Classical singer Prabha Atre dies; she was 91

Pune: Renowned legendary classical singer Prabha Atre died here on Saturday. She was fighting illness for a brief period recently, IANS reported, citing sources.

Prabha was 91 and had complained of some breathing issues, but succumbed when she reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest while being rushed to a private hospital this morning.

Atre, a torch-bearer of the Kirana Gharana of Hindustani classical music, had been honoured with all three Padma awards by the Indian government, PTI reported.

"Atre suffered a cardiac arrest during her sleep at her residence. She was rushed to Dinanath Mangeshkar Hospital, where she was declared dead at 5.30 am," a source said.

Since some of the close family members of Atre live abroad, her funeral will be performed once they arrive, the source added. She was supposed to leave for Mumbai on Saturday to perform at "Swarprabha" programme.

Born on September 13, 1932, Atre was known for her multi-faceted personality. Besides being a classical vocalist, she also excelled as an academician, researcher, composer and author. A science and law graduate, she had a doctorate in music.

Conferred the Padmashri (1990), Padma Bhushan (2002) and Padma Bhushan (2022), plus many other national-international honours, Prabha was an exponent of the Kirana Gharana music school, excelling in rendition of khayals, thumris, ghazal, dadri, bhajans and natyasangeet.

Prabha had penned books on music composition -- ‘Swarangini’ and ‘Swaranjanee’, is credited with inventing new Raagas like ‘Apurva Kalyan’, ‘Madhur Kauns’, ‘Darbari Kauns’, ‘Patdeep-Malhar’, ‘Shiv Kali’, ‘Tilang-Bhairav’ and ‘Ravi Bhairav’.

She composed music for a full-length dance recital, ‘Natya Prabha’, a music composition adapted for jazz by a top Netherlands artist, and also created music for musical dramas or sangeetikas.