Journalism of Courage
Vocalist Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, eminent Indian Carnatic vocalist and mutli-instrumentalist, passed away on November 22, 2016. The veteran, who was 86 years old, was awarded the Padma Vibhushan — India’s second-highest civilian honour in 1991, other than countless other honours for his contribution towards Indian art and music. His compositions include devotional thillans, javalis, krithis and varnams in all the the 72 fundamental melakartha ragas. He made his acting debut with Bhakta Prahlada in 1967, and even composed the music for the first Sanskrit film Adi Shankaracharya. Balamuralikrishna was made Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2005.
The legend's popular composition "Mile Sur Mera Tumhaara", among others will continue to stir our souls as they have all these years. Click through to know more about the legacy of M Balamuralikrishna. (Express archive photo)
His works include those in languages like Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Sanskrit and Punjabi, in addition to his native language Telugu. (Express archive photo)
(in pic) Dr M Balamuralikrishna releasing Venana Satham twin Cassettee. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honour, for his valuable contribution to Indian art and music. (Express archive photo)
Balamuralikrishna, internationally acclaimed vocalist, was reportedly just nine years old when he started his career. He had given about 25,000 and more concerts across the world and also popularly gave jugalbandi performances with Kishori Amonkar and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, among others. (Express archive photo)
He was involved in music therapy and established the MBK trust, the objective of which was researching music therapy extensively and developing arts and culture. (Express archive photo)
A child prodigy from Andhra Pradesh’s Sankaraguptam, Balamuralikrishna is said to be the fifth-generation descendant of saint-composer Thyagaraja in the guru-shishya parampara. (Express archive photo)
In a musical career that spans his entire lifetime, Balamuralikrishna’s singing appealed to connoisseurs and laymen alike, which is well portrayed by the popularity of his film music and the iconic song Mile Sur Mera Tumhara (in which he joined a gamut of singers such as Bhimsen Joshi and LataMangeshkar) as well as ability to span the three octaves with deceptive ease. (Express archive photo)
Born on July 6, 1930, Balamuralikrishna was the son of a highly skilled musician-couple. Sound and rhythm, therefore, reverberated within the walls of his home and permeated into his entire sense of being. Over the course of his career, he went on to perform in over 18,000 concerts. (Express archive photo)
When Balamuralikrishna was in sixth grade, he abandoned formal education and left school to ambitiously and uninhibitedly pursue his musical career. By the time he turned 15, he was heralded as a force to reckon with, known throughout the country for his inimitable skills and having composed 72 melakarta ragas. (Express archive photo)
A deft instrumentalist, Balamuralikrishna mastered the veena, violin, mridangam and kanjira, among other instruments with phenomenal ease. His staggering repertoire includes 400 compositions, featuring devotional songs, varnams and krithis. (Express archive photo)
Balamuralikrishna released over 250 cassettes that featured his works. Steering the helm as a producer at the All India Radio stationed in Hyderabad, the maestro also launched ‘Bhakthi Ranjani’, devotional readings that were aired every day early morning. (Express archive photo)
One of the most inspiring ideologies by the maestro was by A Prasanna Kumar, director of Centre for Policy Studies, in an article in The Hindu, in which he said, "One of the beautiful quotes I have read of the Carnatic music maestro is -- I breathe music, think music, talk music and music is my energy and I am an instrument of music". (Express archive photo)
In an interview with The Indian Express, Balamuralikrishna said, "I like to sing my own creations. There is a different level of innovation that one can do with one's own compositions. That's exciting. I'm still learning and shall remain a student all my life. I don't sing. My music sings. It just comes to me and I become an instrument for it." (Express archive photo)
As soon as news of his passing away was known, many musicians, actors, politicians and his followers took to Twitter and other social media sites to express their sorrow. "A deep void in music today," tweeted singer Shweta Pandit, and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, "India loses a true legend . Veteran Carnatic musician M Bala Murali Krishna's music will live forever." (Express archive photo)
