Doyen Of Kirana Gharana, Prabha Atre Passes Away

PUNE (IANS) – Legendary Hindustani classical singer, author, composer, and researcher Prabha Atre passed away following a brief illness at a private hospital here on January 13.

Atre was 91 and had complained of some breathing issues early today, but succumbed when she suffered a cardiac arrest while being rushed to a private hospital this morning.

President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Governor Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, and other prominent personalities from various fields have condoled Atre’s demise.

An exponent of the Kirana Gharana school of music, Atre was conferred the Padmashri (1990), Padma Bhushan (2002) and Padma Bhushan (2022), plus many other national-international honors.

An acclaimed classical singer, she excelled in the rendition of khayals, thumris, ghazal, dadri, bhajans and natyasangeet, besides composing, authoring books on music, and giving new ‘raagas’ to the world of music.

Atre had penned books on music composition – ‘Swarangini’ and ‘Swaranjanee’, is credited with inventing new Raagas like ‘Apurva Kalyan’, ‘Madhur Kauns’, ‘Darbari Kauns’, ‘Patdeep-Malhar’, ‘Shiv Kali’, ‘Tilang-Bhairav’ and ‘Ravi Bhairav’.

She composed music for a full-length dance recital ‘Natya Prabha’, a music composition adapted for jazz by a top Netherlands artist, and also created music for musical dramas or sangeetikas.

“She gave a new dimension to Kirana Gharana and played a significant role in taking Indian Classical Music to the world,” said the President.

The last rites of Atre are likely to be held early next week, as many of her relatives living abroad are expected to arrive here and pay their respects.