Prabha Atre (English: Prabha Atre, born- 13 September, 1932; died- 13 January, 2024) was a famous Indian classical music singer of the Kirana Gharana of India. It was her dream to make classical music popular. She believed that everyone would have to work together for this. Prabha Atre, the strong signature ‘Swaryogini’ of the Kirana Gharana, was awarded the Padma Vibhushan (2022), the country’s second highest civilian award, for her contribution in the field of music.
Prabha Atre has been teaching music, giving lectures and writing on the subject of Indian classical music. She has also been a visiting professor at many universities abroad. She also holds the world record of releasing 11 books (from one phase).
Prabha Atre, originally born on 13 September 1932 in Pune, Maharashtra, is a well-known name in the world of classical music. She is one of the top singers of the classical tradition. Prabha Atre has played an important role in popularizing Indian classical music globally. Prabha Atre is one of those rare artists who have mastered different types of musical genres, such as Khayal, Thumri, Dadra, Ghazal and Geet etc.[1]
About her debut in music, Prabha Atre said, “My mother was not well and at that time a Guruji used to come to teach her harmonium and I used to sit there with him. That’s where my interest arose and my singing career began.” Apart from being a singer, Prabha Atre, who is a music theorist, thinker, researcher, teacher, writer, musician and guru, said, “I want to sing till my last breath but also want to work on other aspects of music. I have a dream to make classical music popular because unless it reaches the common people, it is not going to work. I want to work to make it easy to learn and popular. I listen to film music, light music, ghazals, fusion. There is something good in all of them and nowadays there are a lot of talented children who just need commitment and seriousness. Now at the age of 90, I don’t remember names, but nowadays very good work is happening in music.”[1]
Prabha Atre had studied law along with graduation in science. She was a Sangeet Alankar from Gandharva Vidyalaya. She also had a doctorate degree in music. She also studied western music from Trinity College, London. Music lovers will hardly ever forget the control with which Prabha Atre used to weave notes in alaap and taans with her melodious voice on stage. She had another specialty, clarity. It is not easy to reach the hearts of the listeners with even difficult lyrics easily, but this talent made Prabha Atre a great artist. It is rare to sing all the genres of music like thumri, dadra, ghazal, geet, khayal, devotional songs with the same perfection, but Dr. Prabha Atre’s passion for music made it very easy. Not only this, she gave birth to many ragas like Apoorva Kalyan, Dadri Kauns, Patdeep Malhar, Tilang Bhairavi, Ravi Bhairavi and Madhur Kaun with her wonderful imagination.[2]
Prabha Atre wrote different books on different subjects of music. Her first book is ‘Swarmayi’. Swaramyi is a compilation of her articles written on music. All her books on music tell why a good artist should be imaginative. Her first book Swaramyi was awarded the Maharashtra State Government Award in 1989. After that she wrote many books on untouched aspects of music, so that the recognition of Hindustani classical music increases even abroad. She started writing books in English along with CDs. In an attempt to keep the dying Guru-Shishya tradition alive, Prabha Atre established ‘Swarmayi Gurukul’ in Pune a few years ago.
92-year-old legendary singer Prabha Atre, who made the unique heritage of the Kirana Gharana popular in the country and the world, died of a heart attack on January 13, 2024 in Pune, Maharashtra. She said goodbye to the world while being taken to the hospital.
