It is hard not to get swayed by the temptation of Natya Sangeet.

This has been true not only for the music aficionados but also for seasoned legendary musicians such as Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. I owe much of my interest in Natya Sangeet to my Maternal Grandfather who being an accomplished musician and a performer in many musical street-plays himself, used to sing and listen to these songs from many well-known Marathi musical plays in his times. I slowly developed a taste for Natya Sangeet and started liking that kind of music. Its around the same time that I had a chance to listen to the records of Pt. Prabhakar Karekar, veteran classical vocalist, Natya Sangeet performances and I instantly liked his deep baritone voice. If you are a connoisseur of Marathi Natya Sangeet and its tradition, its hard for you to have missed the sonorous rendition of Priye Paha, well-known Natyageet from the play Sangeet Saubhadra, sung by Panditji. In his resonant baritone with a slight hint of nasality, he enthralls his audience with his beautiful rendition of ragas and Natya sangeet. I was not able to find much information on panditjis life and work on internet. Then I chanced upon two fine articles published in The Hindu at times when he was on a tour to Bangalore for his concerts in 2004 and 2009. In these articles, we get to know about his musical journey. Very inspirational read.. http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/06/15/stories/2004061500980400.htm http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/07/10/stories/2009071050950300.htm

http://www.economist.com/node/18060826 http://www.karnataka.com/personalities/bhimsen-joshi/