The Sangeet Sadhana Kendra (SSK) is a centre for the performing arts that has been run by Manubhai S. Patel for over 50 years. Affiliated with the government recognized Brihat Gujarat Sangeet Samiti (Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Ahmedabad), the Akhil Gujarat Sangeet Samiti (Veraval) and the Mahagujarat Gandharva Sangeet Samiti (Surat), SSK offers a variety of courses in all available instruments and vocal shastriya music upto the degree courses of Visharad (B.A.), Shiksha Visharad (B.Ed) and Alankar. SSK holds the honor of being one of the oldest sangeet institutes in Vadodara and has created numerous stage artists, teachers, seasonal performers since its establishment in 1967. In addition to his teaching, Manubhai Patel also runs the Blind Welfare and Handicap Trust, which gives a helping hand and the possibility of a happy future to numerous families in their struggle against poverty. A lifelong passion for literature and the belief that man is only as handicapped as he makes himself has culminated in yet another noteworthy achievement for SSK. As recently as 2017, Manubhai Patel has also published his works in kavya (poetry) as songs and muktakas (moral poems) under the pseudonym “Manan” and intends to publish the rest of his lifelong creations in the future. These kavyas and muktakas are inspirational in nature and display the heart of the Sangeet Sadhana Kendra and all that it stands for: excellence in shastriya sangeet and the creation of a personality that sets its students on the path to success.
Manubhai S. Patel was born on 16 January 1944 in the village of Bavla, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. From a very young age, Manubhai Patel has been independent and fearless and with the advent of better technology for the physically handicapped, he educated himself through the limited resources available in braille. He completed his formal sangeet education under N.B.Bhoge who was a student of Vinayakrao Patvardhan (shishya of Vishnu Digambar Paluskar in the Gwalior Gharana). He completed his Visharad in 1957 and Alankar in 1960 and M.A. in Political Science from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1969. After completing his M.A. he was offered a scholarship by the UGC to continue on to a doctorate program but due to his passion for sangeet and a pragmatic view of life he decided to dedicate his life to sangeet sadhana, ensuring that the parampara of his guru continues on to the younger generations.