Relaxing Raag Ramkali | Omkar Dadarkar | Indian Classical Music of India

Indian classical music at its best...Omkar Dadarkar sings Raag Ramkali 

Born in Mumbai on 30th July 1977, Omkar hails from a family of ‘Marathi Natyasangeet’ exponents, and was naturally drawn towards this idiom. He received his initial guidance from his aunt, the late noted classical vocalist Manik Verma and thereafter from Ram Deshpande. After being awarded the CCRT scholarship (Delhi) for classical music, he was groomed by Pandit Yashwantbua Joshi under the scheme of Guru-Shishya-Parampara of the Dadar-Matunga Cultural Centre. A Sangeet Visharad and Bachelor of Arts in Marathi Literature and History, Omkar joined ITC-SRA as a scholar in July 1999, receiving rigorous talim under Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. He completed his training in June 2005 with an A+ grade. He also trained in the light classical form under Vidushi Girija Devi and Srinivas Khale. Omkar is fast gaining recognition as a regular concert performer. His performances in ITC Sangeet Sammelans at Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai besides other prestigious programmes in India and also Nepal and Canada have been highly applauded. His numerous awards include the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2010 conferred by the Sangeet Natak Akademi to talented artistes below the age of 35, the Aditya Vikram Birla Puraskar in 2009, the “Shanmukhananda Hall-Mumbai-Sangeet Shiromani” award and he is also the first recipient of “Chaturanga Sangeet Shishyavrutti Award” given by Chaturanga Pratishthan in collaboration with Mhaiskar Foundation, Mumbai. Omkar who was previously working with Mumbai Educational Trust, as Music In-charge has recently returned to ITC SRA as a Musician Tutor.

Omkar Dadarkar Khayal Vocal

Filmed on location at The Rajbari in Bawali, India

The Darbar Festival was born as a tribute to celebrate the life and memory of Bhai Gurmit Singh Ji Virdee, an inspirational tabla player who taught thousands of children in the UK over a 30 year period. The Darbar Festival has since grown into an annual festival at the UK's most prestigious venues, bringing together the finest Hindustani, Carnatic, dhrupad and percussion from Indian classical genres, as well as dance.

Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust is a registered charity in the UK, established to champion Indian classical arts through high quality live events, digital work and education. Our YouTube channel aims to bring you excerpts from our digital archives from live events, informative videos about Indian classical music as well as insights from artists themselves. Many of you have asked us to upload full concerts. We are committed to doing this but need to raise more funds to cover the costs of producing full length concerts.

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