In spite of being gifted with his musical talent right from his childhood, Chandrakant Limaye started his formal training in music quite late.
 At a tender age of three, he went on the stage for the first time to sing one of his nursery rhymes, after which he became so popular in his neighbourhood that everyone would call him by that rhyme that he had sung. Then as a child of 7 years, he had gone to his aunt’s place in his vacations. There he used to sing a bhajan ‘Raghupati Raghav gajari gajari’ and became so popular in that neighbourhood that everybody would call him at their place to sing unto them. Once, he got tempted by a handful of berries that the neighbour had promised to give him if he sang for him. He enthusiastically sang that bhajan and then very happily relished those berries with his friends. But in all this innocence, there was no realization of taking this gift seriously and getting a proper training in the discipline of music. Yes, he would win all the singing competitions in his school but that was it. He was so gifted that right from his childhood, even if he would hear a song only once, he would instantly remember it and sing it perfectly as it is.
When he was just 10 years old, there was a competition at Shivajipark to sing songs from the musical drama ‘Panditraj Jagannath’. 10,000 entries had come in from all over Maharashtra out of which only 10 people were to be selected. At that time he didn’t even know his pitch so when asked by the harmonium accompanist about his scale he innocently asked what the word means! The accompanying artist started playing in Kali Char (G Sharp) and Chandrakantji rendered the song ‘Jay Gange Bhagirathi’ with so much of ease, obviously he was selected. After this incidence, he decided he would learn music from Prasad Sawkar who had acted and sung in the original drama and was the judge in this competition. But Chandrakantji, merely a 10 year old then, did not know how to find this person. Co-incidentally after some days of the competition, he came across one of his co-competitor of that event. He immediately asked him where Sawkarji stayed. The person just told him the area as he didn’t know the details. Chandrakantji was still so determined to find him, he walked all the way from his home at lower Parel to King circle at Matunga. Now on reaching there he didn’t know where to go so he asked a passerby if he knew where Sawkarji stayed. That person just told him to go ‘Dakshini Brahmin Wadi’ as he had heard some music there. Young Limaye was elated as he knew that those people would definitely help him find his destination. He went there and a harmonium player saw this young child desperately searching for Sawkarji so he assured him that he will show him his house but Chandrakantji should sing something. As he started singing, that person was so impressed; he immediately stopped his own practice and took Limayeji to Sawkar’s House. Sawkarji recognized the boy and insisted that he should join Vyas Sangeet Vidhyalaya. Chandrakantji went there for a month but didn’t like the attitude of the administrators there and left the place.
He then decided to learn from Rambhau Marathe, but on reaching his place, he was told by Rambhau’s brother that he doesn’t take classes. Then he went to Manohar Barve’s class at Dadar. Here, he used to learn with many other students. What happened was that he would learn what was taught at the first go and the other students would take weeks to do the same thing. He got extremely bored of this repetition everyday without any further growth, so he went to Pt. Manohar Barve twice or thrice and requested to teach him personally and at least listen to him once, but Pt. Barve insisted him to sit in the class with other students. Finally he felt that this method of learning would never suit him so he left the class. These successive episodes disappointed him a lot and he felt he would never find a right kind of Guru that he was searching for.
It was only in his 10th class when, for one of such school festivals called ‘Amrit Mahotsav’, Dr. Vasantrao Rajopadhye came to guide the students. He gave a week’s time to Chandrakantji to prepare two songs that he was supposed to sing. Chandrakanji set those songs to music, with alaap and tans, then and there in front of Vasantraoji on the first day itself. Vasantraoji was very impressed by his talent and command on the songs. He asked Chandrakantji where he was learning music. He was extremely surprised as well as disappointed to know that this boy had not been trained in music. Immediately he wrote a letter and asked Chandrakantji to give it to his parents. That letter became a turning point in Chandrakanji’s life and henceforth began his training in Hindustani Classical music with Dr. Vasantrao Rajopadhye as his first Guru. He started going to Vyas Sangeet Vidhyalaya where Rajopadhye was the vice-principal. Three months later, there was a ‘Masik Jalsa’ programme in the institute where Pt. Narayanrao Vyas heard Chandrakantji sing. He liked this 14 year old boy so much that after his singing when Chandrakantji came to take his blessings, he simply told him to come to his place from the next day and start learning from him. It was in him that Chandrakantji found the Guru that he had been searching for since so long!
