He was one of the foremost disciples of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, and was the guru of Bharat Ratna laureate Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.

[3] Ramchandra Kundgolkar was born into a Deshastha Brahmin family[4] on 19 January 1886, in Kundgol, 19 km from Dharwad, present-day Karnataka, he grew to be known as Rambhau.

Early on, Rambhau did not show interest in academics but progressed in school through the admiration his teachers had for how "sweetly" he sang poems.

Rambhau's father found it increasingly difficult to fund his son's education and eventually his schooling stopped.

[citation needed] After discontinuing his education, Rambhau's father put him under the tutelage of Balwantrao Kolhatkar who found himself in Kundgol.

Abdul Karim Khan began touring Karnataka, where he often stayed with the Nadiger family, Rambhau's father's employer, whom Pt.

[citation needed] It was a time when Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, the founder of Kirana Gharana, was touring Karnataka.

On such a trip, Ramchandra hovered around Abdul Karim Khan, humming jamunaa ke teer, the Ustad's Bhairavi cheez.