which present-day State?

  • (a)Uttar Pradesh
  • (b)Madhya Pradesh
  • (c)Punjab
  • (d)Maharashtra

  Answer(a) Uttar Pradesh — the gharana is named after Kairana.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following vocalists is associated with the Kirana gharana?

  • (a)Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
  • (b)Bhimsen Joshi
  • (c)Kishori Amonkar
  • (d)Kumar Gandharva

  Answer(b) Bhimsen Joshi — a Kirana singer, as were Gangubai Hangal, Hirabai Barodekar and Prabha Atre.