Malini Awasthi – Happy Birthday to the Padma Sri Winning Folk Singer

Malini Awasthi is an Indian Folk Singer. She won the Padma Shri in 2016. Let us wish this talented singer on her birthday.

Malini Awasthi was born on 11 February 1967 in Uttar Pradesh. Her father was a doctor and they moved from city to city in her childhood. She learned music from various Gurus. A major part of her musical education happened in Gorakhpur. She learned from Rahat Ali Khan and Shujat Hussain Khan.

Later, she took her postgraduate in Hindustani Classical Music from Bhatkhande University, Lucknow. She was a gold medallist in her college. Malini Awasthi also achieved a gold medal in M.A. Modern History with a specialization in Medieval and modern Indian architecture from the University of Lucknow.

She turned to Uttar Pradesh Folk Music since it always attracted her and she felt that not enough had been done in that domain. She believes that music is all about ‘ras’, and hence started collecting the folk songs she has heard from her grandmother. 

She is now a well-known folk singer and performs rare folk songs and propagates the folk music of Uttar Pradesh all around India. She has even sung songs for a few movies, including the song ‘Sunder Susheel’ in the 2015 film Dum Laga Ke Haisha. She was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri award in 2016.

-Poorna Krishnan