Bellary M Raghavendra

Lineage

Vidwan Bellary M Raghavendra was born in Hospet, Bellary, Karnataka on 23 April 1958. He hails from a family of Carnatic musicians going back many generations. His grandfather Bellary Mundrigi Raghavendrachar belonged to Haridasa tradition of Vijaya Dasa, a prominent Haridasa of Karnataka. The father of Raghavendrachar was Narasimhachar, grand father was Venkannachar. They were basically from the Mundaragi village of Gadag district. Later Raghavendrachar left Mundaragi village and settled in Bellary. He was a musician well versed in many disciplines of music and was a professor of music at Queen Mary college in Chennai (contemporary of Prof P. Sambamurthy). Raghavendra’s grandfather Mundrigi Raghavendrachar is supposed to have given vocal lessons to Puttaraj Gavai

His father, Vidwan Bellary. M. Venkateshachar is a carnatic classical vocalist and his uncle Bellary M Sheshagiri Achar was a Vaggeyakara (composer of lyrics and music). His uncle and father were known as 'Bellary Brothers' and performed in most parts in India during the 1950s and 1960s. Bellary Brothers were accompanied in numerous concerts by stalwarts such as Palghat Mani Iyer, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Palghat R. Raghu, T. K. Murthy, M. S. Gopalakrishnan, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, T. N. Krishnan, Karaikudi Mani etc. His father Sri Bellary M Venkateshachar has been conferred with 'Sangeeta Vidyanidhi' award from Mysore JSS Sangeeta Sabha, 'Ashthana Vidwan' award from Shri Ganapathi Sacchidananda Ashrama`s avadhoota datta peetha, 'Karnataka Kalashri' award from Karnataka state sangeeta nritya academy.

His sister Vani Sateesh is also a prominent Carnatic vocalist, who had given her first concert at the age of 10. She is "A" grade artist of All India Radio in Carnatic Classical Vocal. Vani's core strength and love has always been bhakti and singing compositions filled with bhakti rasa. Vani was in the US after her marriage and started performing extensively outside of India. Since mid-90s, Vani has performed in various reputed Sabhas in US and India. Vani Sateesh is a regular performer for both All India Radio, Doordarshan and various TV Channels. Vani has also had her initial music training from her brother Sri Bellary M Raghavendra.

Music training

Raghavendra`s initial training was under the tutelage of his uncle Bellary M. Sheshagiri Achar who went on to create 400 kritis. He was also greatly influenced by his father Bellary M. Venkateshachar. Raghavendra considers himself lucky that he had two gurus who constantly took him on the right path. In contrast, the opportunities for Bellary Brothers were limited when they were trying to establish themselves.

My gurus would run to a hotel everyday to listen to the radio airing classical music. It mirrors their extraordinary focus and commitment. Today we have everything so easy, but still we pale in front of these doyens!

Performer

Raghavendra started giving stage performances at a very young age. He gave his first stage performance at the age of 9 years. Raghavendra has produced many music-based programmes such as Aaswaada (on music appreciation), Swarasangama (on teaching music) and many other musical features, which are highly popular among the music-lovers and general public. Raghavendra is a dedicated music teacher who has a rare ability to identify and groom music students based on their individual strengths. In addition to being a vocalist, he is well versed in Konnakol and Morsing. He has learnt Hindustani music and also performed jugalbandis with eminent Hindustani vocalists. Raghavendra has presented numerous illustrative talks and demonstrations on music. He has toured Europe and Canada along with TAS Mani Ensemble. He has been very successful in establishing and promoting classical music in remote areas of Karnataka where the classical form of music was non-existent.

Vishesha Fine Arts a not-for-profit charitable trust is run under the guidance of Artists like Vani Sateesh, Mysore M. Nagaraj, Mysore M. Nagaraj, painters B.K.S. Varma, G.N. Seetharamiah and Sri Bellary M Raghavendra. It is started with an intention to provide Fine arts education in schools; bringing rare concerts to the public; and recognizing the efforts of individuals striving to propagate music in society. An annual event called Vishesha Utsava is also conducted under the banner of Vishesha Fine Arts where various artists render their performance. The organization was inaugurated on 29 January 2011 and Sri Mysore Sateesh is the trustee of this organization.

Music style

Traditions in rendering and concert packaging were passed on quite well to Raghavendra. Bellary school of Music has the rare distinction of nurturing pathantara of time-honoured clarity, a technique that gathered fine distinctions and gradations with the influence of approaches from the Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and interior Andhra music schools. Another style of the Bellary school of Music is, the raga taken up for the warm-up varna would be there for raga tana pallavi. Taking off a piece from anupallavi is yet another style of the Bellary school of Music.