गौहर जान

Gauhar Jaan (born Eileen Angelina Yeoward, 26 June 1873 – 17 January 1930) was an Indian singer, dancer, and the first Indian musician to be commercially recorded. Born in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, to an Armenian-Christian father (William Robert Yeoward) and a mother who was herself a singer (Victoria Hemmings, later Malka Jaan), Gauhar Jaan's early life was shaped by the vibrant musical culture of the Mughal-influenced courts of North India.

After her parents separated, her mother Malka Jaan moved to Banaras and later Calcutta, converting to Islam and entering the world of professional music and dance. Young Eileen was renamed Gauhar Jaan and received rigorous training in Hindustani classical music from some of the finest ustads of the era. She trained under Bindadin Maharaj and Kalka Prasad (Kathak dance), Ustad Ali Baksh of the Patiala Gharana and Ustad Vazir Khan of the Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana (vocal music), and studied the complex art of thumri and dadra from the hereditary musicians of Lucknow.

By the 1890s, Gauhar Jaan had become the highest-paid and most celebrated singer in Calcutta, commanding fees of Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 3,000 per mehfil — astronomical sums in that era. Her repertoire was remarkably broad: she could perform khayal, thumri, dadra, ghazal, bhajan, tarana, and even Western songs in English. She was fluent in over 20 languages and could sing in many of them.

In November 1902, when Frederick William Gaisberg of the Gramophone Company arrived in Calcutta to make the first commercial recordings of Indian music, Gauhar Jaan was his first and most important artist. She recorded approximately 150 songs during this session and subsequent ones, more than any other artist of the era. Her records became the best-selling Indian recordings, and she became known as 'The Gramophone Girl.' She famously ended every recording with the spoken signature: 'My name is Gauhar Jaan!'

Gauhar Jaan lived lavishly — she owned multiple carriages, kept a menagerie of pets including horses and cats, wore the finest jewels, and hosted legendary soirees at her Chitpur Road mansion in Calcutta. Her personal life included a marriage to Khursheed (her tabla player), though they later separated.

In her later years, Gauhar Jaan's fortunes declined. The rise of the film industry and changing musical tastes diminished the demand for classical mehfil singers. She moved to Mysore in 1928, where the Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV appointed her as a court musician. She passed away in Mysore on 17 January 1930, largely forgotten. Her legacy was rediscovered in the late 20th century through the work of music historian Vikram Sampath, whose biography 'My Name Is Gauhar Jaan!' (2010) restored her to her rightful place in Indian music history.

Google honored her with a Doodle on her 140th birthday (26 June 2013). The Archive of Indian Music has digitized and preserved many of her surviving recordings. She is now recognized as one of the most important figures in the history of Indian recorded music.

Gauhar Jaan is widely regarded as the pioneer who legitimized recorded music in India. Her willingness to record at a time when many musicians considered the gramophone beneath their dignity opened the door for the entire Indian recording industry. Her famous sign-off 'My name is Gauhar Jaan!' became one of the first personal audio brands in history. The breadth of her repertoire — spanning classical, semi-classical, devotional, and even Western music in multiple languages — established the template for the versatile Indian playback singer that would emerge decades later. Her story also highlights the crucial role of tawaifs (courtesans) in preserving and transmitting Hindustani classical music during the colonial period.