{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Sharan Rani Backliwal | image = Sharanrani in Tehran (sq cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = Sharan Rani in Tehran | image_size = | birth_name = Sharan Rani Mathur | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date |df=yes|1929|04|09}} | birth_place = Delhi | origin = | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2008|04|08|1929|04|09}} | death_place = Delhi | genre = Indian classical music | occupation = instrumentalist, music scholar | instrument = sarod | years_active = <!-- YYYY–YYYY (or –present) --> | label = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> }}
'''Sharan Rani''' (also known as '''Sharan Rani Backliwal''', ''née'' '''Mathur''') (9 April 1929 – 8 April 2008) was an Indian classical sarod player and music scholar.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sharan Rani passes away: (1929 - 2008) |url=http://www.itcsra.org/sra_news_views/obituary/sharan_rani.html |publisher=ITC Sangeet Research Academy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516101213/http://www.itcsra.org/sra_news_views/obituary/sharan_rani.html |archive-date=16 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=When the music faded: Sharan Rani Backliwal, India's first woman sarod exponent, is no more.|url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/04/11/stories/2008041150660300.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125073149/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/04/11/stories/2008041150660300.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 January 2013 |work=The Hindu|date=11 April 2008 }}</ref>
Her private collection of 379 musical instruments ranging from the 15th to the 19th century is now part of the "Sharan Rani Backliwal Gallery of Musical Instruments" at the National Museum, New Delhi.<ref name=toi>{{cite news |title=Collecting musical instruments with a mission|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Collecting-musical-instruments-with-a-mission/etarticleshow/23251059.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327062510/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-09-25/news-interviews/27321191_1_musical-instruments-sharan-rani-backliwal-rani-backliwal-gallery |url-status=live |archive-date=27 March 2013 |work=The Times of India |date=25 September 2002 }}</ref>
==Early life and training== She was born Sharan Rani Mathur in the walled city of Old Delhi to a conservative Hindu family of well-known businessmen and educationists.<ref name=toi/> As a young girl, she learned to play the sarod from the master musicians Allauddin Khan and his son Ali Akbar Khan. She began her musical career in the face of immense familial opposition; during this period in Indian history, a career as a musician was seen as something for gharanas (families where music was a hereditary profession) or typical of nautch girls or baijis, not something appropriate for the daughter of a respectable, non-musician family. She also learned the Kathak form of classical Indian dance from Achhan Maharaj and Manipuri dance from Nabha Kumar Sinha.<ref name=it>{{cite news |title=Strumming new tunes|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/supplement/story/20080317-strumming-new-tunes-735621-2008-03-06 |publisher=India Today |date=6 March 2008}}</ref> In 1953, she did her M.A from Delhi University, and studied at Indraprastha College for Women.
==Musical career== From the late 1930s, Sharan Rani presented her sarod recitals on the concert stage in India for over seven decades. She was one of the first to record for UNESCO and to release musical recordings with major record companies in the United States, Britain and France. According to Jawaharlal Nehru, she was the "Cultural Ambassador of India"<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/When-the-music-faded/article15398259.ece|title=When the music faded|work=The Hindu|access-date=2017-04-18|language=en}}</ref> Dr. Zakir Husain said about her, "Sharan Rani has achieved perfection in music. She will therefore get the love of the entire world”. Noted Musician Yehudi Menuhin said about her : "I hasten to add my voice to the many admiring and grateful ones which would try to express the love and respect we feel for this great artiste”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lowen |first=Sharon |date=2019-05-28 |title=Sharan Rani, popularly known as 'Sarod Rani': A modern-day Mira |url=https://www.asianage.com/life/art/280519/sharan-rani-popularly-known-as-sarod-rani-a-modern-day-mira.html |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=The Asian Age}}</ref>
Concerned that the rich Dhrupad tradition was fading away, some of her solo recitals were accompanied by both Tabla and Pakhawaj.
Rani was one of the earliest artists of All India Radio and Doordarshan. She was popularly known as 'Sarod Rani' (The Queen of Sarod). Sharan Rani was the first woman Instrumentalist of India who achieved international acclaim.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.asianage.com/life/art/280519/sharan-rani-popularly-known-as-sarod-rani-a-modern-day-mira.html | title=Sharan Rani, popularly known as 'Sarod Rani': A modern-day Mira | date=28 May 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.parrikar.org/vpl/catalogue/hindustani/sharan-rani-mathur/ | title=Sharan Rani Mathur }}</ref>
==Musical authorship and teaching== Backliwal also wrote a history of the sarod, titled ''The Divine Sarod: Its Origin, Antiquity and Development'',<ref name="Sleeman2001">{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Sleeman|title=The International Who's Who of Women 2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J8xDWDqOkEC&pg=PA522|year=2001|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-1-85743-122-3|page=522}}</ref> which was released in 1992, by K. R. Narayanan, the then Vice President of India.<ref name=toi/> A second edition of ''The Divine Sarod'' was released in 2008 by I. K. Gujral, former Prime Minister of India. She also wrote a number of articles on music.
