Pree pTPillars of Hindustani Music B.R. Deodhar Translated by Ram Deshmukh BR. Deodhar, or Professor, as he was popularly known, was a leading disciple of Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar and an artist noted for his eclectical approach to music. It was this characteristic that enabled him to identify the beauty of tone and forms in other styles and adapt it to his own style. This in turn led him to cultivate and nurture friendship with talented vocalists and instrumentalists belonging to diverse schools and eagerly absorbed the musical treasures of their styles. In this book Prof. Deodhat presents biographical sketches of artists born in the nineteenth century, who dominated the musical world in the first half of the twentieth century and were in a true sense the representatives of the golden era of Hindustani music. Prof. Deodhar gives us an insight into the lives and works of the stalwarts like Pandit Balkrishna Buwa Ichalkaranjikar, Khansaheb Alladiya Khan, Pandit Vishnu Digambar Palusakar, Bai Kesarbai and Khansaheb Bade Gulam Ali Khan to name just a few. While the Guru-Shishya tradition of music tutelage, inspite of its faults, produced some great musicians, some weighed down by overwhelming devotion to their Guru, adhered strictly to their gharana tradition and fearing the displeasure ‘of their teacher, refrained from, trying and adapting newer, more beautiful forms in other styles. Prof. Deodhar encouraged his disciples to listen to other artists and discussed the merits and weaknesses of their styles and encouraged them to assimilate the beauty of the various styles. Between Two Tanpuras Vamanrao H. Deshpande Originally published in Marathi in a book form as Alapini this is a unique collection of potiraits of eleven outstanding musicians and musicologists—Sureshbabu Mane, Naththan Khan, Govindrao Tembe, Mogubai Kurdikar, Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale, Alladiya Khan, Kumar Gandharva, Kishori Amonkar, Jagannathbuwa Purohit, Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande and B.R. Deodhar. These are not conventional biographical sketches, but critical studies of the distinctive styles and musical achievements and contributions of each artist that have carved for them an eminent place in the development of Indian musical tradition. ‘The author was closely associated with most of these artists and had observed their musical progress from very early stages. Vamanrao Deshpande, himself a musician of merit and a profound scholar on the subject, in summing up, has expressed his definite and clear views on aesthetic and theoretical aspects of Indian music. In the light of these views he has examined the merits of these artists and at the same time tried to elaborate on the influence of these artists on his own development. His elaborate comments on Kumar Gandharva and Kishori Amonkar, two: of the most controversial artists, are of special significance. POPULAR BOOKS