Vasantrao Deshpande

It is often said that, whatever is written in your destiny, fate finds a way to bring it to you. Vasantrao Deshpande too stumbled into the world of music in quite an unlikely way. As a young boy of 7 or 8, living in Nagpur, he chanced to take cover from the rain under the roof of one house on his way home. This happened to be a music school, Shriram Sangeet Vidyalay, run by Shankarrao Sapre Guruji, student of Pt. Digambar Bal.

Listening to the recitation of the students in class, Vasantrao too started singing along with them, standing downstairs taking cover from the rain. Sapre Guruji on hearing this melodious voice came to investigate to find this little boy sitting on the steps and singing beautifully.

Through the coaxing of Guruji, his parents agreed to send Vasantrao to the music school to explore his natural gift of voice. His musical genius was soon revealed as he picked up not just singing much faster than others, but also started playing the harmonium and tabla.

At a point when Vasantrao was in the 8th or 9th standard, his grandfathers 2019 work in the Indian Railways took the family from Nagpur to Lahore, Pakistan for 3 years. This was before partition.

Wanting to explore new nuances in music, Vasantrao also learnt about Patialgad music under the guidance of Barkat Ali Khan Saab, Gulam Ali Khan Saab. Due to the unfortunate circumstances of the partition though, riots broke out and the family had to return home to the newly formed India, back to Nagpur.

As luck would have it, his uncle was stationed in Pune city in one of the most prestigious banks in those times. He encouraged Vasantrao 2019s parents to send him to Pune, which was fast emerging as the cultural hub that was home to a lot of singers, musicians, artists, playwrights among others.

Moving to Pune, immersing himself in the music scene and also finding Sharad Talwalkar as a colleague at work, and his boss was famous playwright Nanasaheb Bonde. Finding the right environment only brought him more and more into the fold of music and the cultural landscape of Pune. Finding Suresh Babulkar Mane Guruji, this is where his musical journey took off. Gaining name and fame, first in Pune, and eventually the whole of India.