B. R. Deodhar (1902- )

Last Updated on Sunday, 25 November 2012 17:16 | Published on Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:34 |

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Born in Miraj, he graduated from Bombay University in History & Economics. He was the disciple of Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar but also learnt from a number of masters such as Mohammad Bashir Khan (of Aligarh), Sindhi Khan Baba, Vajid Hussain Khan (Sahasvan) and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. His stock of compositions was so vast that he was one of the greatest music scholar of the country. In 1925, he founded the school the School of Indian Music which is, up to now, the most well-known institution of Bombay. He taught a number of disciples among which the famous Kumar Gandharva. He was invited to Banaras Hindu University (B.H.U.) to take over the Principalship of the Music College (later renamed Faculty of Performing Arts) after Omkarnath Thakur. His vast field of knowledge and activities - as an educationist, specialist of voice-culture, as Chief-Editor of the Sangeet Kala Vihar publication etc. have earned him many prestigious national awards ad a due recognition. I had the honor to meet him several times and to attend a full one-week lecture-demonstrations of his during which, despite an already advanced age, he was able to sing several hundreds compositions pertaining to the whole hindustani repertoire.