Pandit Ram Deshpande

Hindustani Khayal Vocal

Pandit Ram Deshpande

4 minute read

Pandit Dr. Ram Deshpande (b. 1968, Vidarbha, Maharashtra) is a distinguished vocalist of the Gwalior–Jaipur and Agra gharana traditions. He began his musical journey under Shri Chepe, Shri Panake, and his influential guru Pt. Prabhakar Deshkar, later training with stalwarts Pt. Yashwantbua Joshi, Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Pt. Babanrao Haldankar, and Pt. Yashwant Mahale. A gold medallist in M.A. Music (Nagpur University) and later awarded a doctorate for his thesis on Mishra Ragas, Pandit Deshpande blends scholarly insight with rich, rhythmic artistry.

An All India Radio “Top Grade” vocalist and recipient of the 1991 Sangeet Research Academy (Kolkata) Best Vocalist Award, he has received national acclaim—including a Kesarbai Kerkar Scholarship, Vidyasagar Award, and Aditya Vikram Birla Kalakiran Puraskar (2005). Pandit Deshpande has toured internationally and performed at prestigious festivals like Sawai Gandharva, Tansen Samaroh, and Mogubai Kurdikar Sammelan. He has also composed music and directed films on classical icons, including Gaanyogi (on Pt D.V. Paluskar) and spiritual albums, showcasing his multifaceted artistry.

As a teacher and mentor at his Gandhar Music Academy, Pandit Deshpande continues to shape future generations. His disciples include his son Gandhar Deshpande, recognized for his early musical roles and awards. Although Pandit Deshpande himself has not performed at the Darbar Festival, his stylistic lineage—rooted in Gwalior and Jaipur traditions—deeply influences many artists who appear regularly at the festival, especially those trained through Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and SRA-linked pedagogues. His combination of intellectual rigour, soulful expression, and classical scholarship ensures that his musical impact resonates on Indian and global stages.

Pandit Ram Deshpande presents Raag Yaman Kalyan at Darbar Festival 2012.

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Supreet Deshpande | Tabla Solo

Recorded at Darbar Festival 2017, on 12th November, at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London. Musicians: - Supreet Deshpande (tabla) - Milind Kulkarni (harmonium) In this brilliant solo performance from Darbar Festival 2017, tabla exponent Supreet Deshpande provides glimpses of a motley styles of tabla playing through age-old compositions and his own brainstorming and ‘taleem’ (learning) in a rhythmic cycle of 16 beats or Teental. He is accompanied by Milind Kulkarni on the harmonium, who adds striking melody to the solo with a rich nagma exploding with notes from folksy Indian ragas. Deshpande allows Kulkarni to take the lead with a long and evocative alap on the harmonium. He launches his performance in the Farrukhabad style with a peshkar. Thereafter, with fresh energy and vibrance, he doles out compositions of tabla doyens of the yesteryears. Deshpande has learned from his father, Pandit Kiran Deshpande and also Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. The first ‘qayda’ he plays is from the Delhi gharana and was composed by one of its founding fathers, Ustad Amir Hussain Khan (1899-1969). Citing this as one of his gurus’ favourites, he plays the composition and then improvises it with striking power and clarity. A Benares gharana composition by Pandit Kishen Maharaj follows, where he blends elements of the Farrukhabad gharana (his maiden style) into its vistaar that lends a unique tonality and glow to the piece. Deshpande also offers interesting narratives before some of the pieces. He plays a ‘challan’ from the Lucknow gharana, describing it as one with a special movement or gait. He muses that just as the movement of a person gives clues of his/her personality, so does a challan of the gharana. He correlates the grace, sophistication and etiquette of the Persian culture that is inherent of the north Indian city of Lucknow to the personality of this challan. Interestingly, to this day, Lucknow city retains the elegance of the Mughal era from the 16th century when the dynasty ruled India for over 300 years. Deshpande plays an unconventional composition of Ustad Habibuddin Khan (1899-1972), another stalwart of the Ajrada gharana which follows odd clusters of 3 ½ and 4 ½ beats in a cycle of Teental. Projecting his knowledge of some rarer compositions of his gurus, he performs a number of ‘anaghat’ that have a peculiar way of returning just before the first beat of the Teental. In a hypnotic presentation of a ‘vedam kamaali chakardar’ composed by Ustad Zakir Hussain, he captures the imagination of his listeners with crisp delivery with unwavering energy till the end. An exceptionally played composition of Kanthe Maharaj from Benares gharana sums up his recital after which, he takes a bow following a resounding applause. Subscribe to the Darbar Player to access the full, uncut performance.