Sadly, hardly anybody remembers his golden voice these days and no effort is being done to give the respect and recognition he deserves. This is just a small tribute to the boy with the divine voice.

Master Madan was born on December 1927 in village Khan- Khana of district Nawanshahr. His father, Sardar Amar Singh, was employed at the Ministry of Education and Health in New Delhi. His elder brother, Master Mohan, was musically gifted and his elder sister, Shanti Devi, is alive and well in Rana Pratap Road, Delhi. Mohan’s daughter, Ravinder Kaur who never married and his son, Jaspal Singh Pali, both live at New Bootale Building, Lower Bazar, Simla, where the family has resided for nearly eighty years.
By the time Master madan was two or three,his family realised the gift he was born with.He started learning music at a very early age. His elder brother also sang and also played the violin .Along with his elder brother Mohan, he did his regular riyaz (practice) with full devotion. Madan had his early schooling at Sanatan Dharam School at Shimla with his residence in New Bootele Building of Lower Bazar,Shimla.
Later, he passed his matriculation from the Ramjas School in Delhi and joined Hindu College. He was a bright student but used to remain lost in his devotion to music. He did not socialise much or participate in sports and other activities. It is said that he was always elegantly dressed in princely style, wearing gold chains, bedecked with medals and a shining turban.
At the time, K L Saigal, who was working for the Remington Typewriter Company, was also in Simla. Often he would bring his harmonium to New Bootale Building and the two would have long singing sessions. Madan, who was about two at the time lived with his brother and was always present on these occasions.After a few months, he began to sing. He surprised everyone the command he had on the “sur” and “taal”.Soon, Master Madan’s fame spread all over India and he began to perform in public. Later after Saigal had joined New Theatres Calcutta, he always looked after Master Mohan and Madan whenever they visited Calcutta. In fact, Saigal became very fond of Master Madan and admired his instinctive knowledge of music and his mastery in singing intricate classical compositions with perfect ease in his heavenly voice.
According to available records Master Madan gave his first public performance in June 1930 at the Dharampur Sanatorium. Then only three and a half years of age, he created a sensation and the audience was just wonderstruck on hearing “Hey sharda naman karun” and another composition in Dhrupad. Not only did he receive a rapturous applause but the eminent classical singers present there pronounced that there was something unearthly in the gifted child as no such performance had ever been heard before and no one in India at that time could possibly match him. The news spread like wildfire all over the country and there was unprecedented media coverage with even the The Hindu of Madras carrying a photograph of Master Madan. Adored as a child prodigy, he soon became a cult figure and got invited to every major musical event organised in different parts of India. Shimla being his summer residence, he was a special favourite of the ruling princes of the hill states of district Shimla. As a result, Master Madan was always on the move along with his brother Master Mohan who was both a classical singer and a violinist. It is said that Master Madan was paid Rs 80 for a local performance and Rs 250 for an outstation concert. On an average he gave about 20 performances per month. However it was not his love of money that made him sing so much but more his devotion to music and the singing seemed to provide food for his inspired soul.

Already a renowned radio artiste, Master Madan’s fame even induced one filmmaker to come to Shimla and offer him a role in his film on the life of Saint Kabir. His parents however declined the offer since films as a profession did not command much respect then. They also feared that the young lad might get spoiled in Bombay which was considered rather remote. After his untimely demise, they regretted the decision since they lost the chance of seeing him in a film.
Master Madan’s last public performance took place at Calcutta where he is said to have enchanted the audience by singing raag Bageshwari “Binti suno mere Avadhpuri ke Basaiya” for an hour and a half. He received a resounding applause and one of the listeners promptly gifted him Rs 500 (a princely sum in 1942) as a token of appreciation. On his return, Madan stopped over in Delhi and stayed with his sister Shanti Devi and her husband Inder Singh who treated him like a son. He used to carry Madan on his cycle to the radio station at Delhi, then located on Alipore road.
In 1940, when Mahatma Gandhi came to Simla, few people turned up at his meeting because most of them had gone to a Master Madan concert.
The young singing sensation was a particular favourite of the rulers of Indian states who conferred many medals on him which he invariably wore at his performances.He was always on the road and the family was thrilled because he was being showered with money and presents. But this took its toll. Because of the great strain under which the young boy lived and worked, his health began to fail. He would complain of exhaustion and he was always running a low fever.It was in Delhi that Madan caught a fever but still continued with his radio programmes. His fever persisted and no medicine seemed to have any effect. As the summer set in, he went over to Shimla but even this change and the cooler clime did not improve his condition. As time passed, Madan’s forehead and other bone joints started shining. It was then suspected that someone had fed Madan mercury. There was a rumour that some other singer, stirred by jealousy, had mixed mercury in his milk, which he used to drink at the All India Radio canteen. There were no antibiotics in those days.The boy genius with the immortal voice died in Simla on 5 June 1942, several months short of his 15th birthday. He was cremated wearing all his medals. His mother Puran Devi died soon after Master Madan death on 5 June 1942 while his father, Sardar Amar Singh died on 13 December 1981).
There were many rumours as to the cause of death. One rumour went that one time when he was performing in Ambala, the local singing girls had invited him to their ‘kotha’ and doctored his ‘paan’. Another said that at the radio station in Delhi he was given mercury in his drink by a jealous performer. Yet another rumour was that in Calcutta after a sensational concert at which he sang ‘Vinti suno meri Avadhpur ke basayya’, a thumri in raag Bagehswari, someone gave him a slow-acting poison in his drink. It was noticed, in retrospect, that he never recovered his voice after that particular performance.

Over 65 years have passed since Master Madan departed but still his mastery of Hindustani classical music and his melodious voice is unmatched. Fondly remembered by music lovers all over the subcontinent for two eternal melodies “Hairat se taq raha hai jahan-e-wafa mujhe” and “yun na rah rah kar hamen tarsaiye”, the child prodigy with his mature, perfectly modulated and unbroken voice created a sensation in the world of music.

When you listen to these melodies,you come to know how easily he performed such difficult compositions.His expressions and command on language was supreme.These two ghazals penned by Sagar Nizami still retain their magical appeal even after a lapse of over 70 years since they were recorded (1935).. Even at his tender age, Master Madan had cast such a magical spell on his listeners that in his day, he surpassed many a luminary of the music world in drawing crowds to his public performances.
Though Sagar Nizami’s ghazals immortalised Madan; there are six more songs, which were recorded and are held by the family and some collectors of music; these include two Punjabi melodies as well. It is a pity that in spite of several radio programmes during 1931-42, the AIR archives have nothing whatsoever. If preserved, these recordings would have been a national treasure for music lovers.I guess its time we give Master Madan the recognition he deserves.

References:
http://nawanshahr.nic.in/html/sucess_stories.htm
Master Madan – Article printed in The Tribune Sunday – October 1st 2006
http://www.thumri.com/lost.html