Bhikhudan Gadhavi

Bhikhudan Govindbhai Gadhvi (born 1948) is an Indian folk singer and songwriter, known as a proponent of Dayro, a narrative singing tradition of Gujarat. He is a recipient of the Gujarat Gaurav Award of the Government of Gujarat and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for his contributions to folk music.

Biography Bhikhudan Gadhvi was born on 19 September 1948 in Khijdad, a village in Porbandar district of the Indian state of Gujarat. He started singing at the age of ten and after completing his secondary school education, he made his debut as a singer at the age of 20. Reading the works of Jhaverchand Meghani and Dula Bhaya Kag early in his life is reported to have inspired Gadhvi to take up song writing and he focused on Dayro tradition, a folk music tradition of Gujarat where the performer sings narrative stories. He has since performed in many countries such as the US, UK and Indonesia and has over 350 audio albums to credit which include popular tracks like Bhadanu Makan and Khandaninu Khamir. He is married to Gajraba, and they have three daughters, Anjana, Meena, Hiral, and a son, Bharatbhai. The family lives in Junagadh in Gujarat.

Selected discography