Dattatreya Velankar
Dattatreya Velankar
Vocalist
GHARANA
Kirana
GURU
Pt. Vinayak Torvi
Shri Dattatreya Velankar is a Hindustani classical vocalist and a disciple of Pt. Vinayak Torvi. Born into a family of keertanakaras, he inherited this lineage from his parents, Shri Lakshmandas Velankar and Smt. Meera Lakshmandas. Inspired by them, he took up Harikatha at a young age and made his mark as a child prodigy. During his early schooling at the Ramakrishna Balakashrama in Mangalore, Swami Jitakamanandaji and Shri Achyutadas Ji encouraged him to seek guidance in Hindustani classical music under Pt. Vinayak Torvi. He has trained rigorously under Pt. Torvi for the last 20 years and has received Ganda-Bandan Deeksha from him. Dattatreya is the author of "Sangeet Mala", a book outlining the basics of Hindustani classical music. He recently started Shadja Kala Kendra, a Hindustani classical vocal school in Bangalore, where he teaches classical vocal music in the traditional guru-shishya style.