Dr. Chandrakant Sardeshmukh is
an accomplished sitar player, being a senior disciple of
Pt. Ravishankar and Mrs. Annapurnadevi. He has performed
many concerts in Germany, Australia, Japan and America.
He is also director of the Sama Sangeet Sabha and Research
Centre, Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust, Vagholi, Pune
and in this role, actively promotes traditional Indian culture
and art forms throughout the world.
Dr. Sardeshmukh is a scholar and researcher in the Samavedic
music tradition. The University of Poona awarded him a Ph.D.
in Sanskrit for the thesis entitled "Samavedic
Basis of Indian Music." The essence of this
research was published through the Indian national press
in 1987.
His Holiness Jagadguru Shri Shankaracharya from Sringeri
felicitated him as the Darbari Sitarvadak
(royal sitarist) in 1981.
In 1976, Rajasthan University honored him with thetitle Sangeet Vibushan
(sitar scholar) and in the same year, Soor Singar Sansad,
Bombay, awarded him thetitle
Soormani.
He was the First Master Fellow
of the National Centre for Performing Arts in 1971-1976.
From 1963 to 1976 his talent flourished under the tutelage
of Pandit Ravishankar and Mrs. Annapurnadevi Ravishankar.
Dr. Sardeshmukh started playing the sitar at the age of
four under the guidance of Ustad Shabuddin Khan and Khurshid
Mirajkar.
Professional Appearances
Concert in the Adelaide Festival Fringe 2004 presented by Opus Performing Arts Community, Adelaide
Various concert in Japan during 2003 including the World Peace Event , Tokyo; a celebration of Diwali in Yokohama and in the Edo Festival hosted by Chiyoda City, Tokyo.
Concert in Melbourne presented by Surashree, 2003.
Wesleyan University concert, Connecticut, 2002.
Performance at Jammin'...Making Music Together presented
by the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Brisbane,
2002
He was a featured artist for the Brihan Maharashtra Mandal
of North America Convention '99, the biennial Indian (Maharashtrian)
convention held in San Jose, 1999. During this visit to
America, he also performed in Pittsburgh, Washington D.C.
and San Francisco.
Dr.
Sardeshmukh has given concerts throughout Japan since 1991,
including those at Hiroshima, Kobe, Shizuoka, Chiryu and
Tokyo. In 1992 he performed at the Okinawa International
Music Festival and has made televised appearances on the
Japanese national network. In concerts he has also featured
Japanese drums and duet with shakuhachi (Japanese flute).
A series of performances in various Japanese schools during
1995 and 1996 was highly successful as children were provided
with a comprehensive introduction to Indian music and culture.
He
visited Australia in 1990 for concerts and in 1992, the
Indian Council of Cultural Relations sponsored him to represent
India at the Australian Festival of Asian Arts, Melbourne.
He performed an Australian spring and autumn '98 concert
series and was invited as visiting professor by the Helpmann
Academy, South Australia to conduct a series of lectures
and demonstrations for partner educational institutions.
In
his first international concert tour Dr. Sardeshmukh played
34 concerts in Germany during 1982.
He
has performed all over India in live concerts and his music
has been broadcast on National Radio since 1979.
At
the age of eight Dr. Sardeshmukh was a featured artist at
the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival in 1963.
Music Composition
and Direction
Dr. Sardeshmukh has released many audio cassettes and compact discs (audio and mp3 format) of traditional Indian sitar music, Vedic chanting and other compositions. They include Inspiration , Devotion , Pure Joy , Celebration , Koyo , Healing Chants , Divine Touch and Melodies from Within .
He
was also music director for the compact discs Temple Trees
and East Light, produced in collaboration with Australian
lyricist and composer Kelvin Brown, 1998-2000.
He
composed and directed a cultural program of light classical
vocal music in 1998 for guests of the Indian Embassy, Tokyo,
created from his own compositions based on the poems of
Indian diplomat, Mr. Dnyaneshwar Mulay.
He
composed music for a feature film directed by Mr. Anand
Madgulkar in 1997.
He
composed the background music for the drama serial Vedkalin
Striya based on Vedic literature, which was televised on
the national TV network of India (DDI) in 1994.
In
1991, the film Aamukh produced by Film and Television Institute
of India student Mr. Rajkumar with soundtrack music by Dr.
Sardeshmukh won the President of India Award at the New
Delhi Film Festival.
He
was an organizer and the music director of Vishwa Shanti
a play enacted at the Russian Festival in 1988 and the 75th
Indian Science Congress in 1989. The theme was based on
the evolution of the science of music from the primordial
chaos at the beginning of time.
His
innovative ideas in music direction have been presented
nationally by the University Grant Commission sponsored
program Country Wide Classroom in 150 films made by the
Educational Media Research Centre, Pune during 1984-1988.
To
his credit are several musical compositions including his
own versions of "Vande Mataram" (the national
anthem) and "Pune Vidyapeeth Geet" (the song of
Poona University). As a Samavedic musician, he has also
specialized in composing Sanskrit verses.
He
has also directed and music-directed a number of dramas
in Marathi, Sanskrit, Hindi and English.
In
1999, he conducted lecture-demonstrations, workshops and
performances for a joint project involving dance, drama
and music at the Centre for the Performing Arts, Adelaide
Institute of Training and Further Education (TAFE SA); the
Drama Centre, Flinders University; the Elder Conservatorium-School
of Performing Arts, University of Adelaide and the Noarlunga
Music Centre, Onkaparinga Institute of TAFE SA. The award
of a grant for funding from the Helpmann Academy for the
Visual and Performing Arts supported the project
He
presented a seminar to composers of electronic music at
the Faculty of Performing Arts, University of Adelaide,
South Australia, 1998. An integral part of this work was
the input of material performed on sitar by Dr. Sardeshmukh,
which was realized as subsequent electronic compositions
and issued as a compact disc. This opened a unique cross-cultural
perspective on the use of technology in music.
Since
1991, he has given lectures and demonstrations about Indian
music at various Japanese Universities including those in
Gifu, Nagoya and Tokyo.
He
conducted a series of lecture-demonstrations for South Australian
colleges in 1990.
Dr.
Sardeshmukh is visiting professor to the Instrumental Music
Department of Shivaji University, Kolhapur and the University
of Poona. He is also an ad hoc board member, 1990-2000 for
Shivaji University, Kolhapur
It
was Dr. Sardeshmukh's idea to establish the Lalit Kala Kendra
(Centre for Performing Arts) on Pune University campus.
He was a student founder, ad hoc board member and member
of the advisory committee for this department from 1987-1990.
He was also honorary joint coordinator of the Lalit Kala
Kendra during the same period.
As
a student at the University of Poona, Dr. Sardeshmukh applied
his creativity, initiative and organizational talent which
directly translated into a number of awards in various state
and national level competitions for his alma mater during
1982 till 1990. He also took an initiative in forming MUDRA
(Music and Drama Arts Circle) on campus.
Dr.
Sardeshmukh co-authored the paper "Analytical and Computerized
Music Composition with Reference to Samavedic Gana Text,"
published in the IEEE Transactions on Acoustic Speech and
Signal Processing, New York, USA. This research was also
presented at the World Sanskrit Conference held in Bangalore
in 1987 where it was much appreciated by traditional Samavedic
scholars from South India who were awed at his mastery in
overcoming computer related difficulties in generating the
chanting sound.
He
has been a trustee of the Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust
since 1979 and has held the office of executive trustee
since 1996.
Concert in the Adelaide Festival Fringe 2004 presented by Opus Performing Arts Community, Adelaide 
