Pandit Bhimsen Joshi at the age of 82 still sings with same energy & passion. He is the most powerful singer in hindustani classical music today. Bhimsen Joshi belongs to the Kirana Gharana. He is the disciple of Sawai Gandharva who was one of the initiator of Kirana Gharana. Sawai Gandharva was a chief disciple of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is a master of Khayal form of singing.  Any Raga form he sings he goes deep into it and brings out all the details and presents it in a very powerful manner. His voice & his notes (Swara) has got so much depth that it gets registered in your mind & body when you listen to him. When you see him perform, he sings with full passion, his entire body moves from head to the waist in the sitting posture. He is probably the only performer who has tried to give more than 100% in each of his performances.  The hours of riyaz (practice) that he has gone through in his young age has helped him to reach great heights during his performances. To me, he is the greatest hindustani vocalist of all times. He has a natural heavy voice which is so close to the nature. If the mountains like the himalayas could talk or sing they would resemble Bhimsen’s voice.

The speciality about Panditji’s singing is the depth in the khayal (very slow beat siniging) singing, the perfection of notes & the prolonged high speed tanas! When he performs he dominates not only the notes, but the taal & laya in a very natural way. The music flows in him and comes out with great aggression. The best thing about his singing is his voice quality which he has maintained for more than six decades. While singing both the lower & higher notes, his voice is so clear and profound.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has sung many bhajans in Kannad (his mother tongue), marathi & hindi. His bhajans in marathi are most popular and are all classics. If you do not like classical music so much, you should atleast have a collection of Bhimsen Joshi’s bhajans in your home. It will definitely create a positive energy & happy atmosphere in your house. You should listen to bhajans early morning, but anytime is fine.

Pt. Bhimsen Joshi has received many awards including the Padma Vibhushan and the sangeet natak academy award. Some of his disciples like Upendra Bhat and his son Srinivas follow his style and singing, but I like Anand Bhate (who was a child prodigy and was named as Anand Gandharva) who has been a disciple of Panditji but maintains his own style & voice.

The best quality of Panditji is his simplicity. He is a very humble & kind person. He has been very successful & famous individual but success has never got into his head. To me, he is the ‘Real Artist’.

Kumar Gandharva (Real Name: Shivputra Komkali) was an outstanding classical singer with a unique style of singing that was not confined to any particular gharana of hindustani music. He was a child prodigy and attained the Gandharva title (It is said that in Heaven there are Gadharvas (Singers) who sing for the King of Gods – Lord Indra Dev) and was named Kumar Gandharva at a very early age.  He lost one lung in young age due to illness, but continued  to learn music and developed his own style of singing which became very popular, though he got criticism from people who were followers of the traditional form (gharana) of music. He received initial training in music from Professor B. R. Deodhar. After his lung surgery, he could not sing for few years, but during this time he studied music and tried to attain the best from all the gharanas and gradually developed his own style of singing where by he managed with short but crisp bursts of music rather than deep and slow approach of traditional singing.

It is a delightful experience to hear Kumarji’s compositions or Ragas. When he starts singing you feel as if he is singing for himself, as if he is practicing alone. But soon his singing catches the audience and takes them into a divine feeling. He is able to deliver the entire Raag form within few minutes with great variations that takes one on a joyful ride. The most important asset that Kumarji had was tremendous control over the notes (Sur). He could reach from lower notes to higher notes or vice versa in fraction of a second. He could deliver taans (variations in faster speed) most effectively and in a focused manner than getting into longer variation cycles & then manage to reach to the ‘sam’ (the first beat of the taal cycle) like most traditional artisits do. The best I like about him are his nirguni bhajans (by Sant Kabir, Surdas). Most of his compositions have essence of folk music of north India. He has sung every bhajan from the bottom of his heart, giving great impotance to the words and without getting into too much variation to prove his classical skills like most classical singers tend to do. All his bhajan compositions look simple but are most difficult to sing. He has also sung a few marathi natyageet (semi-classical songs) beautifully.

Kumarji is no more with us, but his sweet voice & great singing will be definitely preserved by his disciples, fans and well wishers for the next generations to be able to follow & understand the high quality of Indian music that he discovered for the music lovers of his time.

