Tuning in for Gods

In a small village in Maharashtra, in 1926, Khale Kaka was born, who would grow up to compose music in five languages! His chiliad of songs earned him a Padma Bhushan in 2010.

Shrinivas Khale; Source: Wikipedia

One of India's most ingenious music composer Shrinivas Vinayak Khale was born today. Like many other musical minds of the time, Shrinivas was leaned towards classical music. Growing up in Baroda he learnt from the likes of Pandit Madhusudan Joshi, Nisar Hussein Khan and Ustad Faiyaz Hussein Khan. Agra Gharana was imbibed in him but he managed to develop his independent style.

After completing his musical education, Shrinivas came to Mumbai and started working with All India Radio and then HMV. Shrinivas was mostly engrossed with children's song and Bhavgeet (devotional music) but whatever genre he chose he always made the most out of it. Like the iconic 'Jai Jai Maharashtra majha" which was a high energy pitched song.

In the 50s his song "Gori Gori paan phula sarkhi chaan, dada mala Ek Vahini aan", a song about a young sister teasing her elderly brother to bring her a sister-in-law, voiced by the innocence of Asha Bhosle is a must-do in Maharashtrian households even today. Then came Shukratara, it was a smash hit sung by Arun Date and Sudha Malhotra. By this time Shrinivas was a highly respected name in the music industry and had become a household name.

His music was full of complicated twists and turns; even the likes of Lata Mangeshkar found it difficult to sing his songs. But who would dare to turn down songs of Shrinivas?

He managed to get two Bharat Ratnas, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Lata Mangeshkar together for the devotional album "Ram Shyam Gun Gaan". Shrinivas always carried this pleasant smile on his face which would manage to relax his co-stars. As a guiding light, he was always humble and helping new talents going out his way.

Once he spotted an 11-year-old, training him himself, giving all he could. That boy today is definitely making his guru proud, a gem of the musical industry, Shankar Mahadevan. He trained many such gems throughout his career. Shrinivas was lovingly called Khale Kaka or Khale Anna. Even though he is mostly known for his Marathi compositions he has also worked in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati compositions.

In his long career, he composed over 1000 songs and gave music to about 6 movies and some plays. Today's generation might not be aware of this Padma Bhushan but his legacy lives on in the form of his songs that keep on fascinating people, be it kids or old people remembering gods; Khale Kaka lives on.