(13th April, 1928 – 9th August, 2009)

Ratnakar Pai was a doyen of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. He was an exemplary scholar and a teacher. He lived and taught in Mumbai till his death.

Lineage/Gurus:
He received his training from two stalwarts of the gharana Mohanrao Palekar, who was a disciple of Ahmed Khan (Alladiya Khan’s nephew and Jahangir Khan’s grandson) and Bhurji Khan, and Gulubhai Jasdanwalla, who learnt from Manji Khan and subsequently from Alladiya Khan himself.

Style:
Paibuwa was regarded as one of the foremost authorities of the Jaipur-Atrauli tradition and his singing is regarded as one of the purest expressions of the gharana’s gayaki.

He was endowed with a richly resonant voice and his singing was taan-pradhaan (true to gharana tradition). He held a mastery over laya and tala (noted by Babanrao Haldaknar in his book, Aesthetics of Agra and Jaipur Traditions) and a balance of melody tightly woven with the rhythm can be observed in his singing.

As a Guru:
He had a large repertoire of rare bandishes and ragas which he generously passed down to his disciples.

Though he did not have a full-fledged performing career, he was an ace teacher having trained numerous singers. His list of disciples includes Jitendra Abhisheki, Bhalchandra Tilak, Milind Malshe, Narendra Kanekar, Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Shalmalee Joshi and Aditya Khandwe.

Source:

  • en.wikipedia.org,
  • www.swarganga.org,
  • Aesthetics of Agra and Jaipur Traditions by Shrikrishna (Babanrao) Haldankar.