About Dattatreya
Hindustani Classical vocalist
Surmani Dr. Dattatreya Velankar is an accomplished Hindustani classical performer, teacher, academician and the founder of Shadja Kala Kendra, Bangalore, India. He is a disciple of renowned Gwalior-Kirana Gharana maestro, Pt. Vinayak Torvi and Keertanacharya Lakshmandas Velankar. For more than 3 decades, he has pursued rigorous training under Torviji, who has blessed Dattatreya with Ganda Bandan Deeksha. He is gifted with a rich and graceful voice, his exquisite rendition style has won him many critical acclaims and accolades, both in India and abroad.
Dattatreya Velankar is an ‘A’ graded All India Radio and Doordarshan artiste. He is an Empaneled Artiste of ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) Govt. of India.
He has performed at many music festivals, such as :
Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Music festival, Pune
Swami Vivekananda Birthday celebrations, Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Belur Math, West Bengal
ICCR , Horizon Series – Mumbai, Varanasi, Goa
‘Azadi ka Amrita Mahostav’ organized by ICCR Bangalore.
All Night Music Festival – Gururao Deshpande Sangeet Sabha, Bangalore
LearnQuest Music Conference - Boston, USA
Adem festival Geneva, Switzerland
SIFAS - Singapore
Reitberg Museum, Zurich, Switzerland
Sri Maa Sharada Devi Birthday Celebrations, Jayarambati, West Bengal
Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre Youth Festival, Mumbai
‘Aarohi’ organized by Pancham Nishad, Mumbai
Devnandan Ubhaykar Youth Festival, Bangalore
Soorya Festival, Trivandrum
Malabar Festival, Calicut
Kala Prakash, Varanasi
Uttaradhikari Festival, Ratlam MP
Tyagaraja College of Music and Dance, Hyderabad
Swami Vivekananda 150th Anniversary celebrations, Rajkot
Pracheena Kala Kendra, Chandigarh
Jugalbandi concerts with Vidwan Balasubramanya Sharma (Carnatic Vocal)
“Surmani” title conferred by the Sursingar Samsad, Mumbai
“Bhajan Bhushan” title conferred by the Maharashtra Association, Chennai
Dattatreya has many Hindustani Classical, Bhajans, Jugalbandi and Katha Keerthan CDs to his credit.
It is indeed a speciality of Dattatreya, that he performs both Hindustani Classical Vocal and Katha Keerthan. He has been performing many Santavani concerts.
He has toured USA, Singapore, France, Switzerland, Sweden, UK and Australia.
Academician
Dattatreya Velankar has completed his PhD in Katha Keerthan from Jain University from Bangalore under the able guidance of Vidhushi Dr. Meera Rajaram Pranesh.
‘Vidwat’ in Vocal Music from the Government of Karnataka
“Sangeet Prabhakar” from Prayag Sangeet Sameethi, Allahabad
M.A. in Music from Dr. Gangubai Hangal Music University, Mysore
Delivered several Lecture-cum-Demonstration performances on various topics in Hindustani Classical Music and Kathakeertan
Lecture cum Demonstration at SOAS, University of Central London. Lecture at Bhavika, Sydney Australia
Workshops at Learnquest Academy of Music, Boston USA
Guru
Dattatreya has been teaching classical music from past 2 decades. His students have been giving performing classical and light music concerts. He has many talented students all over the world and a few of them have given their debut concert in Boston USA. He is a visiting faculty of LearnQuest Academy of Music, Waltham MA USA.
Dattatreya is one of the founders of the Shadja Kala Kendra Trust, Bangalore – an institution dedicated to the age-old ‘Guru-Shishya Parampara’ of Hindustani Classical Music and he is training several students.
Working as Guest faculty at The Lakshminarayana Global Centre of Excellence started by Padmabhushan Dr. L Subramanian and Padmashri Smt Kavita Krishnamurty, Vishwakarma University, Pune
Dattatreya has been conducting Hindustani classical vocal workshop at Ramakrishna Vedantic Center, Gretz- Armainvilliers, France.
Books:
Sangeet Mala, Part 1, 2 and Part 3, outlining the basics of Hindustani Classical Music in a 2- part series, with accompanying CD
Hindustani Sangeet Praveshika (a compilation of compositions) “Swami Vivekananda’s Contributions to Indian Classical Music”
'The Splendour of KathaKeertan' book on theory of kathakeertan.