Chintamani Raghunath Vyas was born in the obscure hamlet of Barsi, in Sholapur, Maharashtra, into a family of devout ‘kirtankaars’. His passion for music drew him to professional singing despite holding a white-collar job, and he ended up acclaimed as one of the most knowledgeable singers of our times. In addition, he was a prolific composer and a great teacher, honoured in 1987 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi award, and in 1992 with the Padma Bhushan. Interestingly, a few days before his death in 2002, the Padma awards committee contacted him for the Padma Vibhushan, but he passed away a few days later.

It was a long and arduous journey for the doyen. Music as a profession was frowned upon, though his beautiful voice excited comment as a child and he was sent to the local music guru in Barsi, Govindrao Bhatembrekar of the Kirana gharana.