Backliwal taught music through the Guru–shishya tradition and never took any fees from her students. Many students also lived in her house as her resident-disciples for several years, free of charge.
thumb|Sharan Rani Backliwal Gallery at the National Museum
Backliwal donated to the National Museum, New Delhi varieties of instruments from different States of India, from different 'Gharanas' of music, covering different time periods, allowing for a methodical comparative and developmental study. These were donated in three linked donations in 1980, 1982 and 2002. These instruments are housed in a permanent gallery, called the 'Sharan Rani Backliwal Gallery of Musical Instruments', in the National Museum, New Delhi, inaugurated and dedicated to the nation in 1980 by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who called it a 'collection of rare musical instruments of national importance.'{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}
== Musical Instruments Collection == thumb|Different types of musical instruments : From the Sharan Rani Backliwal Collection The collection includes instruments that represent various gharanas and regions spanning from the 15th to the 19th century. These are as follows:<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Collecting-musical-instruments-with-a-mission/articleshow/23251059.cms|title=Collecting musical instruments with a mission - Times of India|work=The Times of India|access-date=2017-04-18}}</ref> * Mayuri Sitar (1850) acquired from a royal family in Rajasthan * Tiger Head Rabab from Kashmir * Durbari Sitar (1850) * Vina (1825)
==Personal life== thumb|Sharan Rani playing the Sarod at a concert in Tehran In 1960, she married Sultan Singh Backliwal who belonged to a prominent Digamber Jain business family of Delhi. In 1974, they had a daughter, Radhika Narain.<ref name=toi/> After battling cancer for a few years, she died on 8 April 2008, a day before her 79th birthday.
==Awards and honours== In 2004, the government of India honoured select artists by conferring upon them the title of 'National Artiste'. Sharan Rani was the only woman instrumentalist to receive this title.
Other awards and honours she received include: * Vishnu Digambar Parithoshik (1953) * Padma Shri (1968)<ref name=padaw>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954-2009)|publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs|url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|archive-date=10 May 2013}}</ref> * Sahitya Kala Parishad Award (1974)<ref>{{cite web|title=Tribute to a Maestro-Sharan Rani|url=http://www.itcsra.org/tribute.asp?id=23}}</ref> * 'Acharya' and 'Tantri Vilas' (1979) * Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1986)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm|title=SNA: List of Akademi Awardees|publisher=Sangeet Natak Akademi Official website|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217185616/http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm|archive-date=17 February 2012}}</ref> * Rajiv Gandhi award for Vocational Excellence (1993) * Distinguished Alumni award by Delhi University (1997) * National Excellence award (1999) * Padma Bhushan (2000)<ref name=padaw/> * Lifetime Achievement award (2000) * Maharana Mewar Foundation award (2004) * Kala Parishad award from Bhopal (2005)
==Discography== Sharan Rani : The Legendary Queen of Sarod (Music today) (2008)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/sharan-rani-the-legendary-queen-of-sarod/352040566 | title=Sharan Rani - the Legendary Queen of Sarod by Sharan Rani }}</ref>
The Great Sarod Virtuoso (1967)
Musique Classique Indienne (1967)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.amazon.com/Musique-Classique-Indienne-1968-VOGUE/dp/B01H0UK4A8 | title=Musique Classique Indienne LP 1968 VOGUE | website=Amazon }}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.itcsra.org/TributeMaestro.aspx?Tributeid=23 Sharan Rani - Tribute to a Maestro] from the ITC Sangeet Research Academy
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}} {{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rani, Sharan}} Category:Hindustani musicians Category:1929 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Sarod players Category:Indian women classical musicians Category:Women musicians from Delhi Category:Pupils of Ali Akbar Khan Category:Pupils of Allauddin Khan Category:Indraprastha College for Women alumni Category:Indian music educators Category:Maihar gharana Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Category:Women educators from Delhi Category:20th-century Indian educators Category:20th-century Indian women musicians Category:Educators from Delhi Category:20th-century Indian women singers Category:Indian women music educators Category:20th-century Indian women educators