Balwantrai Bhatt Biography 
Balwantrai Bhatt was a noted Indian composer and musician of Hindustani Vocal Music, who lived during the period, 23 September 1921 – 2 May 2016. He hailed from Bhavnagar, Gujarat, and was fondly called Bhavrang. Bhatt was a disciple of Pandit Omkarnath Thakur of Gwalior Gharana. He owned many disciples, and also mentored vocalists like Veena Sahasrabuddhe who went on to become prominent names in Hindustani music. He set up Kala Sangeet Bharati aside his guru Pandit Omkarnath Thakur in BHU and taught there for 3 decades. He also edited the Sangeetanjali series of books written by his guru. Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1990 and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2004 are the major honours received by him.
Balwantrai Bhatt was born in Bhavnagar, Gujarat on 23 September 1921. Harkunvar Bhatt and Gulabrai Bhatt were his parents. He took advanced learning in Hindustani music under the guidance of legendary artist Pandit Omkarnath Thakur. In 1950, he moved to Varanasi with his mentor. They also started a music school named Kala Sangeet Bharati at the Banaras Hindu University. Apart from it he taught at BHU for 30 years. He slowly groomed the institute to a leading music school, which worked within the university premises.
His penname was Bhavrang. He was a recipient of Kalidas Samman in the year 2008. He earned fame as a vocalist, performer, composer as well as educator. He was considered a complete Vaggeyakaar, one who composes both Vak and the Geya. Vak means sentence and Geya means singable. Many of his compositions incorporate intricate laya patterns. Damodar Hota, Veena Sahasrabuddhe and Prof. Chittaranjan Jyotishi are among his prominent students. He passed away one month prior to the death of his student Veena Sahasrabuddhe who died in her late 50s.
Published: January 05, 2020
Updated: January 05, 2020
