Abhishek Borkar – Podcast

“A lot of artistes believe this is the time to introspect, to reflect and to ponder on music. But I believe this pondering and introspection should be happening throughout a musician’s life – not just during a pandemic….”

– Abhishek Borkar

Young Pune-based Hindustani sarod exponent Sri. Abhishek Borkar initially learned vocal and tabla before taking up rigorous and intensive training on the sarod from his father, Sri. Shekhar Borkar, of the Maihar Senia gharana.  Sri. Abhishek gave his first performance at age 10 and has won many accolades including the Gaanasaraswathi Kishori Amonkar Yuva Puraskar.

In this contemplative chat, he talks about staying positive despite the upheaval caused by the pandemic and about his intent behind Artists United, his initiative to get performers and listeners together in an egalitarian environment.

He plays an Alaap in Raag Gaavati at the end of his chat. After Gaavati is a lovely bonus.  Raag Miyan ki Todi, from a live morning concert in March 2017 in Mumbai, which has never been released before. I would like to sincerely thank Sri. Abhishek Borkar for having taken the trouble to locate this for our listening pleasure.   A short Alaap, followed by Vilambit Teen taal in khayal ang, followed by Madhya laya Ek taal and Drut Teen taal.  Sri. Amit Mishra is on tabla.

This podcast is part of the Quarantunes series, featuring Indian Classical Musicians, recorded during the worldwide shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Released one by one, the full series is at https://lakshmianand.com

Sri. Abhishek has played at many prestigious venues including the Sawai Gandharv Festival, First Edition Arts and many more. Some recent performances were at the Darbar Festival in London, Rietberg Museum in Zurich in Switzerland, Ali Akbar College of Music in Basel in Switzerland, and a performance in Cabella, Italy.

Academically, Sri. Abhishek has an undergraduate degree in Commerce and a Masters degree in Music.