M. Balamuralikrishna
Balamuralikrishna at Rajarani Music Festival,Bhubaneswar,Odisha
Background information
Born	Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (1930-07-06)6 July 1930 Sankaraguptam,East Godavari District,Andhra Pradesh,India
Died	22 November 2016(2016-11-22) (aged 86) Chennai,Tamil Nadu,India
Genres	Carnatic music
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Vocals,Viola,Mridangam,Kanjira
Years active	1938–2016
Labels	Lahari Music, Sangeetha, PM Audios & Entertainments,Aditya Music
Awards:Padma Vibhushan 1991

Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (néMuralikrishna; 6 July 1930 – 22 November 2016) was an IndianCarnatic vocalist, musician, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer, composer, and character actor.^[1][2] He was awarded theMadras Music Academy'sSangeetha Kalanidhi in 1978. He has garnered twoNational Film Awards (1976, 1987), theSangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975, thePadma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honor in 1991, for his contribution towards arts, the Mahatma Gandhi Silver Medal fromUNESCO in 1995, theChevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2005, theSangeetha Kalanidhi byMadras Music Academy, and theSangeetha Kalasikhamani in 1991, bythe Fine Arts Society, Chennai to name a few.^[3]

Balamuralikrishna started his career at the age of six. In his life-time, he gave over 25,000 concerts worldwide.^[4] Apart fromPanditBhimsen Joshi, he presentedjugalbandi concerts (duets) with PanditHariprasad Chaurasia,Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty andKishori Amonkar, among others. He is also known for popularizing the compositions ofSri Bhadrachala Ramadasu,Sri Annamacharya, and others.

Balamuralikrishna's concerts combined sophisticated vocal skills and rhythmic patterns ofclassical music with the popular demand for entertainment value. Balamuralikrishna presented concerts in many countries, including the US, Canada, UK, Italy, France, Russia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, countries in the Middle East, and elsewhere. Apart from his native tongue,Telugu, he has also composed in other languages includingKannada,Sanskrit,Tamil,Malayalam,Hindi,Bengali, andPunjabi.^[5]

He appeared as a featured soloist with an award-winning British choir, performing the "Gitanjali Suite" with words fromRabindranath Tagore'sNobel Prize-winning poetry and music by "Dr. Joel", the noted UK-based Goan composer. His clear diction in several languages prompted an invitation to record Tagore's entireRabindra Sangeet compositions in Bengali, preserving them for posterity. He had sung in French, and even ventured intojazz fusion, collaborating with the top Carnatic percussion teacher, Sri T.H. Subash Chandran, in a concert for Malaysian royalty.

Balamuralikrishna was born in aBrahmin family^[6] atSankaraguptam,East Godavari District,Madras Presidency (now a part ofAndhra Pradesh state).^[7] His father, Mangalampalli Pattabhiramayya, was a well known musician and his mother, Suryakanthamma, was a veena player. Balamuralikrishna's mother died when he was an infant and he was raised by his father. Observing his interest in music, his father put him under the tutelage ofParupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu, a direct descendant of theshishya parampara (lineage of disciples) ofTyagaraja.^[8] Under his guidance, the young Balamuralikrishna learnedCarnatic music. At the age of eight, he gave his first full-fledged concert at a Thyagaraja Aradhana inVijayawada. Musunuri Suryanarayana Murty Bhagavatar, aHarikatha performer, saw the musical talent in him and gave the prefix "Bala" (lit. child) to the young Balamuralikrishna.^[9] (Prior to this, his name was Muralikrishna; following Bhagavatar's addition of the prefix, he began to be known as Balamuralikrishna.)

Having begun his musical career at a very young age, by age fifteen he had mastered all the 72 melakartha ragas and had composed krithis in each of them. His Janaka Raga Manjari was published in 1952 and recorded as Raagaanga Ravali in a nine-volume series by the Sangeeta Recording Company.^[10] Not merely content with his fame as a Carnatic vocalist, he also played thekanjira,mridangam, viola, and violin.^[11][12][13] He accompanied various musicians on the violin. He also presented solo viola concerts. He was the person who introduced viola to classical Indian music.^[14][15]

Characteristic of Balamuralikrishna's musical journey have been his non-conformism, spirit of experimentation, and boundless creativity. Balamuralikrishna has experimented with the Carnatic music system by keeping its rich tradition untouched. Ragas such asGanapathi, Sarvashri, Mahati, Lavangi etc. are credited to him. The ragas which he invented represent his quest for new frontiers. Ragas such asLavangi are set to three or four notes in ascending and descending scale.^[10] Ragas such asMahathi, Lavangi, Sidhdhi, Sumukham that he created have only four notes; while his other ragaa creations such asSarva Sri, Omkaari, andGanapathy have only three notes.^[16]