Then at the age of 18, along with his bank job, he joined Mumbai University’s music Department where he learnt under Pt. Gajananbua Joshi of Gwalior-Jaipur and Agra Gharana. After a year, when Gajananbua left the University, Pt. Ratnakar Pai of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana took his place and became Chandrakantji’s Guru. Nonetheless, Chandrakantji continued his tutelage under Gajanan bua at his residence even after he had stopped teaching at the University.
His training with Nana (Pt. Narayanrao Vyas) was still going on parallely. He used to sit on tanpura behind Nana in many concerts as a result of which, he got known in the circle of important art connoisseurs as well as the masses. It was Nana who introduced Chandrakantji to Panshikar who was a famous producer and actor then. Hence started Panditji’s journey as an actor in musical plays, first being ‘Katyar Kalajat Ghusli’. There he met Pt. Balakram of Agra Gharana who was supposed to guide him in his prose dialogues. On the first day, instead of teaching dialogues, Balakramji took the tanpura and started singing. Chandrakantji was spellbound by his singing and when Balakramji asked him if he’d learn from him, Chandrakantji immediately agreed to learn from him also. Unfortunately, Balakramji passed away within two years of his relationship with Chandrakantji.
Once when on a tour to Goa for one of the shows of their play, Pt. Vasantrao Deshpande was teaching the team members of the play. Because of his shy and introvert nature, Chandrakantji was sitting at a distance and listening to them. Shankar Ghanekar, a very famous theatre actor then, saw Panditji sitting there and instantly asked Bua (Pt. Vasantrao Deshpande) to teach him. Bua gave the tanpura to Panditji and agreed to teach him, not knowing then, that this meeting would take the form of a 12 year long relationship as Guru-Shishya, which would bloom Panditji as a successor of bua’s legacy. At that time, bua used to be in Mumbai for three days a week and he taught at Balaji Joshi’s place but never went to chandrakantji’s house. Once Limayeji’s father attended bua’s concert wherein, chandrakantji did not introduce him to bua. Later, feeling familiar with that person, bua inquired and decided to go home and meet his father. Co-incidentally, they turned out to be childhood friends. Since then, bua started going to chandrakantji’s house to teach him. Their relationship was so well knit; he would follow bua everywhere he went. He was his guru, his father, his friend everything. They used to celebrate Guru Poornima at Chandrakantji’s house so Kumarji, Bhimsenji and many other maestros and music related people had visited his house and knew him personally.
It happened that Pt. C.P. Rele (Babu Kaka) once called Vasantrao Deshpande, his close friend, for lunch. Bua took Chandrakantji with him and there when bua started teaching him, babukaka was quite impressed by our Panditji. Bua told Chandrakantji that from now on, whenever he would be in pune, Chandrakanji’s music lessons would be taken by babu kaka. It was Babukaka who took care of all his MA studies. He was so quick in grasping; he prepared for this exam within a month and went for a vacation to Rajasthan just before his final music exams which gave him his post graduate degree in music in 1980.
Although Chandrakantji had met Pt. Kumar Gandharva before, it was later after bua passed away due to a heart attack in 1983, that Kumarji insisted that he should now come and stay at Devas and learn music from him. But because of his social responsibilities, Chandrakantji could not take up that offer and even today he regrets that. But Kumarji agreed that whenever he would come to Mumbai, he would teach our Panditji.
Pt. Chandrakant Limaye has always respected all forms of music whether they be Abhangas, Natyasangeet, Bhajans or thumris, dadra, tappa etc. He learnt lighter forms of music as well and was guided by stalwarts like Srinivas Khale, Anantrao Vartak, Pt. Shankar Abhyankar, Dr. Ashok Ranade, Snehal Bhatkar, Prabhakar Jathar, Pt. Manohar Chimote etc.
He got various awards in many competitions like Gunidas competition, Kal ke kalakar in 1989 etc. where he got the title of surmani by Sur Samsad, Mumbai.
