Pandit Damodar Keshav Datar (14 October 1932 – 10 October 2018), popular as D. K. Datar, was an Indian violinist. He was born in

Kurundwad Kurundwad is a town on the banks of the Panchganga river, 55 km from Kolhapur (Kolhapur district) in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Geography It is in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is 55 km from the dist ...

, Kolhapur district, Maharashtra. His brother Narayanrao introduced him to music and he took early lessons in violin from Pandit Vighneshwar Shastri, who used to teach at the Deodhar School of Indian Music, Mumbai. Datar completed his Bachelor's Degree but took music as full time profession. He was nephew of Hindustani classical vocalist

D. V. Paluskar Pandit Dattatreya Vishnu Paluskar (28 May 1921 – 26 October 1955), was a Hindustani classical vocalist. He was considered a child prodigy. Early life and background D.V. Paluskar was born in Nasik, Bombay Presidency to well-known Hindustani m ...

, under whom he later on studied music. Influenced by Paluskar, Datar adjusted his violin playing technique to vocal dominated style and played violin according to the ''khyal'' style of

Gwalior gharana The Gwalior Gharana (Gwalior school of classical music) is one of the oldest Khyal Gharana in Indian classical music. The rise of the Gwalior Gharana started with the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542–1605). The favourite singers of t ...

. Apart from ''khyal'', he popularly also played on

bhajan Bhajan refers to any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Indian religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root word ''bhaj'' ...

, thumri and natya sangeet styles. Among various countries, he toured Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan. He was also employed by Films Division of India and regularly provided background score for various documentary films. He received

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

in Hindustani Music in 1995 and in 2004 was conferred with Padma Shri, India's 4th highest civilian honour. he died on 10 October 2018 of old age at his residing home in

Goregaon Goregaon ( �oːɾeɡaːʋ is a suburb of Mumbai city, in the Mumbai Suburban district of India. It has a railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Western Line. An extension of the Harbour Line was completed in 2018 because of w ...

, Mumbai.

Awards

* 1995 -

in Hindustani Music * 2004 - Padma Shri

References

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art 1932 births 2018 deaths Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Hindustani violinists