A view of the inside of the ancestral house of Hindustani singer Pandit Kumar Gandharva in Sulebhavi village of Belagavi district.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
Kannada organisations have urged the State government to celebrate the centenary year of the birth of Hindustani classical singer Pandit Kumar Gandharva who was born in Sulebavi village of Belagavi district in 1924.
A delegation of the central committee of Kannada organisations in Belagavi met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru recently and urged him to organise a national-level event to commemorate the centenary year.
โKumar Gandharva, one of the stalwarts of the Indian music world, was born on April 9, 1924 in Sulebhavi of Belagavi taluk. His birth centenary should be celebrated by the government. A national-level seminar on his music service and a couple of day and night concerts can be organised. There are many singers who have become national-level singers after being disciples of Kumar Gandharva. They may be invited to Belagavi,โ the letter said.
โThe Chief Minister has given us a positive response. We are looking forward to a grand celebration,โ Ashok Chandaragi, convenor of the committee, said.
Kumar Gandharva, known for his unique singing style that fused the classical with the folk, spent most of his life in Dewas in Madhya Pradesh. His wife Vasundhara Konkalimath too was a successful musician. So are his son Mukul Shivaputra and daughter Kalapini and also, grandson Bhuvanesh Konkali.
He was known for his distinct voice modulations and tempo and non-traditional classical singing. He won international acclaim for his adaptation of the Nirguni Bhajans of Sant Kabir to classical music style, a feat that was considered revolutionary in the 1950s.
Born as Shivaputrayya Sidramayya Konkalimath, he was a child prodigy who began performing when he was eight. A local seer, who listened to his concert, called him Kumar Gandharva (young divine musician) and the name stuck.
His father and uncles taught him Bhajans and Natyageeta songs. He became a nationally acclaimed singer before he was 25. He suffered from an infection of the lungs and had to shift to Dewas in Madhya Pradesh for its non-humid air. He also found support from the local royal family there.
After a five-year hiatus due to a lung infection, he returned to stage. He had adapted his singing to suit his condition. He mentored a new generation of singers and created a new audience that began to appreciate Hindustani classical music, without its rigidities, says Shirish Joshi, author of a book on the singer.
Kumar Gandharva died in 1992. His wife Vasundhara Konkalimath passed away in 2015. His children have performed in Belagavi on different occasions. The family home, Basava Kunj, is now owned by the Naganur family that runs a tea shop in the ground floor. Sulebavi village has a building named after the singer.
