Balamuralikrishna was conferred with Padma Vibhushan in 1991.
Veteran Carnatic musician Dr. M Balamuralikrishna passed away at his residence in Chennai on Tuesday at the age of 86. One of the most influential Carnatic musicians and multi-instrumentalists, Balamuralikrishna had not been keeping well for some days.
Known for his magical voice, Balamuralikrishna was conferred with Padma Vibhushan in 1991 and was made Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2005. He was born Murali Krishna on July 6, 1930 in Sankaraguptam, East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh.
His father was a well-known musician and could play the flute, violin, and the veena and his mother was an excellent veena player. His mother died when he was an infant and Balamuralikrishna was raised by his father. As a child, he developed an interest in music and after observing his affinity towards music, his father put him under the tutelage of Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu, a direct descendant of Tyagaraja.
Balamuralikrishna started his musical career at the age of eight when he performed his first concert. After attending the concert, Musunuri Suryanarayana Murty Bhagavatar, a distinguished Harikatha performer, gave the prefix ‘Bala’, and hence he became Balamuralikrishna.
Balamuralikrishna stopped his formal education at the age of 15 to pursue his musical career. Along with mastering Carnatic music, he learned instruments like the veena, violin, mridangam, and kanjira. He had accompanied late Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, one of the greatest musicians of all time, on the violin.
From reviving old ragas like Narthak and Sunadavinodini to creating new ragas and composing kirtans, and varnams; Balamuraliskrishna made immense contributions to classical music in a career spanning almost his lifetime. The new ragas created by him include Lavangi, Mahathi, Manorama, Murali, Omkari, Prathimadhyamavathi, Rohini, Saravashree, Sumukham, Sushma, Ganapathi, Siddhi and Pushkara Godavari.
He has composed more than 400 compositions in different languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Sanskrit and performed more than 20000 concerts across the world. He was featured in the popular national integration song Miley Sur Mera Tumhara in 1988 along with well-known musicians Bhimsen Joshi, Lata Mangeshkar and Kavita Krishnamurthy.
Balamuralikrishna had exhibited his talents in film field also. He has sung a song in Hamsageethe (a 1975 Kannada film), for which he received a National Award as the Best Playback Singer. He was also awarded the Best Music Director for the film Madhvacharya. His song Oru Naal Pothuma in the 1965 Sivaji Ganesan starrer Tamil movie Thiruvilayadal was a hit during that time.
As he became interested in music therapy recently, he gave his authorization to S. Ram Bharati to found “Academy of Performing Arts and Research” in Switzerland.
“Nobody can fill the void left behind by his death. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. RIP #Balamuralikrishna 2,” tweeted union minister Venkaiah Naidu.