Devdas Sharma, 58, is an artist in the folk music spectrum of Braj in Uttar Pradesh. He belongs to the Brahmin (Pandit) community. Devdas Sharma hails from the colourful and devotional town Mathura of Mathura district. He has two brothers, the elder one is a teacher, and the younger one, Rajesh Sharma, is a renowned Music Composer from AIR, Agra. He lives with his wife and two sons. He holds a Sahitya Ratna degree from Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad. For subsistence, he performs music and Bhagwat Kathan. He has Prabhakar, Bisarad and Sangeet Acharya in Tabla, and is a B High-Grade Dholak Artist (AIR). Devdas enjoys playing both folk and classical forms of music. With Dholak, he accompanies Braj Lok Geet and plays the tabla in traditional classical music. He belongs to the Mathura Gharana and accompanies other artists, but as far as Taals are concerned, he has composed and improvised a few taals of his own. Apart from Dholak and Tabla, he also shares proficiency in Mara. He draws inspiration from K D Sharma, his elder brother, his guru, and, his younger brother, Rajesh Sharma. With the various groups and artists, he has performed in several states, like Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Gorakhpur, Del Banara, Nazizabad, Samarpur Concert (Orissa), Agra, and Gwalior. He has also performed for AIR & DD numerous times, but he cherishes his performance in Bhopal the most. He also shares his aspirations of going abroad which hopefully will be happening this April. He has done many recording sessions but finds peace only to play for Thakur (Lord Krishna). Devdas wants to devote his life and music to Thakur and wishes to get rendered in the four words, ‘Hare Krishna, Hare Ram.’
- Braj
- Uttar Pradesh