The oldest surviving classical style of Hindustani (or North Indian) vocal music, dhrupad, derives its name is from dhruva-pada, simply meaning “refrain.” It denotes a form of poetry and a style of music in which the poetry is sung. Dhrupad means sure-footedness and is said to have four broad stylistic variants (vanis or banis) – the Gauri (Gauhar), Khandar, Nauhar, and Dagar, tentatively linked to five singing styles. The Gundecha Brothers from Ujjain have been pioneers of this style of music.

Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha or the Gundecha brothers are the leading exponents of the Dhrupad style of music. Born in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, the brothers were initiated into music by their parents. The Gundecha Brothers received a conventional university education, where they studied economics and commerce and learned the Dhrupad vocal art under the renowned Dhrupad vocalist Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar and also with Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (the distinguished performer of Rudra Veena) under guru–shishya parampara in Dhrupad Kendra, Bhopal.

The Gundecha Brothers have sung great works by Tulsidas, Kabir, Padmakar, Nirala in Dhrupad style. They have also sung for many television channels in India and have been broadcasted on British, U.S., German and French, Japan and Australian radio as well. They have also performed and conducted workshops at many important international music festivals and institutions in about 25 countries in Europe, U.S.A, Australia, Japan, Egypt, Singapore, Bangladesh, U.A.E and Hongkong.

For their contribution to the field of Dhrupad and Indian Classical Music, they were conferred the “Padma Shri” in 2012 and the “Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 2017” by the Government of India.