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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. “Such was the impact of Pt. Omkarnath Thakur’s personality and his music on listeners.

Panditji was born on June 24, 1897. He was a child artiste in Ram Leela programmes. Seth Shapurji Mancherji Doongaji, a generous philanthropist encouraged him to learn classical music from Pt. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. His dedication as a disciple resulted in Guruji appointing him the Principal of Gandharva Sanget Mahavidyalay Lahore in 1961. After the death of his beloved Guru in 1931, Omkarnathji went to Italy on an invitation to participate in the International Music Conference in Florence (1933). The story of how “he sang before Mussolini and cured him of his insomnia” was soon on everybody’s lips. Thereafter, be traveled widely, giving music recitals, lecture demonstrations in Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, London, Wales, Switzerland etc.

Gifted with an extremely rich and long voice, Panditji’s renditions of ragas and devotional songs were highly expressive with deep emotional fervour. He mastered himself in Khayal, Dhrupad and Thumri. His was basically a Gwalior Gayakee. He imbibed the style of aalapi from the Legendary Ustad Rahimat Khan. His singing was complete with aalapi, behalao, bol taan, taan and sargam. He always aimed at expressing navarasas of literature in music. He had published six volumes of “Sangeetanjali” and another book called “Pranav Bharati”. He breathed his last on December 28, 1967.