Ashook Yankaran

Ashook Yankaran son of the legendary singer Isaac Yankaran and Moonimah in the small village of Brickfield California. He was born in a very talented family, his father being the number one Indian Singer at that time and his mother was also very talented leading her own group of ladies and playing the dholak. Ashook was the fourth of seven talented children, the late Sharm being the eldest brother. Ashook remembers that as a young boy at least once a week the late great Sunny Bhoosie and his father had rehearsals at their home in Brickfield, listening to this great dholak player a passion developed in the young Ashook to become a dholak player. His father Isaac decided to have Ashook learn to play the dholak the right way, so he took him to the Bharatiya Vidya Sansthan (BVS) led by Prof. H.S. Adesh where he started to learn to play the tabla when he was just seven years old. His father was also a student of the BVS. Soon after the passing of Ashooks father in 1969 he started learning the songs his father made popular. Ashook became the leader of the Brickfield Bhajan Group, where he stayed for four years singing Bhajans. It was around this time that he became interested in Classical Singing. A friend of his introduced him to the Late Great Pandit Mahase Maharaj who later became his Classical Singing Guru. Great knowledge was passed onto him on the art of Classical Singing, during the years he spent under the guidance of Pt. Mahase. In 1977 Ashook was fortunate to tour the USA and Canada alongside the Great Ustad Yusuff  Khan where he shared the same stage. His performances was a great success and immediately he was approached by Mr. Horace Singh to record his first LP entitled “Ashook in New York City in 1977.” Soon after his return he was in high demand and he was invited to tour in Suriname with the Great K.B. Singh and Yusuff Khan. Another successful performance with these two Masters. After returning to Trinidad he was a well respected Classical Singer sharing the same stage with many Masters and Ustads of the Classical Arena.  He then entered Mastana Bahar where he was a Grand Finalist. He entered many Classical Singing Competitions winning numerous titles and trophies. He now has many recordings to his name. In 1983 Ashook migrated to the USA where he resided for 13 years, after which he moved to Canada where he resides up till today. Presently he is a member of the Datta Yoga Centre of Canada led by Sri Ganapati Satchinanda. He has done two recordings in honour of this organization where he now devotes a great deal of his time in service to God. For your listening pleasure we have added an audio sample of the voice of this great Artiste, Ashook Yankaran, taken from our library of music.

(Copyright Ashram Sharma 2023)