Pandit V.G.Jog
Pandit V.G.Jog is one of the few artists to have enjoyed the rare privilege of an over 50 year reign as a top performer in North Indian
Classical Music. Born in Maharashtra in 1922, Pandit Jog had his early training with different masters, and later he received extensive
training from Dr. S.N.Ratanjankar and Baba Allauddin Khan. Trained in the Gwalior Gharana, Agra Gharanas, Pt. Jog has evolved his
own style, which is a blend of Gayaki and Gatkari, noted for purity of melody rendition, dignity, crispness, and ease of musical expression.
Pt. Jog has accompanied the legendary Pandit Omkar Nath Thakur, Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan, Kesar Bai, Hira Bai, Begam
Akhtar, and virtually all his great contemporaries. He came in contact with Ustad Allauddin Khan in 1938 at a music festival in Lucknow,
and Khan Sahib was so impressed by Jog ‘s promise that he played a duet with this young artist at the Uday Shankar Cultural Centre at
Almore in 1941. Pandit Jog is in close musical association with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar. He has made extensive
tours of the whole world, and has many record albums and compact discs to his credit. Pandit Jog’s first book Behala Shiksa published in
1944 was immediately recognized as a major piece of authoritative literature on the subject. He was conferred Honorary Degree of
Master of Music, Vadya Nipuna, by the Bhatkhande University of Music, Lucknow. He joined the All India Radio in 1953 and has been
the music producer of Lucknow, Bombay and Calcutta radio stations ever since. He has received many honors, among them the Sangeet
Natak Academy Award for his service to Indian Music.In 1983 the President of India conferred upon him the title of Padma Bhushan, the
most distinguished national award.