Background
Vasantrao Deshpande was born in Sawlapur, District Amravati, which belongs to Vidarbha region of State of Maharashtra, in India.
Vasantrao Deshpande was born in Sawlapur, District Amravati, which belongs to Vidarbha region of State of Maharashtra, in India.
In 1982, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India"s National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. He was known for his role of Khansaheb in the 1967 musical play Katyar Kaljat Ghusli. He learned from several gurus, refusing to tie himself down to a single school of singing.
This was followed by Sureshbabu Mane of Kirana gharana, Asad Ali Khan of Patiala gharana, Aman Ali Khan and Anjani Bai Malpekar of Bhendibazaar gharana, and Ramkrishnabuwa Vaze.
But the most important influence on him was Dinanath Mangeshkar, and Vasantrao was the sole true inheritor of Dinanath"s mercurial style of singing. At the age of eight, Bhalji Pendharkar perceived his musical talent and launched him in the role of "Krishna" in Hindi movie Kaliyamardan.
He had received the training under different gharanas (schools or styles of music): Patiala, Bhendi Bazar, Kairana. Yet he did not receive the stamp of any particular gharana.
Deshpande performed classical and semi-classical music
In the raga form which constitutes classical music, the artist displays his creativity on a basic canvas. Deshpande"s rendition of ragas such as, Salag Waraali, National Bhairav, Kauns (in its various forms), Chhayanat, Basant Mukhari, Patamanjari, Jaijaiwanti, Janasammohini, Bhoop, Shree, Kalavati, Maru Bihag, and Yaman had a quality to them that kept people interested. His performance of offbeat ragas was not too different.
The sargam was his forte.
He conceived Raga Raj Kalyan, a Yaman variant with "Pancham" dropped altogether. He acted in movies like "Kaaliya Mardan", "Dudh Bhaat", and "Ashtavinayak".
He gave playback to more than 80 Marathi films. Besides pure music, he also put together the history of Marathi music plays, from origin showing their evolution up to the present stage.
Vasantrao had several commercial releases under his name.
The three-day festival is held in the month of January each year. Noted classical musicians and performers take part the festival. During the festival, two awards, the "Vasantotsav Youth Award" for Promising artists and " Vasantotsav Award" for veteran artists are given.
In 2011, a three-day music and dance festival in his memory, was organized by the South Central Zone Cultural Centre (SCZCC) of Government of India in Nagpur.