Vidwan Ballary M Raghavendra () is a Carnatic vocalist from Karnataka. He has a bachelor's degree in commerce and also a master's degree in music from Bangalore University. He has served in various capacities across multiple All India Radio stations in Karnataka. Initially joining as a program executive, he later went on to become the Assistant Station Director in AIR. He had the rare privilege of being an A grade artist in devotional and light classical forms of music apart from Carnatic classical music. He is popularly known for delivering music compositions with lyrical clarity, emotion and good use of rhythmic patterns After his retirement from AIR, he is currently living in Mysore.
Lineage
Vidwan Ballary M Raghavendra was born in Hospet, Ballary, Karnataka on 23 April 1958. He hails from a family of Carnatic musicians going back many generations.
Haridasa Tradition
His grandfather Ballary 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 Mundragi village of Gadag district. Later Raghavendrachar left Mundragi village and settled in Ballary. Raghavendrachar 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). He is supposed to have given vocal lessons to Puttaraj Gawai
Ballary Brothers: Popularising Carnatic Music in early 50's & 60's
Raghavendra's father, Vidwan Ballary. M. Venkatesh Achar was a carnatic classical vocalist and his uncle Ballary M Sheshagiri Achar was a Vaggeyakara (composer of lyrics and music). His uncle and father were known as 'Ballary Brothers' and performed in most parts of India during the 1950s and 1960s. Ballary 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 Ballary 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.
Continuing the tradition
Raghavendra's family members have continued the tradition of promoting Carnatic classical music. His sister Shrimati Vani Sateesh is 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 Ballary M Raghavendra.
Musical training
Raghavendra's initial training was under the tutelage of his uncle Ballary M. Sheshagiri Achar who went on to create 400 kritis. He was also greatly influenced by his father Ballary M. Venkatesh Achar. Raghavendra considers himself lucky that he had two gurus who constantly took him on the right path. In contrast, the opportunities for Ballary Brothers were limited when they were trying to establish themselves.
Musical performance
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. Popular singer Vijay Prakash of "Jai Ho" (song) fame is known to have learnt Carnatic music under Raghavendra while he was in Mysore.