Raghavendran Rajasekaran, born 6 May 1988, professionally referred to as ''Ragha'', is a classical

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

based in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Trained in the traditional Indian ''baani'', he also performs Western music and experiments with different genres of music.

Early life

Ragha was born in Singapore on 6 May 1988, to Smt. Nalini Rajasekaran and Sri Rajasekaran. He has two siblings. At the age of 11, Ragha started his musical journey with the classical Indian flute under the tutelage of Ghanavenothan Rethnam, who is his

guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

to date. He also had special training from Trichy L. Saravanan and Pt.

Ronu Majumdar Ronu Majumdar is an Indian flautist (Bansuri player) in the Hindustani classical music tradition. Early life Ronu Majumdar was born in Benares. His father was a homeopathic doctor, oil painter, and amateur flautist who took lessons from Pandit ...

, with a scholarship from the National Arts Council of Singapore. Ragha graduated in music from Lasalle College of Arts and Music, Singapore, with a major in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

music trained under Tim O'Dwyer.

Performances and accolades

Ragha has given performances in art

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

s held in Singapore's Signature Parade, the Chingay, Short and Sweet Festival, Pesta Raya, Kala Utsav, Fusion Beats, OCBC Theatre Festival, Heritage Festival, LoudFest, World Beats Festival, Mosaic, FlipSide Festival, Gilles Peterson's World Wide Festival, World Beats (Republic Poly), LoudFest as well as the internationally acclaimed St. Patrick's Day event and the World Folk Song Festival 2008 (Beijing) and Yogyakarta

Gamelan Gamelan (; ; , ; ) is the traditional musical ensemble, ensemble music of the Javanese people, Javanese, Sundanese people, Sundanese, and Balinese people, Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussion instrument, per ...

Festival 2008 (Indonesia). He has recorded and performed with Singapore's World Renowned percussion outfit Wicked Aura's Debut album (Louder than Light), Gammarays' Debut

Album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

(On the Dance Floor), Johor Bahru's band Manmatha's Second

, PaperCitizens' (Monster's in Silence) and RUDRA. Some of his accomplishments are: *Awarded "Bright Young Things" in a selection of 10 out of 50 participants by the Esplanade Singapore 2010. *With his participation, the ensemble (Swathi) clinched the 2nd Runner's Up Award at the Singapore National Indian Music Competition 2006. *Winner of the Open Flute Category of the National Indian Music Competition 2011 organised by the Singapore National Arts Council. *Represented Singapore in the Asean Youth Camp 2007. *Received a grant of 1500 SGD from Singapore National Arts Council for Arts Professional Development. *Received a grant of 6000 SGD from Singapore National Arts Council as part of Presentation and Promotion Grant. *Received a grant of 1500 SGD from Singapore National Arts Council as part of Arts Professional Development Grant to learn flute from Sri.Ravichandra Kulur in India in March 2013. In July 2013, he was chosen as an inspirational youth of Singapore and an interview featuring him was telecast in

Vasantham ''Vasantam'' () is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language drama film written and directed by Vikraman. Produced by N. V. Prasad and Sanam Naga Ashok Kumar, the film starred Venkatesh, Arti Agarwal, and Kalyani. The music was composed by S. A. Rajkum ...

television in Paadangal program.

Bands and music affiliations

*Ragha is actively engaged in ''Swathi'', the Nrityalaya Art Academy's youth classical ensemble. *He is a part of ''Gammarays'', the contemporary ensemble formed by Gamelan Asmaradana which focuses on genres like

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

. *''Tigaia'', A Malay word for "three races", is a world music ensemble formed by him along with his friends Ms.Serene Tan and Mr. Joseph Chian focusing on Arts Education and Enrichment. They often give free performances to a full-packed audience, at Esplanande Concourse, Singapore. He has also composed a modern piece called ''Song of

Gendèr A gendèr is a type of metallophone used in Balinese and Javanese gamelan music. It consists of 10 to 14 tuned metal bars suspended over a tuned resonator of bamboo or metal, which are tapped with a mallet made of wooden disks (Bali) or a padd ...

'' for the same. *'' TisraRoopaSangeeth'' is an Indian Classical Trio based on modern thematic original Compositions and interpretations, performed both in Singapore and Abroad. It is the brainchild of Ragha, along with Mr. Kumaran in percussion and Mr. Narayanan in Violin.

Personal life

Apart from being a musician, Ragha has served in the

Singapore Police Force The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is the national and principal Police, law enforcement agency responsible for the prevention of crime and law enforcement in the Republic of Singapore. It is the country's lead agency against organised crime; hum ...

as Special Constable Sergeant during his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

. He also instructs several students in Singapore and

Johor Bahru Johor Bahru, abbreviated as JB, is the capital city of the Malaysian state of Johor. It is the core city of Johor Bahru District, Malaysia's second-largest district by population and the second-largest district economy. Covering an area of ...

. He is a devout

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and has performed in several temple functions in Singapore and abroad.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rajasekaran, Raghavendran 1988 births Living people Singaporean flautists Bansuri players Tamil musicians Venu players Singaporean police officers