Tulshidas Borkar (born 18 November 1934, in Borim, Goa) is an Indian musician, known for playing harmonium solo and his syle of accompanying in Hindustani rag sangeet and allied forms. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of thePadma Shri in 2016.
Pandit Tulsidas Borkar has been acclaimed as one of the finest harmonium players today in
Hindustani Classical Music. Panditji excels both as a soloist as well as an accompanist.
He took initial lessons from his mother Smt. Jayshreebai Borkar and Shri. Vishnupant Vasta, a renowned harmonium player of the times. He also received guidance from Swararaj, Shri Chhota Gandharva in the art of harmonium accompaniment. Later, under Shri. Madhukar Pednekar, he had an opportunity to further his ambition of mastering harmonium.
Initially Pt. Borkar earned a reputation as an Organ player and an accompanist for Marathi stage music. He was then associated with several classical musicians, among them Pt. S.C.R.
Bhatt, Pt. K.G. Ginde and Pt. Devendra Murdheshwar, from whom he learned the intricacies of Hindustani Classical Music. As a harmonium accompanist he has performed with many vocalists. Veterans such as Pt. Ram Marathe, Smt. Padmavati Gokhale-Shaligram, Pt. Mallikarjun Mansoor and Pt. Bhimsen Joshi as well as the stalwarts of this generation - Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pt. Rajan & Sajan Mishra have all been very
appreciative of Pt. Borkar's accompaniment. Both as a soloist and accompanist, Panditji has performed in numerous prestigious music concerts and festivals in India and has toured the U.S., Europe, U.K., Indonesia, and the Gulf Countries. He has composed music for many musicals and recordings.
He has received many awards for his contribution to Hindustani Music including Govindrao Tembe Sangeetkar Puraskar and Keshavrao Date Puraskar. He continues the Guru-Shishya tradition by guiding and moulding many new harmonium players. His primary disciples include Shri Sudheer Nayak, Smt. Seema Mestri-Shirodkar and Dr. Kedar Naphade. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2016. All India Radio Panaji recorded his interview in Konkani for one and half hour on 9th May 2016.The interview was taken by Dr.Ajay Vaidya and Smt.Shakuntala Bharne Sr. Annocer of AIR Panaji.
In the interview Pt.Borkar narrated his journey from childhood when he was first taught the initial music notes to the moment of receiving the much coveted Padm shri award. He was the opinion that not only in music field, in any walk of life, there is no substitute for hard work and grit. He said, he always followed his Guru’s orders and instructions and whatever he is today, is because of his guru’s blessings and well wishers of the legends of the music world whom he accompanied on the harmonium. He finally applauded the contribution of AIR in the field of classical music and hoped that his interview would be documentation for future generation.
In his remark in the visitor’s book, he thanked Shri.C.S.Besekar,AD(P)/ Head of Station and all the staff of AIR for their warm welcome to AIR Panaji.