Hindustani vocalist Malini Rajurkar passes away at 82

Noted Hindustani classical vocalist Malini Rajurkar, who epitomised simplicity and depth, passed away in a Hyderabad hospital. She was 82 and had been suffering from age-related ailments. She has performed in major music festivals in India, including Gunidas Sammelan (Mumbai), Tansen Samaroh (Gwalior), Sawai Gandharva Festival (Pune), and Shankar Lal Festival (Delhi). She is noted especially for her command over the Tappa and the Tarana genre. She has also sung lighter music. Her renditions of Marathi natyageete, pandu-nrupati janak jaya, naravar krishnasamaan, ya bhavanatil geet purane have been particularly popular.

Malini Rajurkar was born in Ajmer in Rajasthan in 1941. She studied music from the Ajmer Music College, under the guidance of Govindrao Rajurkar and his nephew Vasantrao Rajurkar, who was to become her future husband. She was an exponent of Gwalior gharana and one of the foremost proponents of ‘khayal’ and ‘tappa’ genre.

Classical music in India

In India it is believed that music in the country was more or less unified till 13th century AD. Later it gradually bifurcated into Hindustani and Carnatic. The government of India also recognises two types of classical music in India ,Carnatic and Hindustani. Carnatic classical music is basically confined to South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. M.S Subbalakshmi is one of the famous carnatic vocalists. Classical music in the rest of India is recognised as Hindustani Music.