Gorakh Sharma

Gorakh Ramprasad Sharma (born 28 December 1946) is the son of a renowned trumpeter Pandit Ramprasad Sharma (popularly known as Babaji), who taught him the basics of music. He mastered the art of reading music notations from Babaji and the art of playing various string instruments. He has played the mandolin, mandola, rubab and numerous types of guitars like the acoustic, jazz, twelve string, and the electric guitar. He was the first to have played the Bass guitar in the Indian film industry. [3] He is younger brother of Pyarelal (Laxmikant–Pyarelal Duo) [4]

Gorakh Sharma started his musical career as a mandolin player. He learnt Indian notations from his father Pandit Ramprasad Sharma. It was during this time that English instruments like the Guitar were also gaining popularity. He went on to learn the Guitar from Anibal Castro, who was a known guitarist and went on to be trained guitarist. His mandolin playing abilities merged with the guitar playing skills made him a unique guitarist. Initially he was a part of the group Baal Sureel Kala Kendra which would go to smaller cities and perform. The "Baal Sureel Kala Kendra", a musical group, would go to small cities like Pune Solapur, Kolhapur etc. and perform in shows. The group consisted of Meena Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, along with Laxmikant Kudalkar, his brothers Pyarelal, Ganesh, Anand, and others.[5]

In the 1960s when Laxmikant Kudalkar decided to focus on making film music, Gorakh Sharma got the opportunity to play the Mandolin. At the young age of 14 he got the opportunity to work with music director Ravi and played the mandolin in the song Chaudhvin Ka Chaand. As a guitarist he played fillers, Solo's and Rhythm in more than a 500 films and soon started working with music directors like Ravi, Shankar Jaikishen, Kalyanji Anandji. He was promoted to the role of an assistant music director for Laxmikant Pyarelal and worked with them in 475 films since 1966. His unique style of playing got him accolades in the industry and has been a member of the Cine Musicians Association (CMA). At a time when the musicians were paid on the basis of a grade given by the CMA, he along with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia were the only musicians who were give the top grade rating. [6] [7][8]