Gopal Krishan

Pandit Gopal Krishan Sharma was an exponent of Vichitra Veena, an ancient Indian musical instrument. He is arguably the best Vichitra Veena player of all time. Gopal Krishan was given initial music lessons by his father, Pandit Nand Kishore, who was himself a noted surbahar player and a vocalist. After his father's death, Gopal Krishan continued his training in music under the guidance of Pt. Khubchand Bramchari of the Gwalior school of music. Later in his life, he became an accomplished artist at All India Radio. Gopal Krishan was a versatile musician, possessing the ability to play different instruments like tabla, guitar, and a folk instrument called the ektara. In addition to his musical skill,Gopal Krishan was also a good vocalist. Gopal Krishan was adept at playing ragas in pure forms and skilled with the dhrupad style, aalap, jod and jhala. His composition were unique as for the Dhamar as well as the other rhythmic patterns. His jhala playing was a myriad of various patterns of rhythm and mix of strokes of mijraab. This often led to the crescendo which produced a trance like climax before concluding his recital. He created many new ragas, the most prominent of which being Shiv Onkar, Tilak Malhar and Saraswati Sarang. He composed many orchestra compositions for akashwani, including taarnritya. He was given the Sangeet Natak Academy Award by the Honourable President of India, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma in the year 1994. He was a very strict guru. His disciples are well known artists. His prominent disciples are—His son Pandit Shri Krishan Sharma who is an accomplished artist of Vichitra Veena and Guitar in Akashwani Delhi. Shri Nishindra Kinjalk (Sitar), Shri Murli Krishan (Sitar) and Smt Anubha Banerjee (Sitar), Gianni Richizzi (Vichitra Veena), Anurag Swarup (Vichitra Veena), Vinay Jain, Ronald Simpson, Doug Bartel and Umesh Chandra are other prominent disciples.