-Brian Mendonca
Sharda Sinha, folk singer from Bihar, sang this exquisite thumri before she passed away on 5th November at AIIMS, Delhi. She was 72. She chose the day before Chhath puja for which she has often sung.
The thumri is from Kabir. The refrain is 'Saiyaan nikas gaye, main na ladi thi / Na jaana kaunsi khidki khuli thi.' The translation is 'My beloved left, and I didn't put up a fight / One doesn't know which window was ajar.' It is sung in Bhairavi, the raga of separation.
The lament in her last moments, while on oxygen support, speaks of her passion for music till the very end.
Smt. Sharda Sinha learned thumri from Panna Devi. While she was auditioning for a talent competition in Lucknow, Begum Akhtar (1914-1974) spotted her and complimented her. Sinha went on to record her folk songs which continue to be sung today.
Shardaji sang for Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur 2 (2012). Her song 'Taar bijli se patle hamara piya' (below), which is a satire on Bihar and its politics, was a hit.
In the later verses of the thumri the body is compared to a city with ten windows. The singer wonders which window was open for the soul to fly away. Listen to this rendition by Kamlesh Haripuri below.
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