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Kishori Amonkar (10 April 1932 – 3 April 2017) was an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the Jaipur Gharana, or a community of musicians sharing a distinctive musical style. She is considered to be one of the foremost classical singers in India. She was a performer of the classical genre khyal and the light classical genres thumri and bhajan. Amonkar trained under her mother, classical singer Mogubai Kurdikar also from the Jaipur Gharana, but she experimented with a variety of vocal styles in her career.
In the early 1940s, young Amonkar began to receive vocal lessons in Hindustani classical music from Anjanibai Malpekar of the Bhendibazaar gharana and later received training from tutors of several other . Her tutors included Anwar Hussain Khan of Agra gharana, Sharadchandra Arolkar of Gwalior gharana, and Balkrishnabuwa Parwatkar. Amonkar has credited Anjanibai, in particular, with teaching her the technique of meend, or gliding, between notes.
Amonkar has expressed her views on how musical education should be conducted, emphasising the importance of enabling students to move beyond repetitive techniques and learn the tools that allow them to improvise on their own. She credits her mother with using this approach to teach her, noting, "You have to walk and run on your own. The guru gives you strength to be able to do that. If you don't, then you remain ordinary. My mother made sure I wasn't ordinary." She noted that training is an ongoing process, and stated in an interview that she often listened to her own recorded performances to analyse and improve her technique.
Amonkar emphasised emotion and spirituality as essential parts of her singing, stating that "To me it (music) is a dialogue with the divine, this intense focused communication with the ultimate other." She has often spoken of music as an act of sublimation, noting that it is the sadhana (medium) to attain the sadhya (destination).
In 2010, she published a book in Marathi language titled Swaraartha Ramani in which she elaborated her views on musical theory and practice.
Amonkar has also spoken about the treatment of women performers as classical musicians, noting that the experience of watching her mother perform informed her own approach to professionalism and fair treatment, particularly when it comes to ensuring that musicians are paid well for their performances. On one notable occasion, she refused to perform because the audience was badly behaved, emphasising the importance of respecting the performers during a concert.
She created many compositions for a number of . Amonkar was also a popular speaker and travelled throughout India; she was best known for lectures on the role of rasa (feelings or emotions) in music.
Kishori was married to Ravindra Amonkar, a school teacher. The couple had two sons, Bibhas and Nihar. She was sometimes also described as "temperamental". Responding to these comments, Amonkar has stated that this reputation perhaps derives from her insistence that performers be treated respectfully, and to the fact that she chooses to spend time before her concerts in solitude and preparation instead of socialising with fellow musicians. Amonkar has stated, "I never play to the gallery. The audience cannot disturb the loneliness of an artiste." Amonkar did not enjoy giving press interviews.
Amonkar lived in the neighbourhood of Prabhadevi, in Mumbai. She died on 3 April 2017 in her sleep, at age 84, at her residence in Mumbai. That day, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, issued a statement on Twitter mourning her loss, writing: "Demise of Kishori Amonkar is an irreparable loss to Indian classical music. Deeply pained by her demise. May her soul rest in peace."
Amonkar was recognised by several of her contemporaries and fellow musicians for her skill and technique in classical music. The tabla musician, Zakir Hussain, has said that Amonkar's performances of several , such as Raga Bhoop, are "... landmark performances that take place over hundreds of years and you will talk about them for the rest of your life and rest of the many centuries to come." The Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna praised her approach to classical music, saying, "When Kishoriji sings she is not trying to be new but just by being with her music and continuing to submit to it, she has given classical music an everlasting newness and freshness. This is true creativity."
Amonkar is the subject of a documentary titled Bhinna Shadja, which was directed by Amol Palekar and Sandhya Gokhale. Several of Amonkar's students have become classical musicians of their own repute, including Manik Bhide, Maya Upadhye, Raghunandan Panshikar, Nandini Panshikar-Bedekar, Suhasini Mulgaonkar, Malati Kamat, Arun Dravid, Mira Panshikar, Sulabhatai Pishawikar, Meena Joshi, Vidya Bhagwat, Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, Devaki Pandit, Sangeeta Katti, Manjiri Asnare-Kelkar, Papri Chakrabarti, Shivraj Shitole and violinist Milind Raikar. Amonkar's granddaughter, Tejashree Bibhas Amonkar, is also a budding classical musician and was trained by Amonkar.
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