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Asha Bhosle

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Asha Bhosle was born in 1933 as Asha Mangeshkar in Goar near Sangli, in present-day Maharashtra, into a musical family. Her father Deenanath Mangeshkar was an actor and classical singer in Marathi music theatre. Her older sister was the singer Lata Mangeshkar. She called herself an accidental singer who learned by listening to her father, his pupils and her sister. She practised daily, because music was for her the same as breathing. She died in 2026.

Music and breakthrough

Asha Bhosle was a playback singer, someone who sings the songs for actors in films. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the field was dominated by Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum and Lata Mangeshkar. In the 1950s she sang more songs than most other female singers, above all in low-budget films. Her work encompassed film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, Indian classical music, folk songs, qawwalis and Rabindra Sangeet. In a career of more than eighty years she was regarded as one of the most versatile and influential female singers of Hindi film. She named Elvis Presley among her examples.

Influence

Her voice is a soprano, agile and versatile. Dum Maro Dum, from the 1971 film Hare Rama Hare Krishna, lets you hear her from a sultry, modern side, in the pop and rock-like music that the composer R. D. Burman wrote for the film. In this way she helped renew the sound of Hindi film in the 1970s.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Dum Maro Dum and notice the loose, almost whispered way of singing and the rhythmic accompaniment underneath. Hear how her voice glides between the instruments.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsBollywood film musicBollywood pop and disco (R.D. Burman era)