Sandeep Ranade, Musician
A disciple of Dr. Shobha Abhyankar, Sandeep infuses his own unique blend of emotive aroma, creative flavor and mathematical zest into the enchanting elements of the Mewati style to whet the listener's musical appetite. His background in Computer Science, scientific curiosity and engineering discipline has helped him in creating Ragamatics - a quest to understand, specify and communicate ideas and emotions effectively through music.
Sandeep’s music is emotive, expressive and evocative that calms the mind and soothes the soul. Clarity in enunciation, graceful beauty in the composition and melody that is woven with the meaning of the lyrics is stressed in his unique style. Elaborate Sargam, aesthetic, ornate 'taan' patterns and soulful 'khayaal' development add to its charisma. A few of his recorded classical and semi-classical works can be found here.
Student
Mewati Gharana's Sandeep Ranade began singing at the age of four, and gave his first public performance at the age of six. From the age of five and a half, he learnt classical singing from Mrs. Anjali Joglekar-Ponkshe for ten years. Since then, he has been training with Dr. Shobha Abhyankar. He has also had the fortune of receiving invaluable guidance from her son, the internationally acclaimed Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar.
He has given numerous public and private vocal classical recitals, fund raiser concerts for charitable organizations, etc. in India, Canada and the United States. In his live concerts, Sandeep engages the audience both emotionally and intellectually by exploring the music-emotion-communication continuum in segments like "Exploring the Emotional Spectrum", "Shades of Meaning" etc. He has also piqued the interest of academicians, musicians, music lovers, youth and musicologists with his innovative experiments like Raga Morphing, Demonstration of Stability of Musical Contexts, Complimentary Ragas, Moorchana, Santoor-Vocal Jugalbandi, etc.
Sandeep has authored and composed over 15 classical "bandishes" in Braj Bhasha. The specialty of these compositions is weaving the meaning of the poetic lyrics with the Raga or melody in a way that brings out the mood’s intensity, feel and texture; yet are easy to listen to and absorb. He has also composed several semi-classical Geets and Abhangas in this style.
His Computer Science and Engineering background, scientific curiosity and engineering discipline has helped him in creating Ragamatics, a quest to understand, specify and communicate ideas and emotions effectively through Music. Sandeep's paper on "Stability characteristics of musical contexts" was lauded by several musicologists, composers and musicians in United States and India as one of the most important mathematical model of stability of music and its practical application in controlled creation of emotion using music.
Sandeep's teaching style reflects influences of his Gurus' teaching methodology as well as his own insights and methods. His students enjoy an intensely creative learning environment, can grow at their own pace and enjoy exposure to an optimized method of riyaaz (practice), advanced aspects of music theory and practice, personality development and confidence building, art of performance, etc.
Dr. Mrs. Shobha Abhyankar is not only an outstanding musician, but also an exemplary teacher and a truly wonderful person. She is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people in the field of Indian Classical Music. In 1984, she decided to sacrifice performance for the sake of teaching. She has raised and nurtured her disciples as her own children. Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar, her son, is her first disciple. Her unique mentoring style and teaching methods are legendary.
Shobhatai recieved her M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from University
of Pune and then went on to get her M.A. in Music from SNDT, Pune, where
she stood first, receiving the 'Gan Hira' and 'Vasant Desai' awards.
She has since trained with Masters of intricacies of music like Pandit
Gangadharbua Pimpalkhare, Pandit V. R. Athawale and Padma Vibhushan,
Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj.
In March 2007, she was awarded a Ph.D. in Music by University of Pune. Her thesis topic was "Bhavageet - Its musical progression in the past 50 years, its aesthetic value and changing form: a comprehensive study."
I would like to share the story of how I met Shobhatai, my Guru. In 1998, I participated in my very first classical vocal competition organized by Gaandharwa Mahavidyalaya, Pune. There were around ten competitors, of whom I was the youngest. Shobhatai was one of the Judges for this event.
Just 2 days before this event, I had received Pandit Jasrajji's "Lalit, Bhairav and Bhairav-Bahar", a live recording from the 1992 Sawai Gandharwa music festival, as a birthday gift. I listened to Jasrajji's mellifluous voice for the first time ever, absolutely mesmerized! It was at that moment that I had an epiphany and realized that this is the musical style I want to learn. I had no idea how to go about this, but as you will see, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
2 days later, I sang Raga Malkauns; "Paga Laagn De" in Vilambit Ektaal followed by Kumarji's "Kaiso Niko Laago Ma" in Drut Teentaal. I will never forget what Shobhatai said to me that day.
Sandeep, you have a beautiful voice, but you must do regular riyaaz. You have the gift of great flexibility and speed in your sargam and taans, but you're aalapi needs to a lot more calmer and relaxing. You are very creative, but you must pay attention to the words and their meaning. In your Vilambit Khyaal, the words "Paga Laagan" (touching one's feet in respect) were sometimes split at the wrong syllable, creating the words "Pagala, and Gana", "Pagala" meaning mad or insane!
Her criticism was an eye-opener! I was so inspired by her analysis that without even knowing if she taught music, I asked her if she will teach me. To my great delight, she said yes and accepted me as her disciple!
I didn't win the competition that day. Instead, I won the greatest prize I could ask for - my Guru, Shobhatai!
Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar started his musical journey at the age of 8, his first guru being his mother, Mrs. Shobha Abhyankar. He then studied with the late Pandit Pimpalkhare, and then at the age of 11, he started his training under the watchful eye of Pandit Jasraj, the doyen of Mewati Gharana.
He has performed numerous concerts and attended prestigious conferences
all over the world. He has also received numerous accolades, like the
National Award for the best male playback singer for the Hindi Film
'Godmother', Sur-Ratna, the FIE Foundation's National Award for excellence
in Indian music, the 'Pandit Jasraj Gaurav Puraskar', etc.
I consider myself privileged to have a mentor like Sanjeev Dada.
Mewati Gharana (family)
Founded by Ustad Ghagge Nazir Khan from the kingdom of Jodhpur in the Mewat region, Rajasthan, the Mewati Gharana's musical legacy has been carried forward by many capable artists for more than seven generations. In the last half a century, Pandit Jasraj has breathed new life into the Mewati style and musical philosophy. His students include notably Dr. Mrs. Shobha Abhyankar, Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar, Kala Ramnath, etc.