Background and History

Dr Havaldar hails from a family of artistes. Both his parents sing devotional music in a traditional way. His elder brother also is a singer, a painter, and a professor of history.

Fortune chose Dr Havaldar for a methodical traditional training in Hindustani Classical Music. From childhod he was attracted by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and his songs which were rendered in Kannada films. As a student in the college he was a member of the local orchestra group, where he had the chance of learning intruments like guitar, drums and so on.

When he went to Dharwad for his post graduation in History and Archeology, there he discovered a new world and ocean of music. His command on guitar guided him to choose the sitar for his classical expression, but soon his sitar teacher Ustad Bale Khan after hearing him sing, immediately suggested that he should take up vocal music.

Student Days

During his student days he would compose tunes to kannada poetry and render it in youth festivals and other competitions which used to win him many prizes. The beauty of this was even without knowing the name of the raga most of the tunes made by him had a strong footing in classical ragas.

During his post-graduation a set of senior students looked down upon Dr Havaldar and probed him to take up the traditional traning more seriously. As a result he gave up guitaring and playing in the orchestra which used to fetch him a decent pocket money and embraced classical music with single minded devotion.

After completion of one year of his post graduation, he joined Sangeetaratna - a six year diploma course in hindustani classical music. Legendary Pandit Mallikajurn Mansoor who was the head of the department of music took keen interest in the students. The department had luminaries like Pt. Panchakashari Swami Matti Gatti, Pt. Raj Guru, Pt. Sangameshwar Gurav, DR. B.D. Pathak as faculty members. While completing masters degree in history and sangeetaratna, he had also started to learn from Pt. Madhavgudi, the prime disciple of Pt. Bhim Sen Joshi. Intense training and Passion ruled the formative days of his career.

His post-graduation was completed in 1981, in 1984 he married and by 1986 he completed Sangeetaratna and also obtained his doctorate in 1987.

Career

While working in the Music Archives at Hubli for 2 years, he had a chance of listening to great masters like Ustad Bismallah Khan, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbhar Khan, Gangubai Hangal, Bhimsen Joshi, Kumar Gandharva and others. This went a long way in shaping his musical thoughts and skills. The day in the archives began at 10 am-5pm, listening to a maestro's performance which would have been 20-30 years ago and live concerts going for about 3-4 hours contaning only 2 ragas. The detailed treatment and aesthetic delineation of the raga by those maestros was etched deep down in his sub-conscious memory, which blossoms in his musical rendition.

Youth Programme with All India Radio: His short stay in All India Radio as a programme executive (1988-1991), made him more determined to take to music full time, as a way of life rather than being a half-time officer and a part-time musician.

The voluntary exit from All India Radio threw Dr. Havaldar open to the challenges of musical and mundane problems. He started teaching a handful of students while continuing his own learning from his gurus. The concerts both in and outside Bangalore for various cultural and religious origanizations, slowly but surely showed him the path of success. He also got many offers to teach in institutions, their curriculum being exam-oriented, which he politely refused.

Once Dr. Havaldar performed in an industrialists house. The guests gathered there were bewitched by his music. After the concert a gentleman asked him : What is your specialization as a doctor ? .
The artist politely replied : I am a musician.
The gentleman impatiently said : Yes I know that, but what do you do as a doctor ?.
Panditji replied : I hold a doctorate in music, I am not a doctor of medicine.
The next question was more direct : But what do you do for your day-to-day meal, how do you earn your livelihood ? .
Dr. Havaldar contiued in the same polite tone : Music is my way of life.
The gentleman was unable to believe that music could earn a honorouble decent living.