Omkarnath Thakur, a gifted Hindustani Classical vocalist of
Gwalior Gharana or school of music, was born on 24th June 1897 in a small village named Jahaaj in south
Gujarat. He was trained under the guidance of
Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. After listening to Pandit Omkarnath Thakur's music once,
Mahatma Gandhi is said to have remarked: "Pandit Omkarnathji can achieve through a single song of his, what I cannot achieve through several speeches." Omkarnath Thakur set to tune the national song,
Vande Mataram and wrote several books on music, including ‘Sangeethanjali’ and ‘Parnava Bharti’. He was the recipient of several prestigious awards, including Padmashree and
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
