Kishori Amonkar s death great loss to Indian classical music: Mamata

Kolkata April 4 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday condoled the death of renowned Indian classical singer Kishori Amonkar.

Saddened at the passing of legendary vocalist Kishori Amonkarji. This is a great loss for Indian classical music Banerjee tweeted. According to Bappa Sen organiser of the prestigious Dover Lane Music Conference the annual classical music festival held in Kolkata in January the music legend had performed at least five times at the event. She was quite moody. But we never had any unpleasant experience with her. The last time she was with us was around 1998-1999. We tried to get her to perform again but were unable to do so Sen told IANS. Amonkar passed away shortly before midnight family sources said here on Tuesday. She was 84 and breathed her last at her Dadar west home. In her singing career spanning seven decades she was revered as Gaan-Saraswati . Belonging to the Jaipur Gharana she was conferred the Padma Vibhushan and Sahitya Akademi Award among many others. --IANS sgh/nv/vm