Pandit Arun Kashalkar is one of contemporary India's most innovative and complete Hindustani Classical Music Vocalists, a performer, deep thinker, prolific composer, and guru, scholar, and organizer with a radically new conception of the khayal form.
Pandit Arun Kashalkar's overwhelming importance in Hindustani music today lies in his many fundamental innovations to the khayal form, which have both deepened and widened its scope in several ways. India has many wonderful khayal singers, but Pandit Kashalkar's landmark contribution to this centuries-old genre lies in a rare and profound new vision, which has expanded the shape of khayal and infused it with a fresh sound.
Pandit Arun Kashalkar has been so deeply immersed in music that he has had neither the time nor the instinct to promote himself. His varied achievements are remarkable in themselves, but all the more so when one takes into account the fact that has was forced to hold down a day job for the first three decades after arriving in Mumbai in his early 20s, and has accomplished what he has in the field of music with little institutional support.
In recognition of his continued efforts & dedication towards Indian Classical Music, D. R. Khadke Pratisthan honous him with the 'Swaravrati D. R. Khadke Sanmaan' for the year 2024.