Saturday, September 12, 2009

Balamuralikrishna

When music flows from Balamuralikrishna, you can realise what the crazy gopi-s felt in their ecstasy of Divine Love. To be born with music in his heart, to hold a recital at a tender age of only eight-deepavalis, to be at once a master in many instruments, apart from his unfailing purity of voice, tala and raga; these are indeed preciously rare in one single person unless he is a genius [Swami Chinmayananda].

Balamuralikrishna is truly the "Monarch of Carnatic Music"; he is reckoned to the “Bhishma Pitamaha” of classical music. He is the foremost authority on music theory; an encyclopedia in the intricate world of raga and tala. Film music directors love to confer with him; the purists delight in listening to his concerts and expositions, and the rasikas can’t have enough of him.

Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna is an able composer, singer, poet and instrumentalist who can sing perfectly in three octaves. He was born on 6th October, 1930 in Sankaraguptam in Andhra Pradesh. He was named Murali Krishnan by his father. The prefix Bala was given by a Hari Katha performer Musunuri Satyanarayana and thereafter he came to be known as Balamuralikrishna.

As a young boy of five, Balamuralikrishna had started to give musical concerts. His brilliant voice gained him instant fame and recognition. He was touted as a child prodigy who perfected almost every song and tune. His father Pattabiramayya, a very popular musician himself, perfected the Flute, Veena and Violin. His mother played the Veena and so he was born into a very musical family. Balamurali is the only musician ever to be honoured with All India Radio's "Top Grade" for seven different performance areas; as an instrumentalist he plays violin, viola, khanjira, veena, mridangam and other instruments. He is also the only musician ever to win National Awards in India for classical music, music direction and film playback singing.

His rich and electrifying voice, an innate ability to communicate emotions and ease in traversing the three octaves have mesmerized connoisseur and commoner alike for over six decades. His music combines a charmingly deep voice, effortless control, extraordinary musical knowledge, spontaneous on-stage musical originality and an accurate rendition of lyrics. He belongs to that rare breed of Carnatic musicians who remain popular with laypersons without diluting the classicism inherent in the ancient art form. His rendition of some of Saint Thyagaraja's kritis is spiritually uplifting.

Dr Balamuralikrishna is a highly original composer who has composed over 400 compositions – kritis, varnams, tillanas - in various languages like Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu. His greatest achievements are the compositions in all the fundamental 72 melakartha ragas. He started composing right from when he was fourteenth years old. These compositions are a blend of the intellectual, with highly complex rhythmic and lyrical patterns, and instantly appealing too. One of his publications 'Janaka Raga Kriti Manjari', a music text, serves as a reference to connoisseurs and students alike. He also has the distinction of having discovered many ragas and composing in them. He is also known for popularizing the compositions of Sri Bhadrachala Ramadasa and Sri Annamacharya.

He has collaborated with the top musicians in the Hindustani circle and is known to be the first to start the jugulbandi type of concerts accompanying artists like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Hariprasad Chaurasia and Kishori Amonkar among others.

The musical genius Dr Balamuralikrishna has won many awards and accolades. Be it the Sangeetha Kalanidhi , Nada Maharishi, Gandharva Gana Samrat, Jnanasagara, The Musician of the Century, to name a few. He was also conferred with National awards the Padmashree, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. He is also the only Carnatic musician to have won Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Government.

Jayalalitha while felicitating him on being conferred the French honour said,” It is my firm conviction that Mr. Balamuralikrishna deserves no less than the Bharat Ratna. By conferring the award on him, "India will only be honouring herself."

Referring to Mr. Balamuralikrishna's rendition of a new raga, "Jaya Jaya Lalithe," which he composed and dedicated to her, she spoke of being reborn as his disciple, "I would like to learn Carnatic music under his tutelage and become such a great singer that my Guru will say `sabhash' after hearing me sing,”.

He has recently become increasingly interested in music therapy, and now performs occasionally. He established the 'MBK Trust' with the objective of developing art and culture and for carrying out extensive research into Music Therapy.



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