सैला बाई

Saila Bai (also known as Miss Sila Bai or Sila Bai of Calcutta, active c.1890s-1910s) was one of the early Indian recording artists of the gramophone era. She was among the select group of musicians recorded by Frederick Gaisberg during his historic 1902 Calcutta sessions for the Gramophone Company.

Very little biographical information survives about Saila Bai, which is typical for many women musicians of this era who were classified as tawaifs (professional courtesans and performing artists). What we know comes primarily from discographic records and contemporary accounts of the Calcutta music scene.

Saila Bai was likely a Hindustani classical and light-classical vocalist based in Calcutta (Kolkata). She was proficient in genres like thumri, dadra, and ghazal — the staple repertoire of the salon singers of late 19th century Bengal. Her recording sessions in 1902 produced several 78 RPM discs, though far fewer than the prolific Gauhar Jaan.

The significance of Saila Bai lies in her being among the very first women in India to have their voice captured on a recording medium. At a time when many established musicians refused to record, considering it beneath their dignity, artists like Saila Bai embraced the new technology and helped establish the Indian recording industry.

Her recordings, while rare, are preserved in private collections and some have been digitized by organizations like the Archive of Indian Music. They provide invaluable evidence of the vocal styles and musical aesthetics of pre-20th century Hindustani music.

Saila Bai is among the documented voices of the very first Indian recording sessions of 1902 — one of the courtesan singers whose discs proved, alongside Gauhar Jaan's, that Indian women's voices could carry an industry. Little of her biography survives; her records are her biography.

Dadra and tarana sides of brisk charm, sung close to the horn in the compressed style the three-minute wax demanded.

Saila Bai represents the thousands of unnamed women musicians who sustained the Hindustani music tradition through the colonial era. While history has largely forgotten them, their voices — preserved on fragile shellac discs — provide irreplaceable evidence of the musical practices, vocal techniques, and aesthetic values of a vanished era. The very anonymity of artists like Saila Bai highlights the class and gender dynamics of early Indian recording: the male recording engineers and company executives are well-documented, while the women who actually created the music often remain shadows.