Re: Song Sung True

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003 14:27:46 +0530
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.misc
Size: 1,785 bytes

"Abhay Phadnis" <email-address-deleted> wrote in message news:...
> "UVR" <email-address-deleted> wrote in message
> news:email-address-deleted...
(snip)
> > May be Smt. Pukhraj's name *is* Malka, the feminine equiv. of
> > 'malak'(=angel), rather than 'Malika'(=queen)? Just guessing.
>
> Possible - I didn't know 'malka' meant female angel. But let me add to the
> confusion :) - I have seen her name written at least once as
> "malikaa-*e*-pukharaaj"!
The spelling is still an issue, but I now know that her name is indeed
'malikaa' as in queen and not 'malka' as in female angel! This is on the
authority of the lady herself: in her autobiography, "Song Sung True", she
says that she was given the name 'malikaa' by a holy man in their village:
when she was born after a difficult delivery, her grandfather took the
newborn child to the 'Baba' who said: "...she is a 'malikaa-e-mu_azzamaa'
(great empress)" - so 'malikaa' she became!
The 'pukhraj' part of the name also has a story behind it: she has a
childless aunt who had laid claim to the unborn child and had said that the
child, if female, should be named 'pukhraraaj' (topaz). In order to keep the
aunt happy without dishonouring the 'Baba', the child was named 'malikaa
pukharaaj'.
On a tangent: the translator of the book, Saleem Kidwai, has written a short
"Translator's Note" which ends with a paragraph I find unaccountably moving.
After speaking earlier about the difficulties of translation and the efforts
taken to stay true to the author's original intent, he says:
"Finally, it was Malka Pukhraj's music that helped most. I often played it
while working so that her voice, so enchanting musically, was in no way
deprived of its power once translated into words"
kyaa baat hai!!
Warm regards,
Abhay