Roshanara Begum
Roshanara Begum was one of the most prominent exponents of the Kirana Gharana. Born in Calcutta, Begum moved to Bombay in the 1930s to live near her teacher/ustad of 15 years, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. She moved to Pakistan in 1947 after the partition of India. Together with Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's re-migration back to India and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan's move to London, her threat of giving up her 'riaz' due to the state-level apathy shown towards classical music, led to the creation of the 'All Pakistan Music Conference'.
Sanhita Nandi
Sanhita Nandi is considered to be the torch-bearer of the Kirana gharana. Also hailing from Calcutta/Kolkata, Nandi will pay homage to Vidushi Roshanara Begum by singing khayal and thumri.
"Sanhita Nandi's renditions of Khayal in slow tempo and thorough deep exploration of the Raga to the fullest extent with intricate fast Taans and improvisation in her concerts is a true reflection of the greatest exponents of Kirana." Tabla Maestro Shri K. Paramjyoti
Kirana Gharana
The name of this school of music derives from Kirana or Kairana, a town and tehsil of prabuddh nagar District in Uttar Pradesh. It is the birthplace of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (1872-1937), who was one of the most important musicians of this gharana and of Hindustani music in general in the twentieth century, and considered by some to be the real founder of the Kirana Gharana, while the roots of the tradition can be traced back to his great-grandfather Ghulam Ali and Ghulam Maula, the brother of Ghulam Ali. A frequent visitor to the Court of Mysore, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan was also influenced by Carnatic music.
In the nineteenth century two ustads of the Kirana gharana, Abdul Karim Khansahab and Abdul Waheed Khansahab revolutionized the very concept of khayal gayaki by introducing the vilambit or the slow tempo method to delineate the raga note by note.
In the Kirana Gayaki, the individual swaras (notes) of the raga are considered not just random points in the scale but independent realms of music capable of horizontal expansion. Mind blowing, emotion drenched taans in the higher octaves form a part of the musical experience. Another unique feature of this gharana is the highly intricate and ornate use of the Sargam Taan (weaving patterns with the notations themselves) which was improvised by Ustad Abdul Karim Khansahab as a direct influence of the Carnatic Classical style.
Favorite ragas of performers from the Kirana gharana include Todi, Lalit, Multani, Patdeep, Puriya, Marwa, Shuddha Kalyan, Darbari Kanhara, and Komal-Rishabh Asavari.
source:Wikipedia
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