Pandit Dr. S. Ballesh, born Ballappa Sanna Bharamappa Bhajantri, is an Indian classical Hindustani

shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a musical instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end.Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ''Jewel of India'') is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distinctio ...

Ustad Bismillah Khan Bismillah Khan (born Amaruddin Khan, 21 March 1916 – 21 August 2006), often referred to by the title ''Ustad'', was an Indian musician credited with popularizing the shehnai, a reeded woodwind instrument. While the shehnai had long held imp ...

, he is an expert in Benares gharana shehnai playing, and a

Patiala gharana The Patiala ''gharana'' (, ) is one of the vocal (tradition, school, or style of music) of Hindustani classical music, named after the city of Patiala in Punjab, India where it was established. The ''gharana'' was founded in the mid to late 19th ...

Hindustani vocalist, ghazal singer, Indian Playback singer and musician, often referred by the title ''Panditji'' and ''BadeGuruji''. Ballesh is credited with popularizing the shehnai, a reeded

woodwind instrument Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and r ...

. While the shehnai had long held importance as a folk instrument played in traditional ceremonies in India, Ballesh is credited with elevating its status and bringing it back to the centre stage. He plays often for

Prasar Bharati Prasar Bharati (abbreviated as PB; Hindi: ''Praśar Bharati'', lit. Indian Broadcaster) is India's state-owned public broadcaster, headquartered in New Delhi. It is a statutory autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament and comprises the ...

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

(AIR) and Doordarshan. He was awarded India's fourth-highest civilian honour, the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

, in 2022, in the field of Art, conferred by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

, on the eve of the 73rd

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially cal ...

, becoming the second classical musician of India after Ustad Bismillah Khan to receive the award.

Early life and education

Ballesh was born to Shehnai Samrat Pandit Sanna Bharamanna and Smt. Yellamma in M.K.Hubli,

Kittur Kittur, historically as Kittoor, is a ''taluka'' in the Belagavi district of the Indian state of Karnataka. It was part of Bailhongal taluka but was declared as an independent taluka on 23October 2012 by the Chief Minister of Karnataka on the ...

taluka, Belgaum district, Karnataka. Ballesh is from a family of well-known shehnai players from M. K. Hubli - tracing back to Court musicians to the ruling Lingaraja Dynasty, with a performance history of over 500 years. His great-grandfather Pandit Yamanappa Bhajantri was a shehnai player. His father and three (Paternal) uncles (father brothers) Pandit Dodda Bharamappa, Pandit Ramappa and Pandit Rudrappa were shehnai players. He started learning from his father, and later continued from his (uncle) father's elder brother Pandit Dodda Bharamanna and with musicians such as Dr. D.P. Hiremath (Kirana gharana), and Pt. Puttaraj Gawai (Gwalior gharana). He is a member of the Panchakshara Gawai brotherhood, and Sangit acharya Pandit Kodhanda Singh Salunke and Prakash Singh Salunke (Patiala gharana), besides the Ustad Bismillah Khan shehnai in (Benares gharana). Ballesh was then accepted by Ustad Bismillah Khan as his disciple, and as one of the five, and only surviving direct disciple, Khan Saab bestowed the title “Dakshina Bharat Bismillah Khan” on Pandit Ballesh. In a story told in several versions and interviews, Ustad Bismillah Khan once remarked that Ballesh was the "assurance for the future of Shehnai in Indian classical music".

Musical career

Shehnai

Ballesh can play various styles on the shehnai: aalaapi and aakaar like khayal singing,

jhala Jhala (Hindi: झाला, ) is a term in Hindustani classical music which denotes the fast-paced conclusions of classical compositions or raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisatio ...

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

and

sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...

, tatkar like

kathak Kathak ( hi, कथक; ur, کتھک) is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance from of Uttar Pradesh. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern Ind ...

dancers,

meend In Hindustani music, meend (Hindi: मीण्ड, ur, ) refers to a glide from one note to another. It is an essential performance practice, and is used often in vocal and instrumental music. On the veena, sitar, sarangi and other plucked str ...

and harquatts like

sarangi The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the ''serja'') – in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is ...

and

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, and continuity tones like bansuri. Ballesh and his son Krishna were accompanied by Ustad

Nazim Hussain Ustad Nazim Hussain is an Indian tabla player and popularly known as Ustad Nazim Hussain Bismillah Khan and also called as Nazim Bhai. He is the youngest son of shehnai master Ustad Bismillah Khan, whom he accompanied as well. Nazim Hussain has ...

