Jayram Acharya

A hugely popular sitar player, Jayram Acharya's skill was thought to be on par with the great Ravi Shankar. Over his long career he left his imprints on several classics of Hindi cinema as well as independent music. 

Born on 4 July, 1928, he came from a family of musicians. He dreamed of becoming a singer in hindi films and migrated to Mumbai in 1939. His first stint in films came as a chorus singer in the song Naya zamana aya logon from Naya Sansar (1941). He got the opportunity to join HMV in 1946 which allowed him to hone his sitar skills further. The next phase of his career started at V Shantaram's Rajkamal Kalamandir. He also appeared onscreen in Teen Batti Chaar Rasta (1952). 

One of his career highlights was playing the mesmerising sitar intro for Salil Chowdhury's classic song O sajna barkha bahar ayi from Parakh (1960). Another milestone was playing the sitar for R D Burman's debut song as a composer - Ghar aaja ghir aye badra from Chhote Nawab (1961). Other significant works include O chand jahan woh jaaye from Sharada (1957), Saari saari raat teri yaad sataye from Aji Bas Shukriya (1958), Bole re papihara from Guddi (1971) and Tere bina zindagi se koi from Aandhi (1975). 

Acharya's oeuvre cannot be defined solely by his film work. As an independent musician he took out a bossa nova album in 1968. Originally released by Odeon in India, the album attained such popularity that EMI released it in Argentina as well. He was a founding member of Cine Musicians' Association. 

The sitar maestro passed away on 5 April, 2017.