Music: StringFEST – Festival of Bowed, Plucked and Hammered Instruments

Abhishek is a young and versatile musician, who was drawn to the sound of the sarod from a very early age. Born into a musically rich environment, in Pune, he initially underwent training in vocal and tabla, at age 4, before anchoring himself on the sarod, under the tutelage of his father and Guru Pt. Shekhar Borkar, of the Maihar Senia Gharana.

At the age of ten, he presented his first concert for which young Abhishek was lauded for his outstanding performance by many connoisseurs of music. After much acclaim, he was awarded a National Talent scholarship instituted by the C.C.R.T (Government of India) at the age of 11 and was subsequently specially invited to participate in many of their camps for outstanding young scholars.

He released his first solo CD titled ‘Pratibha’ in 2008, at the age of 16. In 2015, he was a prize winner at the National Youth Festival held in Indore, as well as at Mysore, in 2016.

He also went on to receive the Senior scholarship instituted by the Ministry of Culture, in 2016. He was conferred with the Ajay Bakshi Smruti Puraskar in 2018. He was awarded the Gaansaraswati Kishori Amonkar Yuva Puraskar in 2019. Recently he was awarded the Sangeet Pratibha National Award, Delhi in 2020.

Dhanraj began his training at the age of 14 under the tutelage of Pandit Rajkumar Misra. In keeping with the lineage of his Guru, Dhanraj follows the playing style of the Jaipur and Farukkhabad gharanas of tabla. Not only is Dhanraj an accomplished tabla player but also an experienced vocalist, currently receiving training from Srimati Chandrima Misra of the Kasur-Patiala gharana.

In association with SAMA Arts Network