Pandit Ramdas Palsule

Ramdas Palsule trained as an engineer before he became a musician. He took a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at the College of Engineering, Pune, and then chose tabla, studying with Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. Concert organisers in India and abroad regularly name him among Talwalkar's most senior disciples.

He is known both as a soloist and as an accompanist. His accompaniment covers vocalists, instrumentalists and kathak dancers, in Hindustani music and also with Carnatic musicians. The singers he has accompanied include Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki, Pandit Jasraj, Vidushi Prabha Atre, Malini Rajurkar and Veena Sahasrabuddhe. Among the instrumentalists are Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Ram Narayan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Ustad Sultan Khan and Dr N. Rajam. With Carnatic artists, he has played alongside Kadri Gopalnath and the violinists Ganesh and Kumaresh. He has also accompanied the kathak dancers Pandit Birju Maharaj, Rohini Bhate and Shama Bhate. In 2015 he toured North America in a percussion trio with Ustad Taufiq Qureshi and the jaltarang player Milind Tulankar.

Teaching is a large part of his work. He has taught at the Centre for Performing Arts of the University of Pune for about twenty years. He is also a founder member of Avartan Gurukul in Pune, where he teaches alongside Talwalkar, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Shama Bhate, Sucheta Chapekar and Pandit Uday Bhawalkar.

Since 2001 he has also organised North American concert tours for other Indian musicians and dancers, among them his own guru, Padma Talwalkar, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pandit Ronu Majumdar, Ashwini Bhide Deshpande and Arati Ankalikar Tikekar. He plays every year at Talwalkar's Guru Abhivadan Sohala, the annual concert at which his disciples honour him.