Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, an outstanding vocalist of the famed Jaipur-Atrauli Khayal Gayaki tradition, represents the new generation of younger veterans worthy of taking the mantle of the old masters. Born in a musically rich atmosphere, Ashwini completed Sangeet Visharad from the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at 16 and won the President’s Gold Medal at the All India Radio Music Competition in 1977. After studying the rudiments of Hindustani classical music under Pt. Narayanrao Datar, she began imbibing all the traditional aspects of stylized Jaipur Gayaki under the exacting tutelage of her mother, mentor and guru, Smt Manik Bhide. Thoroughly grounded in the Jaipur-Atrauli Khayal Gayaki tradition, Ashwini has developed into an artiste of immense public acclaim and earned high praise from discerning critics and music lovers the world over. She has travelled extensively, participating in various prestigious music conferences and sangeet sammelans. A top-grade artiste of the AIR and Doordarshan, Ashwini has featured in several national programmes and AIR sangeet sammelans. Her music is characterized by a blend of tonal sweetness coupled with vitality, emotion and raga structure-architecture. Although a classicist by temperament and training, Ashwini is at ease equally with varieties of lighter music like thumri, dadra, bhajan and abhang. Her fluency in Sanskrit allows her to include stotras and stutis in her selections.

This evening, Ashwini presents a repertoire on Shiva. Starting with a Sanskrit stotra to the god, she goes on to sing some traditional khayal compositions, including the very famous ‘Darshana deho shankara mahadeva…’, and a bandish, ‘Shankara mahadeva…’ of Goswami Tulasidas. The artiste has chosen ragas, such as the Kedara and Shankara, to complement her presentation of the multifarious images of Shiva – He is still and serene; He is the god of anger and quintessential destroyer; He holds the trident in the hand, and the Ganga in the hair; His forehead adorned by a crescent moon, the Lord sits on the tiger-skin; and finally, He is the Linga, the creative power as also the Supreme Self.