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Gayanacharya Gururao Deshpande

Gururao Deshpande is the doyen of Gwalior Gharana (1889-1982)hailing from Dharwad - the cultural capital of Karnataka.

Gururao Deshpande’s music was unsurpassed for its sheer ease, melody and sweetness. It was a fusion of ultimate sophistication and highly developed spontaneity. Even as an octogenarian, the Gayanacharya performed with forbidding power and competence. He had the power to recreate ragas in a new sense and convey their distinctive character, poise and balance.

Gururao was born in 1889, into the honoured family of the Deshpandes. The parents Narayanrao and Gangabai, had an affiliation wth literature and arts. Though Narayanrao was himself a Carnatic musician, he had hopes of making his son a lawyer, which were dampened when young Gururao exhibited an overwhelming attraction for Hindustani classical music. Gururao had been gifted with a melodious voice, and sensing his liking, his parents, finally succumbed to his love for music. They placed him under the tutelage of eminent vocalists, Sri. Dattopant Joshi and Sri.T.K. Pitre, when the lad was barely ten. In 1919, Gururao moved to Belgaum where he developed an in depth knowledge of music from Pandit Ramakrishna Buwa Vaze-the renowned maestro of Gwalior Gharana. With a firm foundation of Gwalior gayaki, Gururao Deshpande went on a grand tour of the north, listening to great Ustads performing, and gained invaluable experience and nurtured his knowledge further. He made his reverence for stalwarts like Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, Ustad Fiaz Khan, Ustad Manji Khan and Smt.Kesarbai Kerkar, very evident by emulating their exemplary lives and life long commitment to classical music.