Mallikarjun Mansur

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Mallikarjun Bheemrayappa Mansur (31 December 1910 – 12 September 1992) was an Indian classical khyal singer in the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana singing style. Mallikarjun was born on New Year's Eve of 1910, at Mansur, a village five kilometres west of Dharwad, Karnataka. His father, Bheemaraayappa, was the village headman, a farmer by occupation and an ardent lover and patron of music. He had four brothers and three sisters. His elder brother Basavaraj owned a theatre troupe, and thus at age nine Mallikarjun did a small role in a play. Spotting the talent in his son, Mallikarjun's father engaged him to a travelling Yakshagana (Kannada theatre) troupe. The owner of this troupe took a liking to the tender and melodious voice of Mallikarjun and encouraged him to sing different types of compositions during the drama-performances. Hearing one such performance, he was picked up by Appaya Swamy under whom he had his initial training in Carnatic music. Sometime later, he was introduced to Hindustani music under Nilkanth Bua Alurmath of Miraj who belonged to the Gwalior gharana. The latter brought him to Alladiya Khan (1855?- 1946), the stalwart and the then patriarch of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, in the late 1920s, who referred him to his elder son, Manji Khan. Following Manji Khan's untimely death, he came under the tutelage of Bhurji Khan, the younger son of Alladiya Khan. This grooming under Bhurji Khan had the most important influence on his style of singing. Mansur was well known

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