Vidyadhar Koparkar (born 1962) is a

Hindustani classical Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...

singer. He himself is a guru and is a disciple of Pt. Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande and Pt. Jitendrabuwa Abhisheki. He sings khyal, tarana, thumri, tappa, dadra, bhajan, abhang and natyageet among other genres.

Early life and education

Vijay Koparkar hails from Pune. His father, Gangadharbuwa Koparkar was a renowned

Kirtankar Kirtana ( sa, कीर्तन; ), also rendered as Kirtan, is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts ...

. He had a brother who was a successful dermatologist. Koparkar attended the Maharashtra education societies, Perugate Bhave school. Later he obtained a master's degree in Engineering ( Metallurgy) from the

College of Engineering, Pune COEP Technological University, is A Unitary Public University of Government of Maharashtra, situated in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Established in 1854, it is the 2nd oldest engineering college in India, after IIT Roorkee (1847). The students an ...

and runs a small-scale manufacturing plant. He started his musical training at the age of eight. His first musical Guru (teacher) for eight years was Madhusudan Patwardhan and Sudhatai Patwardhan. This was followed by training under renowned artist of yesteryear,

Vasantrao Deshpande Vasantrao Deshpande (2 May 1920 – 30 July 1983) was a Hindustani classical vocalist renowned for his contribution to Natya Sangeet (musical dramas). Early life Vasantrao Deshpande was born into a Deshastha Brahmin family in Murtizapur, Akol ...

for five years and then under Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki for seven years. He has learnt from other vocalists, such as Balasaheb Poochwale.

Career

Vijay Koparkar has been trained by gurus belonging to different ''gharanas'' (schools of music), and it reflects in his singing. He has received several honors including a scholarship given by Master Sudhir Phadke Through ‘Surashree Pratishthan’ for six years from 1983 to 1990 and the ‘Pandit Ramkrishna Vaze Puraskar’ by Gandharva Mahamandal. Vijay Koparkar has performed all over the world, including the US, Canada, the Middle East, Paris and UK. He performed four times at the prestigious ‘

Sawai Gandharva Music Festival The Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav (formerly known as the Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav and simply known as Sawai) is an annual Indian Classical music festival held in Pune since 1953. The festival is hosted by the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Ma ...

’ held in

Pune, India Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

every year. He is a graded artist at

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

and

Indian Television The television industry in India is very diverse and produces thousands of programs in many of the Indian languages. More than half of all Indian households own a television. As of 2016, the country had over 857 channels of which 184 were pay ...

. He is most often accompanied by Shri Rahul Gole on harmonium and Shri Vivek Bhalerao on Tabla. His son Tejas and disciple Mandar Gadgil are often seen accompanying him on tanpura.

Students

Vijay Koparkar has been imparting music lessons for many years. Among his students are vocalists, Senior Disciples Saurabh Deshpande, Lalit Deshpande, Ishwar Ghorpade, Mandar Gadgil, Mandar Phatak,

Hrishikesh Ranade Hrishikesh Ranade (born 18 October 1981) is an Indian playback singer in Marathi film industry. He has sung songs in Marathi, Hindi, Konkani and in some other Indian languages. He won Idea Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Maharashtracha Ajacha Awaaj. Childho ...

, Prajakta Ranade and Shruti Bujarburuah. son Tejas and daughter Shruti.

Discography

Alurkar Music House, Pune has released 5 cassettes of Pandit Vijay Koparkar. His albums have been released, including Jog Do Din Ka Mela, in which Kaushiki Chakraborty and Vijay Koparkar have sung 8 songs in total. It is available on Spotify and other music streaming platforms. In the Vi.Vi.Da. Smruti Sangeet Samaroh 2018 held at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Pune, he stated that he has never sung on television and had turned down a few offers for the same. He has expertise in Khyal form of vocalization, especially jod-ragas (ragas that are a mixture of independently existing ragas) like Jogkauns, Basant Mukhari and Rageshree-Kauns to name a few. He has impeccable command over forms of semi-classical music like thumri, dadra and especially tappa. He greatly enjoys singing Raga Kirwani. He has exceptional command over Raga Bhairavi among others and sings many bandishes including rare bandishes like 'Udho Hi Jaa' in Taal Jhumra, and other bandishes including bhajans (Shiv Ke Man Sharan Ho), thumri, dadra and tappa (Najar di bahar). His renditions of various ragas are available on his YouTube Channel, and Tablist Vivek Bhalerao's YouTube Channel.https://www.youtube.com/@vivekbhaleraotabla

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koparkar, Vijay 1962 births Hindustani singers Living people Singers from Pune Marathi people