, the younger son of Ustad Bismillah Khan, in various concerts with his tabla. He has also performed jugalbandis, along with sitarist Ustad

Shahid Parvez Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan (commonly known as Shahid Parvez, born 14 October 1954) is an Indian classical sitar maestro from the Imdadkhani gharana. He represents the seventh generation of the Etawah Gharana as its primary exponent. He is praise ...

, mohan veena player Pandit

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, professionally known as V. M. Bhatt (born 27 July 1950), is an Hindustani classical music instrumentalist who plays the Mohan veena ( slide guitar). Personal life Bhatt lives in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, with his wife and ...

and accompanied by tablist

Yogesh Samsi Pandit Yogesh Samsi (born 17 November 1968) is an Indian tabla player. Early life Yogesh Samsi was born in Delhi to renowned vocalist Pandit Dinkar Kaikini. Yogesh's father introduced him to music at the age of four. At the age of four he start ...

, Subhankar Banerjee.

Singing

Ballesh's singing style is inspired from Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan and Ustad Nazakat Ali Khan, Inspired by the ideals of his Guru Ustad Bismillah Khan and Pandit Puttaraja Gawai, Ballesh and his son Krishna Ballesh founded Tansen Academy of Music, a school of music, with his musical work continued by his three sons by Prakash, Krishna and Shivanand Ballesh.

Film music

Ballesh has been a musician for many music directors in

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Rajasthani Rajasthani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India * Rajasthani languages, a group of languages spoken there * Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the region * Rajasthani architecture * Rajasthani art ...

, and

Bhojpuri cinema Bhojpuri cinema is an Indian film industry of Bhojpuri-language motion pictures. It is based in western Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh with major production centres in Lucknow and Patna. Bhojpuri cinema is a major part of Bihari cinema. The f ...

, performing compositions by Naushad Ali, M. S. Viswanathan, G.K. Venkatesh, Ravindra Jain, Ravendra master, Ilaiyaraaja,

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

and M. M. Keeravani. He has sung and played shehnai for more than 9,000 movies background scores and 45,000 film songs in several languages, more than 50,000 devotional songs for several religions and languages, he has sung Hindustani music Alaaps for films, and had also collaborated on shehnai with international musicians and composers in recordings. 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. Ballesh played shehnai for the Hindi film '' Raanjhanaa'', with music by A.R. Rahman. He also played shehnai for the song "''The Dichotomy of Fame''" in Imtiaz Ali's 2011 Hindi film ''

Rockstar Rock Star or Rockstar may refer to: Films * ''Rock Star'' (2001 film), an American film starring Mark Wahlberg * ''Rockstar'' (2011 film), an Indian Hindi-language film by Imtiaz Ali * ''Rockstar'' (2015 film), an Indian Malayalam-language fi ...

'', with music by A.R. Rahman.

Awards and recognition

In 2019, Ballesh was conferred with Karnataka Kalashri (Karnataka State Sangeeta Nataka Akademi award), state's highest award given for a musician by Government of Karnataka for his contribution to Indian classical music by Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy In 2021, Ballesh and his son Krishna were conferred with Ustad Bismillah Khan Kala Ratna Samman (Joint Award) by India Tourism Varanasi,

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

and by Ustad Bismillah Khans family members. In 2020, Pandit Ballesh and his son Dr. Krishna Ballesh both were jointly conferred with

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

state's highest civilian honour, the

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of ...

(Joint) award, conferred by the Chief Minister. In 2022, he was awarded India's fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri in the field of Art, conferred by the

, on the eve of the 73rd

Other awards

Mirchi Music Awards ''Mirchi Music Awards'' are presented annually by ''Radio Mirchi'' to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film music industry of India. The awards, given in seventeen different categories, were in ...

, 2009, Jury Award for Outstanding contribution

Industry * Excellence Vocational Award 2011 by Dr. M.G.R. University, during 150th birth anniversary of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

. *

Sanaadi Appanna ''Sanaadi Appanna'' is a 1977 Indian Kannada-language musical film directed by Vijay based on the novel ''Kuniyitu Hejje Naliyithu Gejje'' by Krishnamoorthy Puranik which was loosely based on the life of Bagalkote shehnai player Appanna (1876- ...

