Ulhas Bapat, Mumbai

Ulhas Bapat was fortunate enough to be born in a music loving family. Thus, he was initiated into the alphabets of rhythm and melody at an age when most children learn their A B C !! Ulhas acquired his "Swarajnan" under the perceptive eye of his father, Shri Yeshwant Ganesh Bapat who was himself a gifted vocalist.

Ulhas explored the intricacies of tabla under the renowned percussion maestro, Pt. Ramakant Mhapsekar. Thereafter, he switched to vocal with a view to have a sound classical base. Ultimately, Ulhas took to the santoor as the instrument of his destiny.

Ulhas wants to be known as a santoor player with a difference. He has adopted a technique of fine tuning according to the chromatic scale. This approach enables him to take in his stride the rendition of even 'Vakra' (difficult to play) ragas. One of the distinct elements of chromatic tuning is that it eliminates the need to retune the instrument after the rendition of each musical piece.

Although he has developed a unique style of his own, it was sarod maestro Zarin Daruwala who was instrumental in honing his musical acumen. Ulhas has also been trained by Pt. Wamanrao Sadolikar and Pt. K.G.Ginde whose encyclopedic knowledge of Ragashastra helped Ulhas enrich his repertoire.

Making his debut in 1975 with a chamber concert bny Sancharini, an organisation founded by Pt. Ravi Shankar in Mumbai, Ulhas has come a long way. He has toured across the world and also performed at major music concerts in India, besides performing regularly on AIR and Doordarshan.

Several of his albums have been cut by music companies such as Magnasound, T-Series, etc.

email: ulhas@sudeepaudio.com

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