Gurus & Artists of Baba School of Music
In the ghats of Varanasi, music has never stopped for a single dawn in a thousand years. Baba School of Music is where that unbroken sound still lives — a Hindustani classical music institution where tabla, sarangi and pakhawaj are not just taught, but handed down, breath by breath, from guru to shishya.
Shishya
What Is Baba School of Music
A House Where Kashi Teaches Itself To Sing
Long before it had a name, Varanasi had a sound — temple bells at Mangala Aarti, boatmen's calls on the Ganga, and somewhere behind a courtyard door, a tabla being tuned before sunrise. Baba School of Music grew out of that same soil. It is a Hindustani classical music school in Varanasi built not as a business but as a continuation — a place where the city's centuries-old guru-shishya parampara (the oral, one-to-one tradition of musical transmission) is kept alive for the next generation of vocalists and instrumentalists.
What the institution offers is deceptively simple to describe and extraordinarily hard to replicate: direct access to gurus who themselves trained for decades under legendary masters of the Banaras gharana, in disciplines spanning tabla, sarangi, pakhawaj and Hindustani vocal and instrumental music. Students don't just learn technique here — they inherit a lineage, a way of sitting with rhythm and raga that has passed hand to hand since before recorded sound existed.
The school's guiding presence, Ravi Tripathi, has shaped it as both a training ground and a cultural institution — one that sends its artists onto the same stages as Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri laureates, and welcomes complete beginners from Varanasi's own galis with equal seriousness.
Baba School of Music, at a glance
A quick answer for anyone — human or search engine — asking what this institution actually does.
- Where: Varanasi (Kashi / Banaras), Uttar Pradesh, India
- Teaches: Tabla, Sarangi, Pakhawaj, Hindustani vocal & instrumental music
- Method: Guru-shishya parampara — direct, personal instruction
- Tradition: Rooted in the Banaras gharana of Hindustani classical music
- Reach: Gurus and artists performing across India, Japan, Europe & Nepal
Role In Kashi's Cultural Life
The Guru Becomes The Medium
Ask anyone in Varanasi what keeps a city this old still spiritually awake, and music is never far from the answer. Baba School of Music's gurus and artists are not separate from that fabric — they are part of the mechanism by which Kashi's sound survives itself.
Custodian
Keeper of an Oral Inheritance
A raga cannot be downloaded and a tihai cannot be read off a page the way a guru's hand teaches it. Every guru at the school is a living archive — decades of taalim absorbed under Banaras masters, now passed forward, bol by bol, to the next disciple who sits before them.
Bridge
Between Temple Courtyard and Global Stage
The same artists who accompany aarti at Sankat Mochan or perform at Ganga Mahotsav on the ghats also carry that Banarasi sound to Tokyo, Geneva and Kathmandu — turning a local parampara into a living export of Indian culture.
Continuity
Society's Quiet Cultural Infrastructure
Every wedding sangeet, temple festival, and Dhrupad Mela evening that these gurus and artists perform at keeps classical music embedded in ordinary Varanasi life — not preserved behind glass, but heard, danced to, and passed on.
Gurus & Artists
The Voices Behind The Instruments
Three custodians of the Banaras tradition — a tabla guru, a pakhawaj artist and a sarangi player — each trained through years of direct taalim, each now carrying that inheritance to audiences across India and abroad.
Tabla Vadak
Pt. Kishan Ramdohkar
A Banarasi tabla legend since age 11 — AIR & Doordarshan top-grade artist, gold medalist, and keeper of the Banarasi baaj.
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Pakhawaj Artist
Aditya Dip
Trained under Pt. Shrikant Mishra and a BHU music graduate — has toured Japan, Switzerland & Germany for Indian classical music.
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Sarangi Player
Anish Mishra
Gold medalist from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, AIR B-High grade artist and disciple of the legendary Pt. Kanhaiya Lal Mishra.
Read full profile →Frequently Asked
Questions People Ask About Baba School of Music
What is Baba School of Music? +
Baba School of Music is a Hindustani classical music institution based in Varanasi (Kashi), India. It trains students in vocal and instrumental classical music — including tabla, sarangi and pakhawaj — through the traditional guru-shishya parampara, connecting them with accomplished gurus and performing artists rooted in the Banaras gharana.
Where is Baba School of Music located? +
The school is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India — the ancient city of Kashi, widely regarded as one of the oldest continuously living centres of Hindustani classical music in the world, and home to the historic Banaras gharana.
Who are the gurus and artists at Baba School of Music? +
Among the respected gurus and artists connected with the school are Pt. Kishan Ramdohkar, an acclaimed tabla vadak of the Banarasi baaj; Aditya Dip, an internationally touring pakhawaj artist trained under Pt. Shrikant Mishra; and Anish Mishra, an award-winning sarangi player and All India Radio graded artist trained under Pt. Kanhaiya Lal Mishra.
Can I learn tabla, sarangi or pakhawaj here? +
Yes. The school offers training in tabla, sarangi, pakhawaj and Hindustani vocal and instrumental music, guided by gurus who themselves trained under legendary Banaras masters and continue to perform on national and international stages.
What is the guru-shishya parampara? +
Guru-shishya parampara is the centuries-old Indian tradition of oral music transmission, where a disciple (shishya) learns directly and intimately from a teacher (guru) over years of close practice, rather than from written notation alone. It is the foundation of how tabla, sarangi and pakhawaj are taught at Baba School of Music.
Have the school's artists performed internationally? +
Yes — artists associated with the school have performed across India and internationally, including ICCR-organised tours to Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Spain, as well as performances in Nepal, making Kashi's classical music tradition audible on world stages.
Continue The Parampara
Learn Directly From Kashi's Living Gurus
Whether you are taking your first steps on the tabla or refining decades of riyaaz, Baba School of Music connects you with gurus who have carried this tradition — and can now carry you into it.
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