LAHORE: Renowened Thumri singer Girija Devi passed on Tuesday in Kolkata at the age of 88. Known as the “thumri queen”, Devi popularised the genre of semi-classical Indian music. Doctors at Kolkata’s BM Birla Nursing Home said she suffered a cardiac arrest, Indian media reported on Tuesday. Thumri exponent Girija Devi passes away; she was a representative of Benaras and Seniya gharana pic.twitter.com/rvm83MxIJ3 — All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) October 24, 2017 Devi had made her public debut on All India Radio Allahabad in 1949. She was given all three Padma awards – she was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2016. The singer had also won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship. Devi is known to have inherited the thumri tradition in its pure form directly from the likes of Siddheshwari Devi, Rasoolan Bai, Badi Moti Bai, Begum Akhtar. She has been accredited with preserving some of the unusual and rare styles of thumris evident in her famous renditions like ‘Deevane kiye Shyam and Khambavati hori thumri, ‘ Hori khelo mose Nandlal’.