He has performed in different places like National Centre for Performing Arts in1983, Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Samaroha, Kundgol, Karnataka in 1984, Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande Smruti Samaroh in Nagpur, Pune and Mumbai, Pandit Paluskar Punyatithi Sangeet Samaroh, New Delhi, 1986, Sangeet Natak Academy of India, Delhi-1986, Bhendi Bazaar Gharana Sammelan, Delhi, 1987 and many other programmes. He also performed in many musical dramas like ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusli’, ‘Sant Gora Kumbhar’, ‘Vardan’, ‘Pati Gele Ga Kathewadi’, ‘Sangeet Subhadra’, ‘To mi Navech’, ‘Sangeet Sanshay Kallol’, ‘Lagna chi Bedi’ to name a few.
He was also invited for 3 episodes on Zee Alfa Marathi, in its popular programme Sa Re Ga Ma, Classical seniors, Swar Sadhana Sameeti, Bombay in 1990, Dadar Matunga Cultural Centrel and Malbar Hill Inter Kaycee Inter College Competition for Light Music in1989, Vanita Samaj, Dadar, Bombay in1988 for Natya Sangeet and Classical Music, and in Sangeet Sadhana, Sangli in 1985 for classical and light classical. A music cassette named “BHAKTIYATRA” was produced by Sterling Cassette Co. in 1992, which comprised of Marathi Bhajans: Seven Abhangas and the music was given by Shri. Snehal Bhatkar.
By this time Pt. Chandrakant Limaye was quite established as an independent artist and Chandrakantji started giving more programmes across India as well as abroad. During his visit to Canada & USA in November, 1996, he was invited by the University of Skidmore (Through Asian Studies Program and Asian Culture Association) for performing as well as teaching Indian Classical Music. He was also invited by other Indian associations in USA & Canada to give lectures and performances in Hindustani Classical as well as Natya Sangeet genre (Musical songs rendered in various Marathi Plays).
Later in 1997, a friend coaxed him to apply for senior fellowship. He applied and forgot about it. That was a five months phase where he did not receive any programmes and was quite frustrated. Tired, he took a break and went to his uncle’s place for a couple of days. On returning he got the news that he had got the senior fellowship! For two years 1997-1998 he was granted an honararium of Rs.6000 a month by the government of India.
In 1999 on Gurupoornima, one of his students gave him Rs. 10,000. Initially he strictly denied as he never took any monetary gifts from his students, but then decided to conduct a programme commemorating his Guru, Lt. Pt. Vasantrao Deshpande where Pt. C.P. Rele, Pt. Ajay Pohankar and Pt. Chandrakant Limaye and his students performed. In that Sangeet Samaroh, he met a lot of friends and fans of bua who insisted on supporting and helping for the cause and insisted that Chandrakantji should continue this tradition of celebrating Vasantrao Sangeet Samaroha. Hence, Vasantrao Deshpande Sangeet Sabha got established and was officially registered in August 2000 and continues till now with 33 programmes and numerous shibirs, workshops for children on the subject of Hindustani classical music, Natyasangeet, RituChakra, Thumri, Dadra, light music etc conducted under its banner.
In 1998 with a new caste, the play ‘Katya Kalajat Ghusli’ came up again. This time, it was telecasted on television. Because of its immense popularity and demand, in 2007 Prism video company produced set of 4 VCDs of this play. It is extremely successful endevour and is available across the market. Maharashtra Kala Niketan honoured him by giving ‘Maharashtra Vaibhav’ award for performing in the lead role in ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusali’ produced by ‘Natyasampada, Mumbai’ of Mr. Prabhakar Panshikar in the year 2003. In the same year, he also composed music for a Marathi TV serial named ‘Tya Chowghi’.
Currently he is busy with his performances all over India and when he is in Mumbai, 25 disciples of his Gurukul train under him in Guru-Shishya Parampara. Along with the Gurukul, he keeps working for Sanstha’s various theme based programmes and is busy acquiring sponsorships for these noble causes. At present he is involved in a research project on Marathi Sangeet Ranga Bhoomi.