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THIS BHOJPURI SINGER ROCKED ACROSS GLOBE!
Born and brought up in a conservative Brahmin family and in an era when social norms forced women to remain confined within four walls, Urmila Shukla succeeded in becoming an acclaimed Bhojpuri singer.
She is credited with spreading the sweetness of Bhojpuri not only in India, but also abroad, an achievement that earned her HT Woman Award this year.
During her four decade long career, which began as a B-grade vocal artiste in All India Radio, Gorakhpur at the time of its inception in 1975, Urmila has given performance in Canada, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Toranto, Otawa and Germany. She won wider accolades for giving performances in different Bhojpuri shailis (forms) including kajri, chaiti and shringar.
Attracted to Bhojpuri folk music since childhood, she says her days would begin with practicing the songs of Bollywood singers Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. “I don’t belong to a musical family but whenever Rafi’s songs were played on radio I used to repeat them. I used to wonder if I can get a job of a maid in the legendary singer’s house so I can learn music under his guidance.”
Urmila, 76, a mother of three and a grandmother of 20 children, recalls how she had to discontinue her studies after Class VIII due to predominant Brahmin culture and how she was discouraged to pursue her dream of becoming an artiste until she got supportive environment at her in-laws house in Allahabad. She was married to Shashi Kant Shukla, now a retired railway employee who also a satirist.
Despite hurdles, she completed her high school.
“In those days singing or performing in public was not considered good for women. Things changed when I moved to in-laws house in Allahabad,” says Urmila while giving credit of her success to her father-in-law Parmanand Shukla, an acclaimed litterateur. Literary figures like Surya Kant Tripathi Nirala and Harivansh Rai Bachchan used to visit her father-in-law frequently and she got a chance to meet them.
Impressed with her, the then President of India Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma invited her to Rashtrapati Bhawan for a performance before the dignitaries. Urmila, who is also famous for singing Sanskar songs based on Hindu rituals right from birth of an individual to his death, recalls how people started giving proper regards to her when she first flew to Canada to perform on request by Learned Society of Canada in 1975. It was followed by several others shows abroad. “Jo log chitan-kashi kartey they hai wohi log dekhte rah gaye (Those who used to taunt me were stunned when I flew to Canada to perform), she recalls. Despite her busy schedule, she never ignored her duties towards children and family, vouches her husband Shashi Kant Shukla as her daughter Nutan and grandson Shreyansh smile.
Urmila too feels she maintained a balance in professional and family life. “I couldn’t study much but I made my children study and give them whatever best I can,” she says. She breaks into tears while remembering her only son AK Shukla, a doctor, who died in a road accident in 2012. Nutan is carrying forward her mother’s musical legacy and she sings ghazals. She talks about her mother’s culinary skills, “Pickles prepared by my mother are very tasty and everyone used to demand it.”
Treating her as a legacy for the upcoming generation, the All India Radio in Gorakhpur has saved CDs of her vocal performance in archives as a musical heritage. Many researches have also been carried out on Urmila Shukla’s work in Bhojpuri.
I don’t belong to a musical family but whenever Rafi’s songs were played on radio I used to repeat them. I used to wonder if I can get a job of a maid in the legendary singer’s house... URMILA SHUKLA, SINGER