She is going strong at 77. Age doesn’t make any difference to Girija Devi, the living legend of multiple music traditions. Her hair has grown gray and her health too has deteriorated but she is still 18 when it comes to music. In fact, her voice seems to grow younger with the growing age. She till sings her rich list of kajri, chaiti, thumri, hori and others with great intensity and zeal. She considers music as prayer. So, she prays to Almighty everyday through the form of music.

It is music that keeps her strong and young at heart. Her teeth are stained from chewing paan and it is like a trademark. Everything in her looks good. People still get stunned on seeing the energy of this exponent of Hindustani music. She recently said that she could sing for 70 hours, as she has been learning music for 70 years. These words from the living legend expose her passion and love for music.

Girija Devi broke the cocoons of conservatism by learning music at a time when girls were confined to homes only. Her father saw her love for music and put her under the guidance of Sarju Prasad Mishra, a sarangiya and a vocalist. He taught her khayal in major ragas and she learnt tappa and thumri too. She said that Sarju Prasad used to play sarangi most of the time. She then learnt under Shrichand Mishra, who is a master of vocals and tabla. Her exposure to various forms of music has given her variety to her work.
 
Learning music was a struggle, as she is a woman. She followed her passion while keeping family responsibilities as a wife. Everyday was a struggle. She used to get up at 3.30 am and practice music till 6 am before handling household works. Then she practiced tanpura when everybody left home till dinnertime set in. The passion in her never died. She used to practice music till midnight when men folks in the family play cards. That was her daily routine. However, she said that she never wanted to perform, though she is known or her stage performance today. She added that she started giving concerts because of her gurus and well-wishers.

She learnt two distinctly diverse traditions yet she got them with ease. She sings khayal with great amount of calmness and then switches to thumri without any hassle. However, she said that learning various forms of music is not new to the people in Benares. She also clarified that her rendition of thumris is not seductive but philosophical in nature. Musicologist Deepak S. Raja said that Girija Devi couldn’t be compared to Benares stalwarts of the earlier generation like Rasoolan Bai and Siddheshwari Devi, as she is an original musician belonging to romanticist genres. He added that the way she engineers between the poetic, melodic and rhythmic elements is brilliant.

Girija Devi also spent years together, trying to find out the connections between emotion and words. She said that she worked hard for months in order to find the ways in which words like dheere, aao, jaao etc could be negotiated. Deepak Raja also said that the way Girija Devi deploys melodic and rhythmic elements is commendable. He added that she could generate good emotional communication because of her deep involvement with poetic and melodic elements.

India boosts of only few proficient thumri performers today. Classical musicians once scorned thumri but many youngsters have started taking it up today, which is an encouraging sign. Maybe this conflict gave birth to Bandisha thumri, which is sung by male singers only, as it gives more importance to rhythm rather than the emotional elements.

However, Girija Devi is unaffected by this conflict. She still devotes to her music and considers a blessing to perform even at this age. She recently performed for two-and-a-half hours in France soon after her bypass surgery. She said that she would cherish the four-minute standing ovation that the audience in France gave her.

This living legend deserves standing ovation where she goes. She is indeed a treasure to the country and the world at large.