Shivaram Rajguru

Basavaraj Rajguru (August 24, 1917--1991) was born in Yaliwal, a village in the north Karnataka district of Dharwad, a great centre of Hindustani classical music. He was a leading Hindustani vocal musician in the Kirana gharana (tradition). Due perhaps to his aversion for publicity and his simple and scholarly lifestyle, he never achieved the level of fame of his contemporaries Bhimsen Joshi and Gangubai Hangal of the same gharana. He received many awards, including the Padma Bhushan...Besides being a great classicalist, Rajguru was adept at composing and singing vachanas (devotional songs in the Kannada language) which made his music more accessible to the general public of Karnataka state. Basavaraj was fond of music from a very young age. He would try to persuade drama producers and actors to let him sing in their plays, and first became known while singing for Vamanrao Master's traveling drama company. When he was 13 years old, he lost his father. His uncle became concerned about his future in drama. By a fortuitous stroke of fate, the blind Ganayogi Panchakshari Gawai discovered Basavraj and with little convincing from the MaTh's swamiji (head priest of the temple organisation), took the lad into his tutelage. Since then his music embraced a whole new beginning. Panchakshari Gawai gave all his musical knowledge to Basavraj and other students who were not in a position to pay gurudakshina (fees paid to a teacher, not literally a sum of money but rather a composite of <b>...</b>