Some of his fans have posted his recordings on YouTube (http://youtube.com/results?search_query=kumar+gandharva&search=Search). Please listen to these recordings and you will admire the music by Pt. Kumar Gandharva.

The Talwalkar family! When we talk about Talwalkars its all about Health & fitness – the famous gymnasium in Mumbai. No, I am not talking about those Talwalkars. Its about the musicians, one of the greatest musician family of recent times. Pt. Suresh Talwalkar, the Taal Yogi, is one of the eminent Tabla player of present times. He is a very versatile musician and a great human being. Pt. Suresh Talwalkar learnt tabla from Pt. Pandharinath Nageshkar & Pt. Vinayakrao Ghangrekar. He also learnt the carnatic layashastra (rythmic form) from Mrudungam player Pt. Ramnad Iswaran. Pt. Suresh Talwalkar is a very composed solo tabla player. He also understands the ‘Sur’ very well and is a very accomplished player when it comes to accomapaniment. His wife, Padma Talwalkar is a renowned hindustani vocalist and has acquired training from three gharanas – Gwalior, Jaipur & Kirana. She got initial training in hindustani music from Pt. Gangadhar Pimpalkhare. Thereafter, she got training from Moghubai Kurdikar, an eminent artist from the Jaipur Gharana. She also received training from Moghubai’s daughter, Kishori Amonkar who is one of the most versatile vocalist of Jaipur Gharana. Later she also learned music from Pt. Gajananrao Joshi, a master vocalist belonging to the Agra, Gwalior & Jaipur Gharana. Padma Talwalkar is a talented singer with a very profound voice. Their son Satyajit & daughter Savni Talwalkar have also developed interest in playing tabla at a very early age. Satyajit has been performing as a Solo artist and also acompanies his mother for her concerts. The entire family has dedicated their life to music and both Sureshji and Padmatai have a big Shishya parivar (family of students).  Ofcourse, they also have a huge fan following across the world. I have been fortunate to have learned tabla lessons form Pt. Sureshji for about 2 years and observed their family very closely. They have been very successful in leading both the personal and professional life.  I wish them great success and happiness in their future life. For more details on Pt. Suresh Talwalkar, log on to www.sureshtalwalkar.com

Recently we oragnised a concert of classical music through my foundation Swar Sadhana (www.swarsadhana.com). We had two performers, a samvadini player – Rajendra Vaishampayan and a tabla player – Prafulla Athlye.  This time we wanted to entertain the crowd of IIT Bombay with a different concept - a jugalbandi of Samvadini & Tabla. The programme started with solo performance by Prafulla on Tabla with Taal Teen Taal while Rajendra was accompaning him by playing the lehera (16 beats tune). Prafulla, a disciple of Ustad Alla Rakha, played magnificently on the tabla with his graceful fingers. He played peshkar, kaydas, rellas & gats and some creations of Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Thirukva & Pt. Sapan Chowdhary with elegance. The next session was controlled by the Samvadini Artist, Rajendra Vaishampayan, a disciple of Pt. Manohar Chimote. Rajendra actually started communicating with the audience through the instrument by playing the Raag Kirvani. Kirvani is a beautiful & most romantic Raag. Most old hindi songs are based on this raag. Samvadini is an improvised version of the harmonium (Indian Keyboards). Usually, Harmonium is an instrument played for accompaniment.  But Samvadini has really brought a positive change in the instrument and its sound. If you close your eyes and listen to the notes you will feel as if its trying to say something. It also depends on the Artist how he plays the instrument and expresses the emotions via the instrument. Rajendra is an exceptional performer and he plays the samvadini with great confidence and ease. He also played a bandish & ended the concert with a dhun in Bhairavi. Rajendra has a great future ahead and I wish him all the success for his future concerts. For more details on Samvadini visit Rajendra’s site: www.samvadiniartiste.com.

