Rekha Surya: disciple of Begum Akhtar and Girija Devi

I had the occasion to see Rekha Surya sing ghazals and other traditional songs like thumri, hori, kajri, dadra etc...

She has a very fine voice, by which I mean she is able to sing like the established thumri singers in a nasal-y voice.

Some info about her:

Rekha Surya is a notable exponent of the allied forms of Thumri Dadra, Kajri, Hori, Jhoola, Chaitai and Ghazal. She trained under legendary Begum Akhtar, Bashir Khan, and Girija Devi. She has performed in India and abroad, and is now preparing to represent India at the Asia Music Festival in Sri Lanka this year.
Rekha's own style of singing is a mixture of Benaras and Patiala gayaki as a result of her training with Girija Devi and Bahsir Khan. She is proud of the fact that after the two stalwarts of light classical, Girija Devi and she is amongst the young singers who is committed to the cause of light classical.
...
``Rekha was initiated into the genre by Begum Akhtar who told her, ``A ghazal is like a painting, you have to make a very beautiful frame around it and the frame should not over power the painting. The musical treatment has to be very judicious. The base of `ghazal' lies in the `purvi ang', and the `murki' and the `khatka are its embellishments."

and it seems that Khushwant Singh got to meet her also. Below is his account in his inimitable way...

This lady sitting in front of me had a large diamond in her nose-pin which caught the gleam of stage lights and sparkled like the Kohinoor every time she turned her head. Her handsome face was enough of a distraction. And once she stood up to adjust her saree, so was her figure. I decided she was a dancer: she had come unescorted.

I was looking for an excuse to talk to her. In the first intermission, it was she who turned round to speak to me. "I sent you an invitation to my recital at the India International Centre, I don’t think you came". I mumbled some excuse: "I don’t understand pukka raag, only light stuff like ghazals. In any case I rarely go out in the evenings during the winter. My fire-side is cosier than those drafty theatre halls". We got talking. "I am not pukka; I specialise in light classical Hindustani: thumri, dadra, ghazal and that kind of thing. I’d be happy to sing for you one evening".

I have yet to hear Rekha Surya sing, but I have got to know her. She says she looks upon me as a father: it is a price aged men have to pay for ogling good- looking women.

...
She heard Nazakat and Salamat Ali in Lucknow and decided that music would be her calling. She went to Calcutta to study under Girija Devi. Back in Lucknow she asked Begum Akhtar to teach her. The Begum first turned her down, then seeing the depression on her face, asked her to sing a few lines for her. She was enchanted and accepted her as a pupil: "Sirf iss liye kay aawaaz zaayaa na jaye"(only for this that this voice should not go to waste). Begum Akhtar left the stamp of her genius on Rekha Surya.