An evening of music and melodies at Indian Consulate in New York

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It was a full house at the Indian Consulate in New York when it hosted an “evening filled with music and melodies” October 6, 2024.

Entitled “Safarnama: Untold Stories & Timeless Melodies,” the concert featured highly acclaimed singer and Padma Shri recipient Pt. Suresh Wadkar, as well as Padma Wadkar.

It “truly captivated the audience!” the Indian Consulate said in a post on X.

On his Facebook site, Wadkar, 69, says his mission is “Spreading Music & Preparing The Next Gen Of Singers & Musicians.”

Wadkar has more than 74,000 followers on Facebook, and higher than 132,000 on Instagram, and attracts packed audiences wherever he performs. He has been a playback singer not only for both Hindi and Marathi films, but also sung songs for Bhojpuri and Konkani films, and made Odia albums and bhajans, according to Wikipedia. For his body of work, he has won several awards, among them the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2018 for Sugam Sangeet, and the Government of India’s Padma Shri Award in 2020.

Born into a middle-class family in Kolhapur, Wadkar pursued music studies from the age of 13, and was noticed by famous singers like Lata Mangeshkar, and several notable performers. He has not only been a playback singer but also produced a film, Tanman.com, and been a judge on famous contests like Sa Re Ga Ma.

Wadkar directs the Ajivasan (Acharya Jialal Vasant Sangeet NIkaetan) Music Academy in Mumbai, and has a training institute in the New York tri-state area. He also runs an online music school, SWAMA (Suresh Wadkar Ajivasan Music Academy, under Ace Open University, according to Wikipedia.

He is married to classical singer Padma Wadkar, and the couple has two daughters.