Shubhangi Sakhalkar is my elder sister and a popular name in Indian Classical Music today in the Bay Area, USA. 16th April is her birthday and I thought this would be the right time to post an article about her. Shubhangi is the most talented music personality that I have ever known. Being my sister, I have been hearing her sing since my childhood. Her first music lessons started when she started listening to lata Mangeshkar songs on our Philips Radio when she was barely 4-5 years old. With the inherent talent and ability to listen & grasp music she could sing difficult songs with ease at a very young age. Our mother who is BA in Music and singer herself, encouraged Shubhangi to learn music. Shubhangi took classical training in music when she started going to school. She graduated in Physics but decided to go for MA in Music. By that time she had already received many prizes, awards at college festivals in Mumbai. I was fortunate to have accompanied her on Tabla while she use to practice music and also for her local performances then. She completed her MA with Gold Medal from the SNDT University. Thereafter there has been no looking back. She got trained in hindustani classical music from Dr. Prabha Atre & Smt. Padma Talwalkar. After her marraige she left for USA where she continued her music Riyaz (Practice) and started giving performances. Gradually she also started teaching muisc and today she has a big fan following and many enthusiastic students who learn and benefit from the Indian form of Music. Shubhangi to me is the most versatile singer, a great teacher and a very good human being. For an Artist to be a ‘Real Artist’ these qualities are very essential. I wish her all the best in her music career & special wishes on her brithday!

For more details on Shubhangi Sakhalkar please log on to www.shubhangisakhalkar.com.

An artist is a person who has an inherent or born talent in him / her or has tremendous passion towards the art. Since we are talking in context of music, an artist has to keep learning and gaining knowledge in music which is as vast as an ocean. In the traditional form of Indian Music a person who is keen to grow himself or herself as an artist has to be very focused and devoted to the music from a very early age of life. People who are born in a family of music performers have an edge over others. Some say that they start learning music in their mothers womb, before their birth. Those are real lucky people. Anyway, it is not just about born talent, there are other factors that are really very important in the becoming of an ‘artist’. You have to be very disciplined & punctual about learning music. Regular ‘Riyaz’ (Practice) is key. Most importantly you have to have a good teacher (Guru). In Indian classical music there are various Gharanas (familiies) of music. Each gharana has its unique style and structure of presentation. The beauty of performance lies in variations and creativity by an artist within the defined structure of a particular gharana. An artist creates different emotions by performing various forms (Ragaas) of music. The forms or Ragaas are based on basic forms (thaats) and are performed based on specific times in a day. The time decides the mood and so does the form (Raaga) decides the mood or creates an atmosphere that is suitable to the time of the day.

An Artist is one who has learned music and is able to give performance and entertain the audience.  He may or may not be a good person at heart. He may be performing just to impress people with his talent and concentrate more on the presentation than the beauty of the form of music.

The Real Artist however is a ‘good quality’ human being. He (or She) is very humble and down to earth person. He (or she) is very versatile, yet simple in his / her presentation. He (or She) gets so deeply involved in the music that he (or she) forgets everything and has the ability to move the audience into a divine or spiritual level for few moments. The Real Artist does not make an attempt to do so, but this happens naturally.

Music itself has the ability to change a bad person into a good one and make him a real artist but the person has to put a lot of effort in leaving behind his ego and arrogance which can get enhanced due to the fame and popularity amogst the audience.  It’s easy for a person who is kind (Satva guni) by nature, to become a real artist if he is able to maintain the balance between a good person and a famous person.

Music is divine.  The classical form of Indian music has been cherished over the years for its purity and ecstacy and people have experienced great deal of satisfaction and happiness of mind by listening and practicing it. The first word that is uttered while you begin the riyaz (practice) is ‘OM’. By saying OoooMmmm while releasing your breath you not only clear your vocal chords but also pray to god and take his blessings.  Most singers practice ‘OM’ for ten minutes before they start the next exercises of signing.  A singer can practice or perform for hours at a stretch with only 7 notes.  These are ‘Sa’ ‘Re’ ‘Ga’ ‘Ma’ ‘Pa’ ‘Dha’ ‘Ni’. He can create many combinations of tunes with these 7 notes.  Apart from these basic (shuddha)  notes there are komal (soft) notes with which one can create various forms (Ragaas) of music. The classical form of music creates emotions which can be romantic and devotional as well. The music is so soothing that it calms down your mind and releases all your thoughts. For a singer music is a form of worship and for a listner it is a form of meditation. Both achieve oneness while experiencing it and feel relaxed and heavenly. It takes great time and effort to become a good singer and a good listner, but the satisfaction & peace of mind can be achieved instantly if one has deep interest and great feelings for music.