Sangeetacharya Mallikarjun Mansur was born on December 31, 1910 in a village in Dharwad district of Karnataka. He had four brothers and three sisters. His elder brother Baswaraj had his own theatre troupe. At the age of nine, Mallikarjun played a small part in a play. The experience fascinated him so much that he ran away from home and joined a touring drama troupe. Although his father brought him back home, the stage continued to fascinate him and he soon joined another touring theatrical company. During a performance, Pandit Neelkantbuwa Jangam, a disciple of Pandit Balakrishnabuwa Ichalkaranjikar, renowned exponent of the Gwalior gharana, recognized his potential. Young Mallikarjun was taken to Meeraj and put through a grueling schedule of gurukul training. For 6 years his training began at 4 am and continued for several hours. When he emerged from his training he was 18 and ready to perform at any concert. The most memorable among his early concerts was the Ganesha Utsav concert in Mumbai, in which he sang for over six hours. In 1932, after a special audition by HMV, he cut his first gramophone record. But although he had made several discs for HMV when he was still in his early twenties, music did not become a paying profession to Mallikarjun until much later in life. It was through the initiative of a friend that Ustad Manji Khan, son of Ustad Alladiya Khan of the Jaipur Gharana, noticed Mallikarjun. Already trained in the Gwalior style, Mallikarjun was able to ...
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