Talwalkar was born in 1948 into a Marathi family inChembur, Mumbai. He belongs to theKeertankar family of Shri Dholebuva. Keertana being a classical form of devotional and musical discourse, a liking for the classical music was inculcated in him right in the childhood. He initially learned playing thetabla from his father Dattatrey Talwalkar.[1][2] He was trained under the tutelage of i.e. his gurus werePandharinath Nageshkar, Vinayakrao Ghangrekar, Gajananbuva Joshi, Nivruttibuva Sarnaik and Ramkrishna Dholebuva (and from many others) and studied the rhythm theory ofCarnatic music from Ramnaad Ishvaran.[2][3][4]
Talwalkar performing with Ram Narayan in the 1970s
His style draws from severalgharanas (stylistic schools) and he accompanied classical musicians and dancers;[2] Talwalkar frequently used to perform withsarangi playerRam Narayan since the late 1960s. He also accompanies classical singerUlhas Kashalkar. He has toured in the United States, Europe, and Africa.[5][6][7] He taught Tabla, Pakhawaj, Western drums, etc. Some of his disciples areRamdas Palsule,Vijay Ghate, etc.[2] Talwalkar was awarded the All India Radio Award in 1966, theSangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2004[2][8] andPadma Shri in 2013.[9]
Talwalkar is married to classical singerPadma Talwalkar. They have a daughter, Savani Talwalkar, who is a tabla player, and a son, Mumbai businessman and tabla player Satyajit Talwalkar.[10][11]
The titleTaalYogi was conferred on Suresh Talwalkar by His Holiness Jagatguru Shankaracharya Shri Vidya Shankar Bharthi, Karveer Peeth, Kolhapur in 2001.
