Satyasheel Deshpande Biography 
Pandit Satyasheel Deshpande is an Indian Hindustani classical singer specialized in khyal singing. He is the son of musicologist Vamanrao Deshpande and the most prominent student of Kumar Gandharva. He was born on 9 January 1951 in Mumbai with birth name Satyasheel Vaman Deshpande. Satyasheel established the Samvaad Foundation at his residence in Mumbai with the help of a Ford Foundation grant.
Born in a family of musicians, Satyasheel too was a talented artist. So, it didn’t require much time for his father Vamanrao Deshpande to declare him as a child prodigy. Later he dedicated his full time for music and stayed with his guru Kumar Gandharva in Devas for three years in the true spirit of a disciple. Later he began to lay the foundations of his own style gathering information from traditional sources. Thus he was able to create a balance between traditional demands and his own imaginations. He performs live across the country in major concerts and occasionally sings for music as well. He has sung two popular duets with Asha Bhosle - 'Joothe Naina Bole' of ‘Lekin’ and 'Man Anand Anand Chhayo' of 'Vijeta'.
He has released two albums till now - Thumri Katha - The Story of the Thumri (2007) and Kahen (2004). Kahen is a two-CD anthology of 16 bandishes which includes a few of his own compositions. Its recordings were supervised by Pt. Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The second album is exclusively dedicated to Thumri, a style of light music. It includes 7 thumris belonging to 7 distinct regions of the country. A few of the honours received by Satyasheel include - Sursingar Samsad's Tansen Award, Homi Bhabha fellowship, Kumar Gandharva Emeritus fellowship and Raza Fellowship and Raza Award 2007.
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Updated: February 25, 2014
