Ulhas Kashalkar – Tribute to Ustad Vilayat Khan

Raga Shankara, Sanjh Saravali and Bhairavi

Ulhas Kashalkar is amongst the leading khayal vocalists. Ulhas (b. 1955), until age 20, was trained in vocal music by his father, an attorney. Along with this, he qualified for his first and graduate degrees in Hindustani music. Thereafter, under a scholarship from the Government of India, Ulhas moved to Bombay for training with vocalists groomed in the traditional System of stylistic indoctrination. He trained for six years with Pandit Ram Marathe, a vocalist of the Gwalior and Agra traditions and for another six years with Pandit Gajananrao Joshi, a Gwalior Gharana maestro who had incorporated Agra as well as Jaipur-Atrauli features into his idiom. Ulhas' exceptional mind integrated this eclectic grooming into a convincing personal statement.

His discography begins from 1987 and covers two-dozen recordings published in India and abroad. He has performed at most of the major music festivals and conferences in India and is a respected and popular performer in the U.S.A., Canada, U.K., U.A.E., France and Switzerland. Currently, Ulhas serves as a Resident Guru at the Sangeet Research Academy, in Kolkata, India's first conservatory type institution for music education. Suresh Talwalkar (b. 1943) began studying tabla under his father Dattatrey Talwalkar, a noted Pakhawaj player and then studied with S. Pandharinath Nageshkar and Vinayakrao Ghangrekar. Suresh has trained in Carnatic layashastra with mridangam player Ramnad lshawaran. Suresh has played solo throughout India and has accompanied most of the great Indian musicians in concert and on recordings.