As a child, Akhtari was very curious and fascinated by music. She is said to have relished attending music functions in her neighbourhood, and always insisted to be taken to watch the nautanki when it visited her town. She also loved to sing and would be eager to perform with ease for anyone who would listen. A large part of the credit for Akhtari’s success goes to her mother who made all efforts to ensure that her daughter was trained by the very best while she was still a young girl.

At the age of about seven or eight years, Akhtari started receiving her initial ta’lim by the Sarangi maestro Ustad Imdad Khan, who happened to be the Sarangi accompanist of singers like Mallika Janof Agra and Gauhar Jan of Calcutta. He started her training with the nuanced and difficult raga Kamod as opposed to the norm of beginning with rudimentary & basic ragas. Akhtari later reminisced that her lessons began with the bandish “Hoon toh tan man chhandu…”. Whether it was due to the tough and serious beginning or the child’s playful nature which was tiresome, the Ustad could not teach her beyond six months.

Mushtari Begum then moved to Gaya along with Akhtari, but they continued to visit Faizabad often. On one such visit, Ustad Sakhawat Hussain Khan, who was himself a well know Sarod player, suggested that Akhtari train under Ustad Ata Mohammed Khan of the Patiala gharana. As was the practise in those days, the Ustad and shagird would live under the same roof and train for hours on end. Once Khan sahib heard Akhtari sing, he willingly agreed to teach her and even took the decision to move to Mushtari and Akhtari’s home.

Akhtari was then introduced to a basic knowledge of khayal gayaki. It is said that Khan sahib would be relentless in ensuring that Akhtari practised her vocal exercises and scales and that her riyaz in those days was intense, overlooked of course by Mushtari Begum. Khan sahib soon realised that Akhtari’s heart was not in the khayal training, though she was competent in the genre. The meticulous and often rigid genre of classical singing seemed to hold her back. He suggested to Mushtari Begum that her daughter was probably more interested in the deeply emotional styles of thumri, dadra and ghazal gayaki and proceeded to train her in those.

In 1948, Begum Akhtar recorded an hour and a half session at the All India Radio, Lucknow. This was probably made possible because of the involvement of Sunil Bose, who was the station director of AIR Lucknow at that time. Radio proved to be the medium which provided initial anonymity and a respectable platform to perform. The patronage shifted in this period from the Nawabs to the government and AIR played a crucial role in promotion of artists. In the post independence era, in the process of proclaiming a national identity, it became radio’s mandate to promote the national culture. In AIR’s universal grading system of musical excellence she was awarded A grade, the highest level offered for light classical musicians. Thus, through AIR Lucknow & Delhi, she was able to return to the world of music and her voice spread to the entire nation.

Performances at AIR also led to invitation to perform at various musical conferences across the country bringing Begum Akhtar back into limelight. The first major public performance was held in Delhi at Shankar Lal Festival in the year 1951; the same year as passing away of Mushtari Bai. Infact, many claim that Mushtari Bai’s passing away was a crucial reason for Abassi sahib to allow Akhtar resume to her music fully. It is believed by many that grief of losing her mother drove Begum Akhtar to extreme physical and emotional pain. Many suggested that the remedy would be to resume singing as emotional outlet. Infact, Sushila Misra reports a conversation with Abbasi sahib: “After her marriage, she had given up singing. But when her mother died, she became so hysterical with grief that she used to sit and weep endlessly at her mother’s grave. I was most worried. Our good family-friend and physician advised me that unless I permit her to resume her singing and thus provide her with an emotional outlet, she might become mentally deranged with sorrow. So I had to agree.”

A well respected musician, Begum Akhtar had good relationships with musicians and poets of the time. She was a close friend of another courtesan singer Rasoolan Bai, who as per her account, “remained a Bai all her life.” Siddheshwari Devi was another contemporary of hers. In an interesting comparison, Sheila Dhar points out “Rasoolan Bai was like vintage brandy – deep & mellow. Siddheshwari Devi was like a bird of paradise who threw her heart & soul into heaven with much energy and passion. Begum Akhtar’s technique was much subtler; you never associated her music with effort. It was something effortlessly stated with great sophistication and restraint.”

Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan, Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan, Ustad Vilayat Khan were some of the musicians who visited Begum Akhtar and Shanti Hiranand remembers serving food and refreshments during such visits. Pandit Kumar Gandharva would also visit her every time he was in Lucknow. In an interview with Acharya K. C. D. Brahaspati, Begum Akhtar said that Ustad Faiyaz Khan and Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan’s music was so powerful that it could bring tears even to the eyes of most devout Hindu or Muslim, thus demonstrating her own deep appreciation of their art.

Behzad Lucknawi was one of the poets closest to Begum Akhtar, to the extent that he wrote poetry with her in mind. His poem “Deewana banana hai toh deewana bana de…” was instrumental in Begum Akhtar’s initial popularity. Some contemporary poets and past masters of the ghazal form, including Ghalib, Mir, Jigar, Faiz, Kaifi, Shakeel, Shamim and Dagh were among Begum Akhtar’s favourites. She was also close to Firaq Gorakhpuri and Saleem Kidwai recounts an incident where she visited him in a hotel in Daryaganj and presented him with the recording of previous night’s mehfil where she had performed his ghazals. Many close to Begum Akhtar ascribe the refinement in her taste of poetry to her husband, Abbasi sahib. Shanti Hiranand recalls evenings after evenings where Begum Akhtar, Abbasi sahib & his friends would recite one ghazal after another. It is believed that Abbasi sahib played a crucial role in her nuanced understanding of Urdu poetry.

Saleem Kidwai ascribes a crucial role Begum Akhtar played in the milieu of Urdu literature. He says, “By this time she had become an arbiter and transmitter of Urdu poetry, adding to the glory of prominent poets and launching unknown poets to fame. She kept in touch with the work of the major poets and knew many of them as close friends. She gave the ghazal an extrordinary new lease of life and her enormous contribution in keeping Urdu at the mainstream of Hindustani culture is yet to be fully appreciated.”