Sangeet Natak Akademi and its associate bodies deeply mourn the demise of musicologist Ashok D. Ranade, who passed away in Mumbai on 30 July 2011.

Born in 1937 in Pune, Ashok Ranade was a major musical thinker who showed the way to examine musical phenomena in diverse cultural and artistic settings. Since the early 1970s, his engagement with music brought forth a steady stream of writings in English and Marathi, including books that deal with Hindustani art music, the stage music and folk music of Maharashtra, aesthetics of music, musical concepts, and the Hindi film song. Together with this, he produced historical studies of Indian musicology, reference works on Hindustani music, a book on speech in drama, and a work on path-breaking Hindustani musicians. He edited several books besides a special number of the journal Sangeet Natak, devoted to Hindi film music. For some time, he edited Facts and News, a bulletin of the NCPA publishing his new documentation on the theatre of Mumbai.

It is not through literary work alone that Ashok Ranade communicated in his field, but also through live interaction. He conducted workshops for professionals and the lay public on topics that include voice in song and drama, music appreciation, the history of Hindustani music, ethnomusicology in India, and music in theatre and cinema. He gave seminars on religion and music, myth and music, and pedagogy in Hindustani music among other topics. He also designed and presented various stage shows for the general public, focusing mainly on the music and musical theatre of Maharashtra. Both in speech and his writing, he wore his knowledge lightly, choosing a style free of jargon enlivened by humour, frank surprise, and the joy of discovery.

Ashok Ranade had studied vocal music with eminent teachers including Gajananrao Joshi, Laxmanrao Bodas, and B.R. Deodhar. He composed music for a number of Marathi plays, for a film, and several exhibitions. He taught at universities at home and abroad, and held positions in research institutions. He was the recipient of several awards and honours. Sangeet Natak Akademi conferred its Award for scholarship in Indian music on him for 2010.

With the passing of Shri Ashok Ranade, Indian music has lost a critical thinker who also helped to make the subject accessible to a general audience.