Rambhau Kundgolkar, popularly known as Pandit Sawai Gandharva (Kannada: ಪಂಡಿತ್ ಸವಾಯಿ ಗಂಧರ್ವ) (Marathi: पंडित सवाई गंधर्व)(January 19, 1886 – September 12, 1952), was a popular Hindustani Classical vocalist and Marathi stage actor of the Kirana Gharana. He was the first and foremost disciple of Utd. Abdul Karim Khan and guru of Bharat Ratna laureate Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Pt. Gandharva is most well known for popularizing the stylings of the Kirana Gharana through his accomplished disciples, including Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Dr. Gangubai Hangal, Firoz Dastur, and Pt. Basavaraj Rajguru.

Pt. Gandharva was born in Kundgol, Karnataka. His father, Ganesh Saunshi, was a local clerk employed by Ranganagowda Nadiger, a landlord. Early on, Pt. Gandharva did not show interest in academics but progressed in school through the admiration his teachers had for how "sweetly" he sung poems. Later, he was admitted to Lamington High School in Hubli which he would travel to everyday by train. Pt. Gandharva's father found it increasingly difficult to fund his son's education and eventually his schooling stopped.

Shankar Mahadevan (Tamil: ஷங்கர் மகாதேவன்) is an Indian music composer and singer. He is a part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio team that composes for Indian films and a playback singer.

Shankar Mahadevan was born and brought up in Chembur, a suburb of Mumbai, to a Tamil Iyer family from Palakkad, Kerala. He learned Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music in his childhood and started playing the veena at the age of five. He studied under Srinivas Khale, a well known Marathi music composer. He went to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour High School in Chembur. He subsequently attended SIES College in Sion and completed his HSC. He graduated in 1988 with a degree in Computer Science Engineering from Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai under the auspices of Mumbai University. He worked as a software engineer on Oracle Version Six.

After working for a while for Leading Edge Systems, Shankar ventured into the field of music. He earned his first award as a playback singer in a Tamil movie, collaborating with A. R. Rahman and winning a National Film Award for his song in Kandukondain Kandukondain. A prominent star in the Kodambakkam film industry, he gained further recognition upon the release of his first music album, Breathless, in 1998. The title track of the album had been prepared in such a manner that it is sung without any break, so it appears to be sung in one breath and thus the title "breathless". He later got into music direction and became a part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio, composing music for Hindi films.

Prabha Atre (born 13 September 1932) is an Indian classical vocalist.

Prabha was born to Abasaheb and Indirabai Atre in Pune. As children, Prabha and her sister, Usha, were interested in music, but neither of them planned to pursue music as a career. When Prabha was eight, Indirabai was not keeping good health, and at a friend's suggestion that classical music lessons would help her feel better, she took a few lessons. Listening to those lessons inspired Prabha to learn classical music.

Her music training was in the guru-shishya paramparaa system. She learnt classical music initially from Shri. Vijay Karandikar. Then, went to late Shri. Sureshbabu Mane and Smt. Hirabai Badodekar, the famous musicians from the Kirana school for advanced training. she acknowledges the influence of two other greats, Ustad Amir Khan and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, on her gayaki.

While studying music, Prabha finished college courses in science and law to receive degrees in both of those disciplines. She later also earned a Ph.D. in music. Her doctoral thesis was titled Sargam, and pertained to the use of sol-fa notes in Indian classical music. which is unique of its kind.

Anand Bhate (born 1971) is a Hindustani classical vocalist from the Kirana Gharana. He is popular for his classical singing of songs from the Marathi film Balgandharva (2011).

Anand Bhate was born in Pune, India in 1971, in a family active in classical music. He inherited the singing tradition from his great grandfather Bhate Buva, who was a well known vocalist for Thumri and Natya Sangeet in the 19th century. By the age of 10, he had started systematic training in classical singing from Chandrashekhar Deshpande. He began his training under Yashwantbua Marathe, who introduced him to some of the intricacies of Khayal gayaki. Later he became a disciple of late Bhimsen Joshi, with whom he trained for 15 years.

His first public appearance came in 1981, when he performed Balgandharva's gayaki on All India Radio, Doordarshan and had a tour in the USA. It was a series of successful performances that fetched him the title "Anand Gandharva".

He has recently sung all the tracks for the lead character of a Marathi bio-pic of Balgandharva. He received the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for this film.

Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi ( pronunciation (help·info)); February 4, 1922 – January 24, 2011) was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana (school), he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs). He was the most recent recipient of the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, awarded in 2008.

Joshi was born into a Kannadiga family in the town of Ron, which was then in Dharwar, District in northern Karnataka state of India. His father, Gururaj Joshi, was a school teacher. Bhimsen was the eldest in a family of 16 siblings. Some of the siblings still live in their ancestral home in Gadag. Bhimsen lost his mother when he was young, and his step mother then raised him. His parents lived initially with his grandfather as tenants of a Kulkarni household, but then moved to Gadag (now a district headquarter).

As a child, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi's craving for music was evident to his family as he managed to lay his hands on a 'tanpura' used by his 'Kirtankar' grandfather, which had been kept away from his gaze at home. Music had such a magnetic pull over him that a 'bhajan singing' procession or just 'azaan' from a nearby mosque was said to draw him out of house.