Dinkar Kaikini

Dinkar Kaikini is a renowned Hindi Musical artist, born on 2nd October 1927 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. His father is Dattatreya and his mother's name is Krishnabai. He was married to Smt Shashikala Kaikini, a vocalist. They have two children, a daughter, Smt Aditi Kaikini Upadhya who is a vocalist. A son, Sri Yogesh Samsi, is a Tabla artist. When he was just 7 years old, he attended a concert that featured Ustad Alladiya Khan, Ustad Faiyaz Khan, and Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. That concert was the beginning of his career, he decided to become a musician after attending that concert. His first guru was Karekette Nagesh Rao, from whom he took his first two years of training. Then he learned music under Pandit Omkarnath Thakur for some time. Later, he and his father met Pandit S.N. Ratanjankar, Principal of Marris College, in Lucknow. Kaikini was asked to sing for Ratanjankar and he agreed to teach Kaikini. At the age of 11, he left his home to study under Ratanjankar in Lucknow.

He won many prestigious awards like the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Taansen Puraskar for his contribution to Hindustani Vocal Music. Along with being a musical artist, he was also a producer of All India Radio Delhi for Light music unit. He learned Kathak and Tabla from Pandit Acchan Maharaj and Mohanrao Kallianpurkar. He was 17 years old when he composed his first bandish Nahi maane, nahi maane, in the raag Bhopali. Unlike other musical artists, Kaikini has composed on a variety of topics like hunger and starvation problems, the first moon landing by Neil Armstrong, and modern music critic. He discovered the Indian ballet production in collaboration with Pandit Ravi Shankar Born on April 7, 1920, in Banaras, Uttar Pradesh, >> Read More... . In 1971, he became the Principal of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chowpatty. Dinkar is also credited for inventing some new raags, Gagan Vihang, Gunaranjani, Bhoopavali, and Bayati. He has a total of 150 compositions. His colophon was Dinrang and used as his mark or signature for his musical compositions. All his published compositions can be found in the book Rag Rang. He passed away on 23rd January 2010 in Gamdevi, Mumbai. After his demise, his family ran an organization named Svarit which promoted and propagated Hindustani Raag.