Pandit S. Ballesh Bhajantri | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Ballappa Sanna Bharamappa Bhajantri |
Also known as | S. Ballesh, S. Balesh, Baalesh, Ballappa, Balu |
Born | M.K.Hubli, Karnataka, India |
Occupation(s) | Shehnai player, classical vocalist |
Instrument | Shehnai |
Website | shehnaiballesh |
Musical career | |
Genres | Hindustani classical music, modern and film music, gospel |
Years active | 1970–present |
Pandit S. Ballesh Bhajantri (born Ballappa Sanna Bharamappa Bhajantri) is a popular [1] Indian classical Hindustani shehnai player. [2] He is a disciple of shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan, [2] he is benares gharana shehnai player and a patiala gharana hindustani vocalist, ghazal singer, Indian playback singer and musician, [3] [4] Ballesh is credited with popularizing the shehnai, a reeded woodwind instrument. [5] [6] [7] He is also a Prasar Bharati's All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan artist. [8]
In 2022, he was awarded India's fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, in the field of Art. He is the second classical musician of India after Ustad Bismillah Khan to receive the award as a shehnai player. [9] [10] [11] [12] He has also worked for Ilaiyaraaja and A. R. Rahman. [13]
Ballesh was born to Shehnai player Sanna Bharamanna and Yellamma in M.K.Hubli, Kittur, Belgaum district, Karnataka. [8] He started learning Shehnai from his father, and later continued from his (uncle) father's elder brother Dodda Bharamanna and with musicians such as D.P. Hiremath, and Pt. Puttaraj Gawai. he was also a Bismillah Khan's disciple, Bismillah Khan once remarked that Ballesh will be the "assurance for the future of Shehnai in Indian classical music". [14] [15]
Ballesh plays various styles on the shehnai: aalaapi and aakaar like khayal singing, jhala like sitar and sarod, tatkar like kathak dancers, meend and harquatts like sarangi and violin, and continuity tones like bansuri. [16] He has also performed jugalbandis, [2] along with sitarist Ustad Shahid Parvez, [17] mohan veena player Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and accompanied by tablist Yogesh Samsi, Subhankar Banerjee. [18] [19]
Ballesh has been a musician for many music directors in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Oriya, Sanskrit, English, Tulu, Konkani and Bhojpuri cinema, performing compositions by Naushad Ali, M. S. Viswanathan, Satyam (music director), G.K. Venkatesh, Ravindra Jain, Ravendra master, Ilaiyaraaja, A. R. Rahman and M. M. Keeravani. [20] [2] He has sung and played shehnai for more than 12,000 movies background scores [21] and 85,000 film songs in several languages, [22] [14] more than 1,50,000 devotional songs for several religions and languages, he has played shehnai for more than 50,000 Swami Ayyappan songs in several languages, [21] he has sung Hindustani music Alaaps for films, and had also collaborated on shehnai with international musicians and composers in recordings. [21] He has sung several songs along with the singers K. J. Yesudas, S. Janaki, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Ilaiyaraaja, M. M. Keeravani and A. R. Rahman. [14] [22] Ballesh appeared playing shehnai for the Hindi film Raanjhanaa , with music by A.R. Rahman. [23] He also played shehnai for the song "The Dichotomy of Fame" in Imtiaz Ali's 2011 Hindi film Rockstar [24] and also played for Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera song for Hindi film Swades, with music and sung by A.R. Rahman, and also in Bigil Tamil film with music by A.R. Rahman. [25] [26] He also composed music for Jawan with Anirudh Ravichander.
Ballesh founded Tansen Academy of Music, [27] a school of Hindustani Classical Music, with his musical work continued by his three sons by Prakash, Krishna and Shivanand Ballesh. [28] [29]
Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi, also known by the honorific prefix Pandit, was one of the greatest Indian vocalists from Karnataka in the Hindustani classical tradition. He is known for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music. Joshi belongs to the Kirana gharana tradition of Hindustani Classical Music. He is noted for his concerts, and between 1964 and 1982 Joshi toured Afghanistan, Italy, France, Canada and USA. He was the first musician from India whose concerts were advertised through posters in New York City. Joshi was instrumental in organising the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival annually, as homage to his guru, Sawai Gandharva.
Ustad Bismillah Khan, often referred to by the title Ustad, was an Indian musician credited with popularizing the shehnai, a reeded woodwind instrument. His virtuosity made him a leading Hindustani classical music artist, indelibly linking his name with the woodwind instrument. While the shehnai had importance as a folk instrument played primarily by musicians schooled in traditional ceremonies, Khan elevated its status and brought it to the concert stage.
Gangubai Hangal was an Indian singer of the khayal genre of Hindustani classical music from Karnataka, who was known for her deep and powerful voice. Hangal belonged to the Kirana gharana.
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