Legendary Carnatic Musician Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna Passes Away

Chennai: Legendary carnatic musician and composer Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna passed away at his residence in Chennai here on Tuesday. He was 86.

He was ailing for sometime and was been treated at his home. He leaves behind his wife, four sons and two daughters.

Mangalamapalli Balamuralikrishna was a child prodigy who rose to become a musician of immense versatility in all fields and held sway over rasikas with his mesmerising voice and unique way of rendering compositions. With a voice magnificently rich and instantly recognisable, Balamuralikrishna, excelled not only as singer but left his imprint as a composer, poet, multi instrumentalist and innovator of ragas and taalas. Born on July 6, 1930, at Sankaraguptham in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh to musician parents Suryakantamma and Pattabiramaiah, he took the musical plunge at the tender age of six and became a composer when he was just 15.

The 86-year-old veteran, is a revered figure for lovers and students of Carnatic music. Scores of devotional songs sung in Telugu by Balamurali Krishna, especially the Kirthanas of Bhadrachala Ramadasu and Tallapaka Annamacharya, immortalised him among classical music lovers in Andhra Pradesh. It is no exaggeration that scores of people across Andhra Pradesh wake up in the morning listening to the Kirthanas sung by Balamurali Krishna as they are played in temples. Balamurali Krishna served as the ‘Aasthana Vidwamsa’ (court singer) of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam of Lord Venkateswara.

Initially christened 'Muralikrishna,' he earned his musical sobriquet 'Bala' after he performed a full concert at the age of eight. A multi-faceted personality, he enriched music not only with his voice but also by composing over 400 songs in various languages like Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada and Tamil. This included devotional to varnams, krithis, javalis and thillanas, in all the fundamental 72 melakartha ragas.

A crowd-puller in Carnatic music concerts, he starred in a number of films in Tamil and Telugu. He made his debut as an actor in Bhakta Prahalada in 1967. Balamuralikrishna was at ease with Hindustani music and had 'jugalbandis' with eminent exponents like Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Kishori Amonkar, Hariprasad Charasia, Pt Jasraj and Zakir Hussain.

The 86-year-old singer, writer and composer conducted research on the scientific aspects of music and its impact on various human organs and proved that music could be used as a therapy for wellness.

Balamuralikrishna was honoured with, among others, the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award. He was also a recipient of the prestigious French Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres title and is counted among one of the best in the field of Carnatic music. Besides numerous cities and towns in India, he gave concerts worldwide, including in the US, the UK, France, leaving audiences spellbound.

Multifaceted Musician: Balamuralikrishna also played various instruments like violin, veena and mridangam. He could also sing perfectly in three octaves. He made rich contribution to Indian classical music, especially sustained efforts towards resurrecting ragas which were not in vogue. He featured in the popular national integration song ‘Miley Sur Mera Tumhara’ in the '80s in which he sang Tamil lyrics. Gifted with a stentorian voice, he could sing perfectly in three octaves. He was not content with the fame and recognition gained by performing concerts and composed new raagas known as 'raganga ravali', 'lavangi', 'mahati' and 'manorama' and also taalas. Balamuralikrishna had carved a niche for himself in rendering the kirtana 'Nagumomu'.

Condolences pour in for Mangalampalli: Condolences are pouring in for carnatic music exponent Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna who passed away in Chennai here on Tuesday.

Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao expressed shock and grief over the sudden death of the musician. “He was an influential vocalist blessed with mesmerising and divine voice and a composer who had performed more than 20,000 concerts across the globe,” he said in a Raj Bhavan statement.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, state BJP president K Laxman and several other leaders condoled the death of veteran classical singer M Balamurali Krishna. “The country has lost a world-renowned personality and the void will be difficult to fill,” Narasimhan said in a condolence message.

Union Minister M Venkiah Naidu condoled Balamuralikrishna's death. A great loss to the Music World. India has lost legendary Carnatic Vocalist Shri Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, Naidu wrote on his Twitter page.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, composer A R Rahman and actor Dhanush condoled Dr Balamuralikrishna's death.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa expressed grief over the death of veteran Carnatic music exponent M Balamurali Krishna and said, “it is an irreparable loss to the field of music, cinema, fans and above all for me”.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Balamuralikrishna was 'an incomparable personality in contemporary Carnatic music' and his death was an 'irreparable loss' to the music world. The state is indebted to him for bringing into the limelight the various krities of Swati Tirunal, the erstwhile Maharajah of Travancore, by including them in his concerts and making them popular, he said.

YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said the death of carnatic music exponent Balamuralikrishna is an irreparable loss to the nation and music lovers in particular.