Rahul Deshpande

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Rahul Deshpande

Rahul Deshpande (Born: 1979) is an Indian classical music singer. He was born in a Deshastha Rugvedi Brahmin family in Pune, India. He is also the grandson of the noted marathi singer Pandit Vasantrao Deshpande of Patiala Gharana.

[edit] Background

Rahul's initial learning years were spent under the tutelage of Pandit Gangadharbuva Pimpalkhare and, later, under Dr. Madhusudhan Patwardhan. Initially in his career Rahul was more interested in the tabala. He honed his sense of ‘taal’ by learning the tabla from Pandit Suresh Samant. His interest in vocal music began by studying the music of Pandit Kumar Gandharva. Rahul initially sought guidance from Ushatai Chipalkatti and later from Mukul Shivputra - the son of Pandit Kumar Gandharva.

Rahul’s repertoire includes renditions from classical ragas to khayal, thumri, dadra, natyageet, bhajan, gazal and bhaavgeet. Still, Rahul's natural interest lies in Abhijaat Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet. Even though he respects individual Gharanas, his preference is for the boundless Gharana Virahit style of singing. He feels that by binding oneself to a Gharana system one limits one's growth and thinking. Music is beyond the Gharana system and there are many good things from the different gharanas which can be included in one's singing in order to enrich it.

[edit] Awards and Achievements

Rahul has achieved prominence as a creative musical performer from an early age. Several eminent critics have noted the similarity between Rahul’s approach and that of his grandfather.

His achievements include

Several national and international performances.
Regularly featured in a number of TV programs like Soor Taal and Nakshatranche Dene on Indian channels such as E-TV, Alpha TV, Doordarshan.
Has released a number of audiocassettes on his various classical and semi classical performances.

Awards received by Rahul include:

Rasikagrani Dattopant Deshpande Award (presented to him at the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival)
Sudhir Phadke award for his outstanding achievements at a young age.

Rahul believes that the journey of a true musician is never complete. And during this journey his philosophy is to make his programs a complete musical experience for his audience.