Kalashree Puraskar, 2016 *

, 2016, Jury Award for Outstanding contribution

Industry * Bhimsen Samman International Award, Gadag 2017 joint award with Krishna Ballesh *

Zee Tamil Zee Tamil is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel started broadcasting on 2008 and is available internationally. The channel broadcasts from Guindy, Chennai, ...

Tv Excellence in Music Award 2019, *

Kittur Chennamma Kittur Chennamma (23 October 1778 – 21 February 1829) was the Indian Queen of Kittur, a former princely state in present-day Karnataka. She led an armed resistance against the British East India Company in 1824, in defiance of the Paramountcy ...

Memorial Award 2022, Karnataka State Government Award by Department of Kannada and Culture Belagavi *

Belawadi Mallamma Belawadi Mallamma (ಬೆಳವಡಿ ಮಲ್ಲಮ್ಮ) was a queen of Belawadi kingdom (''samshtana''). She is also credited with being the first queen in history who built and trained a women's army in the 17th century. She fought wa ...

Memorial Award 2022, Karnataka State Government Award under Department of Kannada and Culture Belagavi * Honorary

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

from

Bengaluru North University Bengaluru North University (BNU) is a state university located in Tamaka, near NH 75 in Kolar, Karnataka, India. The university was established in 2017 by the Government of Karnataka through the ''Karnataka State Universities (Amendment) Ac ...

Kolar Kolar or Kolara is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Kolar district. The city is known for its milk production and gold mines. It is also known for Someshwara temple and Kolaramma temple. History The Wes ...

2022.

Performances

In 2006, Ballesh and his son, Krishna Ballesh, played a musical tribute to Krishna Hangal, daughter of

Gangubai Hangal Gangubai Hangal (5 March 1913 – 21 July 2009) 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. Early life G ...

, at the presentation award ceremony for the first Krishna Hangal Memorial Award of the Hangal Music Foundation at the Sawai Gandharva Hall in Hubli. In 2015, Ballesh performed at the 140th Baba Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan that commenced at Shri Devi Talab Mandir, Jalandhar. In 2016, Ballesh and his son, Krishna, were invited by Executive President of the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal Pt Shrinivas Joshi to perform for the 100th birthday anniversary of their guru Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan in the 64th anniversary of the “ Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav” music festival in Pune founded by Bharat Ratna Pandit

Bhimsen Joshi Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi BR (; ; 4 February 1922 – 24 January 2011), 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 '' khay ...

World tour

Ballesh has conducted several music tours including at least one with the composer Ilaiyaraaja * 14th Edition Of Angelica, Festival Internazionale Di Musica, With The L'Altro Suono Festival, 2004, * Engeyum Eppothum Raja, Rogers Centre In

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Canada, 16 February 2013, * Engeyum Eppothum Raja, Newark, New Jersey, San Jose, Chicago, Los Angeles, California, Florida 23 February 2013, * “Raja The Raja” Concert, The O2 Arena In London On 24 August 2013, Live In London, * Ilaiyaraaja Live In Concert, USA Tour SanJosé, Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta & NewJersey, 2016, * King Of Kings - Singapore, Malaysia Tour, October 2017, * United States in Houston, Dallas, Chicago, San Jose, Connecticut, Washington D.C. and Toronto, March 2018, * Raaja Raajathaan, Australia Concert Series, 6 City Tour, * Ilaiyaraaja Live In Dubai, Sharjah, * Raaja The One-Man Show, Live In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, * Sydney Hillsong Convention Centre, Sydney, 11 August 2018, * Singapore Star Performing Arts Theatre, 18 August 2018.

India tour

* Raja's “Netru Indru Naalai”, Jaya TV, 16 October 2005, * Infotainment, Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad, On Saturday, 22 October 2005 * Endrendrum Raja, Jaya TV Concert, Chennai 28 December 28, 2011, * Bengaluru Ganesh Utsav, Bengaluru, 23 September 2012, * Ilaiyaraaja Live In Concert, Hyderabad, October 2017, * Isai Celebrates Isai, in EVP Grounds, Chennai, 76th Birthday Of Maestro, 2 June 2019 * Rajathi Raja, Codissia Grounds, Coimbatore, 9 June 2019.