Pandit Madhav Gudi

Madhav Gudi was born on 23 December 1941 in Dharwad, Karnataka. His voice led his father to place him with Pandit Nageshrao Deshpande, from whom he received his formal initiation into Hindustani classical music. He was about twelve when he first heard Bhimsen Joshi, at the first edition of the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival; he was later introduced to Joshi by the spiritual teacher Jalihal Srinivasachar, sang songs from the Kannada plays Bhagya Nidhi and Parivartana for him, and on the advice of Jalihal Srinivasachar and Keshavacharya Jalihal was accepted as a disciple.

The training that followed lasted well over twenty-five years, and for twenty-six of them Gudi lived in Pune as part of Joshi's household. For the first year and a half he was taught little; once Joshi was satisfied, the teaching began in earnest, and for five years it was confined to three ragas — Todi in the morning, Multani in the afternoon, Puriya at night. He became a top-grade All India Radio artiste, toured widely, and often performed alongside his guru in India and abroad.

His repertoire ran from khayal to Kannada dasavani and Marathi abhang; he composed the devotional songs 'Sriniketana' and 'Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma', which Bhimsen Joshi popularised. He taught a large number of singers, among them Upendra Bhat, Nagaraj Rao Havaldar, Sangeeta Katti and his own children. He married Ramabai and had four children — Anupama, Prasanna, Bhargavi and Gayathri. He died on 22 April 2011, three months after his guru.

His singing kept the Kirana emphasis on slow, unhurried elaboration of a raga, and he was known for a powerful, carrying voice and for khataka, murki and taan work; he moved easily between classical khayal and devotional song in Kannada and Marathi.