It is Not Frequent That a Nation Discovers a Balamuralikrishna in its History !

Life Insperia

“It is not frequent that a nation discovers a Balamuralikrishna in its history”.

– These are the words of Swami Chinmayananda.

Not everyone among the performing artistes is fortunate enough to become a legend in his or her lifetime, but this rare distinction has come to stay in the case of Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna, who is rightly regarded as the best exponent of South Indian classical music for over six decades now. No wonder, a road in Vijayawada has been named after him by the local corporation and he has been honoured as Honorary First Citizen of Vijayawada and handed over the Golden Key. A Kalyana Mandapam has been constructed in his name in Visakhapatnam. He is a fifth generation descendant in the guru Sishya Parampara (Hierarchy of disciples) of saint composer Shri Thyagaraja. He was a child prodigy born to musician parents Smt.Suryakanthamma and Shri.Pattabhiramayya becoming a versatile, popular vocalist and composer at the young age of fifteen years itself. At the tender age of sixteen, he composed songs in all the seventy two Melakartha ragas, considered the very foundation of our music and perhaps all other music on earth.

Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna was born at Sankaraguptham in Andhra Pradesh and is endowed with the ability of being an accomplished instrumentalist in addition to being a vocalist. He plays Violin, Viola, Ganjira, Veena and Mridangam with equal ease. He has 400 compositions to his credit including Varnams, Krithis, Havalis, Devotional songs and Thillanas.

Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna also did a comparative study of ragas in film music and classical music and presented the same in Doordarshan. Being the first producer in All India Radio, he is also known for pioneering early morning broadcasting called ‘Bhakthi Ranjani’. He was the first principal of Government Music College, Vijayawada besides having sung in various languages including Tamil, Oriya, Marathi, Telegu, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and French. He is the state musician of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Asthana Vidwan of Sringeri Peetam and Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam. He is the member, Expert Advisory Committee, Music Academy, Executive Committee Member, Kalakshetra Foundation, ICCR and Central Sangeeth Natak Academy.

 

In fact it is very difficult to find words to express in exact terms Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna’s rich contribution to the Indian classical music, especially his sustained efforts that were responsible for resurrecting ragas which were not in vogue like Narthaki, Sunadavinodini etc., besides creating new ragas like Lavangi, Mahathi, Manorama, Murali, Omkari, Prathimadhyamavathi, Rohini, Saravashree, Sumukham, Sushma, Ganapathi, Siddhi, Pushkara Godvari etc., He is also credited with innovating Tala Systems. He has also presented Rabindra Sangeeth for preservation for future by All India Radio.

The magnetic capacity of his voice and music saw crowd puller towards Jugal Bandhis he performed with renowned vocalists and instrumentalists of North Indian classical music and helped in bringing about an understanding of National Integration through music.

To record and print all his creations to preserve for posterity, a Trust by name VIPANCHEE has been created and the work is in progress under the direction of chairperson Kalaimamani Dr.Saraswathi, a versatile artiste.

Balamuralikrishna died at his residence in Chennai on 22 November 2016; he was 86. Balamuralikrishna is survived by his wife, three daughters, and three sons who are all Doctors.

Awards

Honors

Titles

Source : http://www.vipanchee.com/index.html

 

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