Gosaveedu Shaik Hassan

Gosaveedu Shaik Hassan Sahieb was a nadaswaram player and Carnatic vocalist, and the first asthana vidwan, or resident musician, of the Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy temple at Bhadrachalam. He was named for the Padma Shri posthumously in 2022 in the field of art, from Andhra Pradesh ^[1].

Music from the age of eight

Hassan was born on 1 January 1928 at Gosaveedu in Krishna district ^[2]. He began playing the nadaswaram at eight, learning from several teachers, and studied vocal music with Mangalampalli Pattabhiramayya ^[2]. Between 1940 and 1947 he also took part in the freedom movement ^[2].

Forty-six years at Bhadrachalam

He served as the Bhadrachalam temple’s resident nadaswaram artist from 1950 to 1996, playing to wake the deity in the morning and to lull him to rest at night ^[2]. He also played at major temples including Tirumala, the Kanakadurga temple in Vijayawada and the Lakshmi Narasimha temple at Yadagirigutta, and performed on radio and television ^[2].

Over more than 80 years in music he taught hundreds of students, many of whom became temple musicians and some of whom earned doctorates, and he served on panels selecting temple nadaswaram players ^[2]. He received the Tyagaraja Puraskar in 2007 and was honoured twice by chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh ^[2]. He died on 23 June 2021 ^[2].