Rajeev Taranath Biography 
Rajeev Taranath is an internationally acclaimed Sarod player from Bangalore. He is also a vocalist. He is a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan. He is a recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in the year 2000 for his outstanding achievement in the field of Hindustani Instrumental music. Sangeet Nritya Akademi Award in 1993, Karnataka Rajya Prashasti in 1996, Sangeetha Rathna Mysore T. Chowdiah Memorial Award 1998 given by state government of Karnataka, Kempe Gowda Award in 2006 and Sangeet Kalaratna from the Gayana Samaja are the other major honours received by him. He has also been associated with film world as a musician and has released several records as well. Hailed a prodigy in Hindustani vocal music, today he is one of the world's leading exponents of the Sarod.
He was born in Bangalore on 17 October 1932 into a family with music background. He received training in Carnatic music from his father - Pandit Taranath and gave his first public performance at the age of 9. By the age of 20, he was already an artist of All India Radio. He completed PhD in literature and started his career as a teacher in English. However he left his job as a professor and moved to Kolkata to pursue his dreams in music industry.
It was during this time when he began his musical training under the tutelage of Ali Akbar Khan, thus switching to sarod. He continued as a disciple of this sitar legend till his death in 2009. He also received guidance from great musicians like Ravi Shankar, Annapurna Devi, Nikhil Banerjee and Aashish Khan and continued with his performances. Rajeev was a Ford Foundation scholar during the period 1989 to 1992, who researched the Teaching Techniques of the Maihar-Allauddin Gharana.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 28, 2016
