Dilip Kale

PLAYS

Santoor

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GHARANA

Kirana

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Dilip Kale is a santoor player and a disciple of Pt. Shivkumar Sharma. Born into a family of musicians in Aurangabad, he was introduced to Hindustani classical music by his father, the late Prabhakar Kale, and his brother Pt. Dr. Raja Kale, a vocalist and disciple of the late Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki. He began with vocal music and harmonium, then tabla under the late Pt. Ramesh Samant. Drawn to the santoor through film music, he attended Pt. Shivkumar Sharma's concert in Aurangabad in 1981 and met him. As the santoor was not easily available, he built an experimental prototype from a swarmandal and played it on All India Radio (AIR), Aurangabad. In 1985 he presented this experiment to Pt. Sharma, who accepted him as a disciple and encouraged him to get a santoor from Kashmir, beginning his formal training. After moving to Pune in 1987, Dilip played the santoor at AIR and the Film & Television Institute, Pune, and for films, plays, TV serials and stage shows under music directors including Pt. Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Shamrao Kamble, Ashok Patki, Anand Modak, Narendra Bhide and Bhaskar Chandawarkar. He has recorded for albums of Asha Bhosle, Suresh Wadkar and Pt. Prabhakar Jog, and played in 100+ poetry shows, including 'PreetRang', 'Kavyer Katha' and 'Bhairav te Bhairavi'. He also played in the musical based on Kalidas's 'Meghdoota', translated into Marathi by V. V. Shirwadkar and presented by Nehru Centre, Mumbai, with music by the late Anand Modak and choreography by Pandita Zelam Paranjape.