Biography

Smita Bellur is a professional classical singer based out of the IT capital of India, Bangalore. She specialises in the field of traditional Sufi music and Hindustani classical khayal. She is also adept at other genres such as thumri, ghazal, chaiti and other semi-classical varieties. She has done collaborative work with playback for movies, fusion bands, and retro-hit film music. Having sung in LIVE concert at more than 350 venues ranging from Sufi and classical music festivals to fund raiser, corporate events, harmony gatherings and charity shows, she also performs at weddings and private HNI family functions, baithaks, and chamber music. Smita has three album releases to her credit – Kaisi Madhur Shyaam, Vachan Kirana, and Shareefara Pada. She is working on new musical productions and recordings of specialised ragas and Sufi music. She has won three awards for her contribution to the field of music – Sangeeta Shri 2007, Rotary Vocational Excellence Award 2010, and Dr Puttaraj Gawai Krupa Bhushana Prashasti. She regularly broadcasts as a graded artiste (B High) from All India Radio and Doordarshan, TV media networks and radio channels such as Zee, Doordarshan, TV9, ETV and Suvarna, and FM channels such as 92.7BIG FM, in addition to YouTube, Twaang, Soundcloud, and Facebook on the Internet. She is committed to regularly working with her music to support causes like fundraiser for Rotary’s End Polio mission (through an audio CD release), fundraiser for Shankara Cancer Foundation, songs for MNREGA propagation, etc. She also actively teaches in an online mode or face-to-face in the guru shishya parampara style and has taught for more than 1500 hours. Smita has earlier been a senior faculty at the Shankar Mahadevan Academy. In addition, she also works on a fellowship research project by government department – Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy.