Mangalampally Balamurali Krishna
Dr. Mangalampally Balamurali Krishna is one of the few Carnatic
vocalists to have reached great heights in the realm of classical music with
little formal training. Born in 1930, this child prodigy is said to have had
only a brief period of training under Pasupathi Ramakrishnaiah Pantulu.
Balamurali shot into prominence through a performance at the
age of eight at a function in Vijayawada. Very soon, he was not only a master of
vocal music but was proficient in the viola, violin, mridangam and kanjira. In
1939, he did a concert programme for the All India Radio. It is a tribute to his
exceptional skills as a violinist that he has accompanied stalwarts such as
Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Ayyangar, Chembai Vaidyanatha
Bhagavathar and G. N. Balasubramaniam.
Music lovers of the fifties remember Balamurali's role in
the morning All India Radio devotional music programme, Bhakti Manjari. He made
a significant contribution to the classical and semi-classical music programmes
of All India Radio and Doordarshan as singer and producer. He has also
distinguished himself as a playback singer and composer in Telugu and Tamil
films.
Balamurali Krishna is blessed with a melodious voice which
charms listeners. He is unconventional and is known to try out nuances, having
evolved a style of his own. He has to his credit about 300 compositions
including several tillanas, many of which are very popular. He is also the
author of 72 melakartha-raga based songs in Telugu and Sanskrit bearing Murali
as his mudra.
Widely travelled, Balamurali Krishna has large numbers of
rasikas in the U.S., Europe and South-east Asia. He was principal of a music
college in Andhra Pradesh, and is closely associated with the Madras Telugu
Academy. The list of honours and titles conferred on him is long and impressive,
and includes Sangeetha Kalanidhi (awarded by the Madras Music Academy), the
Padma Vibushan and the Sangeet Natak Academy Award, among others. A colossal
number of Balamurali Krishna s recordings can be found on discs and cassettes
