Raghunandan Panshikar

Pandit Raghunandan Panshikar was born on March 14, 1963 in Mumbai into a family of Sanskrit scholars and classical musicians; his father was the renowned Marathi theatre actor Prabhakar Panshikar. He began formal training at age 11 under Pandit Vasantrao Kulkarni, and at 17 entered a rigorous 20-plus-year discipleship with the late Kishori Amonkar, also studying under her mother Mogubai Kurdikar (a direct disciple of Ustad Alladiya Khan, founder of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana). His gayaki features a full-throated akaar, dazzling taans, sophisticated meend and gamak, and deep command of layakari. He is equally accomplished in semi-classical genres including thumri, ghazal, bhajan, abhang, natya sangeet, and bhaavgeet. An 'A'-Grade artist at All India Radio and Doordarshan, he has received honors including the Manik Verma Puraskar, Sangeet Kala Ratna, Zee Gaurav Puraskar, and the Dr. Prabha Atre Award.