Pandit Dr. S. BALLESH BHAJANTRI     

Shehnai in Popular Music 

 

POPULAR MUSICAL COLLABORATIONS :

                  Pt Ballesh & and his son Dr. Krishna Ballesh (father+son) duo played Shehnai in the Hollywood movies (International English Movies) “The Hundred Foot Journey -2014” for the track “India Calling” and he has also worked for many background scores for several Hollywood movies named “Blinded by the Light - 2019, Viceroy's House - 2017, Pelé: Birth of a Legend - 2016, The Hundred Foot Journey - 2014, Million Dollar Arm - 2014, People Like Us – 2012, 127 Hours - 2010, Couples Retreat – 2009” for A.R. Rahman. He had collaborated  Shehnai  with Hungarian musicians in several recordings, albums, live in concerts in India and Abroad for Maestro Illayaraaja and has worked with Chicago Symphony Orchestra (USA), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Austria), Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Canada), Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Hungary.

 

                  He played Shehnai in ‘Rockstar’  Bollywood movie, for the track titled ”The Dichotomy of fame“. Few more prominent tracks are "Ye Jo Des HaiTera'' song from the movie “Swades”, Raanjhanaa movie, "Hamma Hamma” song and He has sung Hindustani Alaap with AR. Rahman in “ Kannaalanae / Kehna Hi Kya '' song from the movie “Bombay” for A.R. Rahman.

 

                  He has played for many movies of KarnatakaRatna Dr. Rajkumar and also played for M.M. Keeravani for Baahubali movie, In  Baahubali Part 1 and 2, He has sung and played Shehnai in Songs and Background Score. The pathos-romantic Shehnai bits of Ilaiyaraaja  music like “SundariKannal OruSethi” and “Rakkamma Kaiya  Thattu” the fourth most popular song in “BBC World Service” worldwide in 2012, song from the movie “ Thalapathi ”,  “ Alapol Velapol” song from actor superstar Rajnikanth “Yejaman'', He has sung Hindustani Alaap with K.J. Yesudas and S. Janaki for world famous song “Enthan Nenjil Neengatha Thendral Neethana'' for World SuperHero Kamal Haasan music by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, “Gurucharanam Saranam” song from the movie “Guru 1997” and also for background score of the movie for Malayalam superstar Mohanlal were played by PtBallesh with Hungarian Solo musicians of Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Hungary,  music by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja. This was the first time in the history of Indian cinema. He has also worked with film music directors across India.

 

IN KANNADA FILM MUSIC INDUSTRY :

He has worked with G.K. Venkatesh , Hamsalekha , UpendraKumar , Rajan-Nagendra, M.RangaRao, C. Aswath, Vijaya Bhaskar , V.Manohar, L. Vaidyanathan , Mano Murthy etc.,

 

IN BOLLYWOOD FILM MUSIC INDUSTRY :

He has worked with O.P.Nayyar , Naushad Ali , Laxmikant Pyarelal, Ravindra Jain, Jatin-Lalit, Kalyanji Anandji, Anand-Milind , R.D. Burman , Kailash Kher etc.,

 

IN TAMIL FILM MUSIC INDUSTRY :

He has worked with KV Mahadevan, M.S. Viswanathan,  Ilaiyaraaja , Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, Sankar Ganesh, Deva, A. R. Rahman, Vidyasagar, S.A. Rajkumar, Drums Sivamani etc., 

 

IN TELUGU FILM MUSIC INDUSTRY :

He has worked with Chellapilla Satyam, Chakri (composer), Chakravarthy, MM. Keeravani, Mani Sarma, Vande Mataram, Raj-Koti & SP.Balasubrahmanyam etc.,

 

IN MALAYALAM FILM MUSIC INDUSTRY :

He has worked with V. Dakshinamoorthy, Raveendran Master, G. Devarajan master, Shyam Joseph (composer), S. P. Venkatesh & M. Jayachandran etc.,