Indian classical music has got a long and rich history with it's origin in vedic period. Although, in society where male dominance was intrinsically nurtured in every walks of life, music was also of no exception. Women had to to break the customs and fight rebelliously against the societal norms for rights and position in the sphere of Indian classical music. A narrow list of prominent women musicians throughout history is given below.
Hindustani music (North India): Meera Bai, Begum Akhtar, Girija Devi, Gangubai Hungal, Kishori Amonkar, Parveen Sultana, Anurahda Pal
Carnatic music (South India): D. K. Pattammal, M. S. Subbalakshmi, M. L. Vasantha Kumari
Sufi music: Abida Parveen, Shubha Mudgal
Bollywood music: Lata Mangeshkar
Evolution and rise of women in music has greatly contributed to the cause of popularization of Indian classical music. In the twentieth century, with rise in constitutional and societal standards of women, coupled with renewed interests in history and classical art forms, more and more women musicians and organizations with strong traditional links had flourished. A few major examples are discussed below.
1. Women contribution in popularizing gramophone era (Early 1900s): Gramophone was first technological advancement in Indian music, which dates back to roughly a 100 years. Gramophone helped in giving women a new opportunity in to come up and get into people bypassing the traditional stages which were pre-owned by male. If rough statistics on gramophone era of music in India shows that most of the recordings are made by women. This also contributed towards documentation and internationalization of Indian classical music tradition.
2. Sabhas: It was in 1920s and 1930s sabhas got popularity in Madras. The Music Academy, the RR Sabha and several others such as the short-lived Vainika Gayaka Sabha, the Sangita Shala and the Jagannatha Bhakta Sabha came up then. Mrs Jayarama Iyer was founding member of Music Academy as well as organized music performances for sabhas.
3. Indian Fine Arts Society: Enhanced Indian musical and arts capacity and recognition in Government, Industry and the music world.
4. Muthialpet Sri Venkatesa Bhakta Sabha founded by Amalelu with its offices at the Nataraja Girls School on Thambu Chetty Street, George Town.
The discussions cannot be comprehended as a lot many struggles and contributions of women in musical sphere are not documented and recorded in history. Anyway it can be concluded without any doubt that rise of women in music had a strong impact towards empowerment and instilling confidence in women to take up more bigger challenges including social evils and discriminations.