Late Pt. Tulsidas Borkar - Padmashri & Sangeet Natak Fellowship winner

                       Acclaimed as a performer par excellence, brilliant composer and revered Guru, Pandit Tulsidas Borkar is one of the most outstanding musicians of India. A leading name in the field of harmonium playing, Tulsidasji had his initial lessons in Music from his mother Jaishreebai Borkar’. Later he started learning the Harmonium from ‘Vishnupant Vashta’ and at the same time had the opportunity of being guided by ‘Chhota Gandharva’, the eminent vocalist, on the art of Harmonium accompaniment. However, a major part of his training in Harmonium was between 1957 and 1967 under the guidance of the harmonium maestro ‘Pt. Madhukar Pednekar’, better known as ‘P.Madhukar’.

                     In his endeavor to acquire knowledge, he had the opportunity of receiving valuable guidance from some veteran vocalists like ‘Pt. S.C.R.Bhatt’, ‘Pt .K.G.Ginde’, ‘Pt. Rajaram Shukla’, ‘Pt. Murli Manohar Shukla’, ‘Pt. Ram Marathe’ and instrumentalists like ‘Pt. Devendra Murdeshwar (Flute)’ and ‘Pt. A.P.Phatak (Violin)’ from whom he got to learn the intricacies of the Khayal tradition of North Indian (Hindustani) Classical Music.

                  Tulsidas Borkar gained initial fame as an ‘Organ player’ in Marathi theatrical music. He accompanied several leading actor-singers of Marathi theatre between the years 1950 and 1980.He also had the privilege of accompanying many stalwarts in the field of Hindustani Classical Music like Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, Pandit Firoz dastrur, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Basavraj Rajguru, Pandit Y. B. Joshi, Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki, Pandit Ram Marathe, Pandita Gangubai Hangal, Pandita Kishori Amonkar, Pandita Shobha Gurtu and Dr. Prabha Atre to name a few.

                Apart from being a reputed harmonium accompanist, Tulsidas Borkar has also been acclaimed as a great soloist and has been commercially recorded by many reputed Record Labels all over the world. Tulsidasji has participated in most of the prestigious music festivals in the country and toured extensively for concerts in U.K, Europe, Indonesia, U.S.A, and Arabian Gulf countries.

               As a music composer, he has composed music for theatrical productions like “Sangeet Pandharpur”, “Bakul Phula” and various other musical productions. The many disciples whom he has groomed as renowned performers and composers of today, proves his invaluable contribution as a Guru. Among his disciples are Sudhir Nayak, Seema Mestri-Shirodkar, Kedar Naphade, Shriram Hasabnis and Niranjan Lele – all gaining acclaim as excellent harmonium players of the younger generation. Borkarji’s noble mission of imparting his knowledge has led him to authoring a book on the art of playing the harmonium titled ‘Samvadini Sadhana’ which has been published in Hindi and Marathi. He has also been instrumental in designing a syllabus for Harmonium students which has been accepted and recognized by the Pune University (Lalit Kala Kendra) and University of Kolhapur (Shivaji Vidyapeeth).

       He has also designed a new model modifying the physical structure of the Harmonium by raising the level of the Keyboard, which was crafted and manufactured by Dashrath Bengude. He has extensively researched in terms of improving the tonal quality, tuning and other technical aspects of the Harmonium, thereby giving different visual and sound dimensions to the instrument.

           For his dedicated contribution in the field of Indian Music, he has been honored with the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, New Delhi (for the year 2005) at the hands of the President of India Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam.

Other honors bestowed on him, include:

First Bhaiya Ganpatrao Samman(Award) from Harmonium wizard Bhaiya Ganpatrao Memorial society,Delhi(11-08-2008)

State Reward for Excellence from the Directorate of Art & Culture, Govt. of Goa (18-08-2007).

Smt. Indirabai Khadilkar Puraskar (2006) by Bharat Gayan Samaj, Pune.

Pt.Bandubhaiya Chaughule Smruti Puraskar, Indore (2004),

Pt.Vitthalrao Korgaonkar Smruti Puraskar by Surel Samvadini  Samvardhan- Belgaum (2002),

ITC Sangeet Research Academy Award (2001)

Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Smruti Gungaurav Puraskar (2000) from Yojana Pratishthan & Nirgudkar Foundation

Samrat Sanman from Samrat Club International, Goa.

Balgandharva Gaurav Puraskar from Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Natya Parishad sponsored  by Shrimant Madhavrao Maharaj Shinde (1999)

GovindraoTembe Sangatkar Puraskar(19-01-1998)from Akhil Bhartiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya

Sangeetkar Padmashree Vasant Desai Puraskar from Marathi Natya Parishad,

Natvarya Keshavrao Date Puraskar (1995).

Sangeet Natak Academy winner Pt. Tulsidas Borkar has established a School of Harmonium under the umbrella organisation ART, CULTURE ENTERTAINMENT OPEN UNIVERSITY. 

Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship bestowed in 2015

Padmashri honour in 2016

Pt. Tulsidas Borkar was born on November 18, 1934, in Borim, Goa  and left for heavenly abode on 29 September 2018

Links to other websites: Disciple Dr. Kedar Naphade

Read the interview with Dr. Kedar Naphade