Pt. Vinayak Torvi is an illustrious Indian classical vocalist who has earned a distinct place for himself in the arena of music. A rare kind of rhythmic and melodious voice has been gifted to this astonishing person. He has been mesmerizing his audiences all over the world through his performances. Pt. Vinayak Torvi belongs to the Gwalior and Kirana Gharana and has been the recipient of several prestigious accolades for his remarkable contribution in the arena of Indian classical music.
Early Life of Vinayak Torvi
Pt. Vinayak Torvi was born on 4th September, in the year 1948 in the family of Keerankaars in Ranebennur, Karnataka. His family instilled the `Sanskaaras` of music. Pt. Vinayak Torvi was inducted to the tradition of music at the tender age of nine years. Vidwan Tammanna Gurav was his first guru. Later on he has received training from illustrious gurus of Indian classical music tradition namely, Vidwans Narayanachar Dandapur and Narayan Rao Muzumdar of Dharwad. Pt. Vinayak Torvi afterwards imbibed the traits of a perfect singer after his twelve years `gurukulavasa` beneath the tutelage of Gayanacharya Gururao Deshpande. This excellent singer however has incorporated the intensity and the nuances of the classical musical Gahanna of Gwalior as well as Agra Gayaki into his style of singing. He has learnt these fundamentals from Gururao.
From his days of school and colleges he has been flooded with accolades for his Gayaki. After graduating in commerce stream, he was employed with the Canara Bank and still today he has been serving as the manager of the bank. From Karnatak University, Dharwad, Pt. Vinayak Torvi has obtained his Bachelor`s and Master`s degrees in music. In both the courses he obtained the first rank. When he was the post graduation student to the University, he bagged the honour of being trained under the great musical protagonists of Indian classical music genre namely, Gangubai Hangal, Pt. Basavaraj Rajaguru and Pt. Mallikarjuna Mansoor. Later he was trained under the tutelage of Gayanacharya Gururao Deshpande and Bharatratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi for about 15 years.
Career of Vinayak Torvi
In order to emerge as one of the skilled singers of Indian music genre, Pt. Vinayak Torvi has experimented with different style of music and shaped his Gayaki according to it. Raagas received full justice through his executions. Other than that he has composed various Bandish and Tarana to his credit. He has also showed his brilliance in light classical music and bhakti sangeet in Kannada, Marathi and Hindi. Acknowledging Pt. Vinayak Torvi`s talent All India Radio and Doordarshan conferred honour to this person by including him as their performing artist.
Pt. Vinayak Torvi has executed his talent at many highly esteemed occasions throughout India. Some of noted occasions are at Mysore Durbar Hall during Dasara festival; Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav at Pune; Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata; Bharat Integration Festival at New Delhi; Music Festival, Chennai; Dakshini during SAARC International meet; Soorya and Swathi Tirunal festivals at Thiruvananthapuram; Spirit of Unity Concert for National Integration at Hyderabad; Malhar Festival at Jaipur and NCPA Mumbai.
Pt. Vinayak Torvi conducted several lecture demonstrations and music concert to his credit. For that purpose he has journeyed all over world. His compositions have also been recorded. For him music is pathway to God and needs devotion and dedication to achieve salvation.
Achievements of Pt. Vinayak Torvi
His enormous endeavour to the realm of Indian classical music has earned him many accolades. The Government of Karnataka State, India, has shown admiration to Torvi`s noteworthy contribution in the field of music. He has been conferred the Rajyotsava Award. He has been nominated to the state Sangeeta Nritya Academy for two terms due to his immense experience, through knowledge of music and of course his astonishing talent. The title of Karnataka Kala Tilaka, has been conferred to him by the academy. The HRD Department, Government of India, New Delhi has also conferred the research fellowship to him. During Haridas Sangeet Sammelan at Mumbai, Surmani, National level award was conferred on him by Sur Singar Sansad. Sangeeta Ratna Chowdaiah Memorial Award was conferred on him.
As the Guru of many aspiring Indian classical music performer, Pt. Vinayak Torvi has earned admiration. He has established Gururao Deshpande Sangeet Sabha. The trust aims at furthering the cause of music in memory of Gururao. Some works conducted by this trust are: it organizes all-night music festival in Bengaluru as a tribute to Gururao, wherein eminent artists from all over India participate; it also organises youth festival to provide platform to upcoming promising artists; the trust assists music organizations in remote areas by sponsoring artistes, and has also launched many innovative projects for new generations. Pt. Vinayak Torvi has played an instrumental role in making Bengaluru into one of the prominent centres of Hindustani music in India. Previously it has been a centre for Carnatic music. In order to promote classical music as the member of the Sangeeta Nritya Academy, he has ventured many avenues.