Begum Akhtar was a troubled person who brought great pathos in her singing of ghazals. She may not be a favourite of todays masses because of the sea change that has occurred in music preferences.

Even Lata Mangeshkar tweeted on Twitter:  Namaskar. Aaj Mallika-e-Ghazal Begum Akhtar ji ki jayanti hai.Main unke suro'n ko salam karti hun.

Her songs are too touching.

Begun Akhtar is legendary ... her kind of singing was old school like Noorjehan, Shamshad Begum, Raj Kumari , Kannan Devi etc..I can still remember and feel nostalgic about  the lovely days of vivid bharti and radio Ceylon and the  program on geet, ghazal aur thumri . 

Begun Akhtar was indeed the queen of Hindustani music. Her voice was so different from conventional and yet so heavenly beautiful. Me and my husband are both great fans of Akhtaribai and listen to her ghazals whenever possible. My favorite one is 'Ai mohabbat tere anjaam pe rona aya'

She was a very passionate singer. It seems she became ill with depression when her husband restricted her from singing after her marriage. She is known to go into depressions whenever she doesn't perform well. Such was her love for singing!!!

jabeen wrote:

She was a very passionate singer. It seems she became ill with depression when her husband restricted her from singing after her marriage. She is known to go into depressions whenever she doesn't perform well. Such was her love for singing!!!

I believe that no one can touch the heart of millions and millions of people through their art form unless there is passion attached to it. Her performance reflects her passion and when restriction is imposed then passion gets chained which is awful for any creative person. 

true legend. 

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Begun Akhtar was indeed the queen of Hindustani music. Her voice was so different from conventional and yet so heavenly beautiful. Me and my husband are both great fans of Akhtaribai and listen to her ghazals whenever possible. My favorite one is 'Ai mohabbat tere anjaam pe rona aya'

It's my favorite too.

@ Shampa, yes it is true that she faced societal restrictions and had lows and depression. But her passion had made her a legend. She stays in the hearts of millions of Music and ghazal lovers. Maybe the pain that she suffered made her ghazals and voice so touching

I read it somewhere that Sarojini Naidu was a big fan of Begum Akhtar. Begum stayed away from singing for 5 years after her marriage and that restriction made her fall in trap of depression. Only when she came back to singing and performance she got back her health. That's what music meant to her