"Music when it flows from Balamuralikrishna, you can realise what the crazy gopi's must have felt in their exstacy of devine love. To be born with music in his heart ,to hold a recital at the tender age of just eight to be at once a master in many instruments apart from his unfailing pure voice,taal and raag, all these are indeed preciously rare in a single person unless he is a great genius"These are the words of swami Chinmayananda.
I have been listening to him right from my childhood and have never missed a single concert of his in Delhi.I cannot think of anything more spiritually uplifting than the divine convergence of the great poet Jayadeva's Gitagovindam and the magnetic voice of Balamurali.And if you are an ardent devotee of that Balamurali of GOKUL and a fan of this one from Shankaraguptam you are in for absolute bliss.
Sangeeta kalanidhi Padmavibhushan Dr.M Balamuralikrishna is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated, most versatile and perhaps the most' controversial 'classical vocalist of recent times. He was born in a small village, Shankaraguptam in Andhra Pradesh in 1938.Both his parents were noted musicians.In the Guru Shishya parampara he is fifth in the line of direct disciples of saint Tyagaraja.He gave his first fullfledged performance at Vijayawada at the age of eight! When he ws barely 14 he composed 'Raganga ravali' a detailed work on the seventy two melakarta scheme.
During my chilhood I used to listen to carnatic masters but mostly the sahitya was lost in their singing.I was instantly attracted to this new singer whose enunciation of sahitya is crystal clear and I got a feeling that he understands the bhaava of the sahitya which made all the difference.
Another difference is the way he relates to the audience.Most classical singers put on a serious posture and never even smile;you dont find them happy or cheerful.Some of them go through the wellstructured concert like a ritual from start to finish.In stark contrast Balamurali sings with an infectious happiness right from the first note.He has a mesmerising effect on the audience.His hallmark is his vibrant,wide ranging and magnetic voice over which he has perfect control in all the three octaves.
Balamurali has performed in almost all countries and has given eighteen thousand performances!He has released more than 250 albums which is a record for a classical singer..
Controversies always closely followed him.He was criticised for experimenting with carnatic music which is as sacred as religion for most tradtional musicians.For them this was nothing short of blasphemy.He was also criticised for diluting classical music.The tradionalists labelled his music as a light music.But the critics were soon silenced by his popularity and international acceptance.
Balamurali has created a number of new ragas like mahati, sarvashri,lavangi, vallabhi etc.Recently he was asked by an admirer whether he intends to create more ragas.His answer was that ragas are not 'created 'but they just happen somewhere along the journey of music.
I consider Balamurali"s renditions of ashtapadi's as his greatest contribution to music.I have listened to ashtapadis sung by many from both the streams of music.But nobody has come anywhere closer to him.I have listened to his 'radhika krishnaradhika..." a thousand times and still havn't got enough of it.A great sanskrit poet like Jayadeva needs a devine voice like that of Blamurali to find expressions of the depths of 'Bhaktirasa.'
The jugalbandis he had with the doyens of Hindustani music are his greatest contribution to indian music.He is the first musician to make such great efforts to bridge the divide between carnatic and hindustani music.His jugalbandis with Kishori Amonkar, Pt Jasraj , Pt Bhimsen Joshi Pt Ajoy Chakroborty are real gems.He shares an unusual relationship with Ajoy who is equally innovative and a pathbreaker in many respects It is sheer bliss when you listen to them performing together..
Balamurali 's voice is as fresh as ever at this age of 76,and I hope he will continue his musical quest for many more years!
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