He also innovated in thetala (rhythm) system. He has incorporated "gati bhEdam" (గతి భేదం) in the "sashabda kriya" (సశబ్ద క్రియ). Actions that can produce sound/shabda (శబ్ద) intalas are called sashabda kriya – సశబ్ద క్రియ and are a part of the existing Tala chain. New chains are possible, too. Saint Arunagirinaadhar used to inject such systems in his famous Thirupugazh, but only as Sandham, while Balamuralikrishna is known to be the pioneer in bringing such Sandhams into a logical rhythm, with Angam and definition.Trimukhi, Panchamukhi, Saptamukhi, andNavamukhi are the basic classifications in his New Tala System.^[17]

He gave his authorisation to S. Ram Bharati to found "Academy of Performing Arts and Research" in Switzerland. He also worked on music therapy. After his death, his family started a trust in his name 'Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna Memorial Trust' to honor and keep his legacy alive.^[18][16] He has authored a musical therapy research paper with Shreya Kappagantula regarding "The Effects of Musical Therapy on Mental Disorders"

Balamuralikrishna has over 400 compositions to his credit and is one of the very few people to have composed in all the 72 Melakarta Ragas and has created several ragas, with 4 notes and 3 notes and also has invented a new Tala system. His compositions encompass every genre in Carnatic Music including Varnas, Krithis, Thillanas, Bhavageethas.^[19]

Balamuralikrishna has sung in several films in Telugu, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil.^[20] He made his acting debut with the Telugu filmBhakta Prahlada (1967) asNarada, and has acted in a few other films in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.^[17][21]

Balamuralikrishna died at his residence inChennai on 22 November 2016; he was 86.^[22] He died in deep sleep at around five in the evening, due to acardiac arrest. He was cremated with full state honours at Besant Nagar Crematorium in Chennai the very next day. Thousands attended his funeral. He is survived by three daughters and three sons who are all Doctors.^[23] His wife, Smt. Annapurna, outlived him for three months, and died on 16 February 2017.

His family has formed the Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna Memorial Trust to represent him after his death.

• Padma Shri (1971)^[24]
• Padma Bhushan
• Padma Vibhushan (1991)^[24]
• Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from theGovernment of France (2005)^[3]

• Best Male Playback Singer for theKannada musical movieHamsageethe (1975)^[25]
• Best Music Direction for theKannada filmMadhvacharya (1986)^[26]

• Best singer forSwathi Thirunal (1987)^[27]
• Best Classical Music Singer forGramam (2010)^[28]

• Best Male Playback singer forPasanga (2009)^[29]

• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1975)^[30]
• Sangeetha Kalanidhi byMadras Music Academy (1978)^[31]
• Raja-Lakshmi Award in 1980 bySri Raja-Lakshmi Foundation in Chennai
• Doctor of Letters fromShri Venkateshwara University (1981)^[32]
• Honorary PhD from Andhra University
• Doctor of Science from Andhra University
• Doctor of Letters from Andhra University
• Sangeetha Kalasikhamani by The Fine Arts Society, Chennai (1991)^[33]
• Mahatma Gandhi Silver Medal fromUNESCO (1995)^[32]
• Natya Kalasikhamani The Fine Arts Society, Chennai (2001)^[33]
• Sangeetha Kalasarathy (2002)^[34]
• "Sangeetha Virinchi" title conferred by Sangeetha Bharathi music School,Auckland, New Zealand (2009)^[35]
• Lifetime Achievement Award by theGlobal Indian Music Academy Awards (2011)^[36]
• First Citizen Award from Vijayawada City
• "Wisdom Man of the Year" (1992)
• "Naada Maharishi" by the Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society (1996)

A documentary film,The Melody Man, was made on his life by the Government of India Films Division. The film was directed by National award winner Director Gul Bahar Singh.

• Telugu Book of Records honoured him for Telugu Legendary Personality in 2014 at Vijayawada

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The 'Mukhi' Tala system builds on the traditional Adhi Tala or Chathusra Jaathi Triputa Tala ( I 0 0 ), however the first kriya or mukha (meaning face) of each anga takes the gathi of its tala name and the rest in chathusra gathi. For example: Panchamukhi – the first kriya of each anga will be in kanda gathi and so the tala consists of 35 Matras (5 + 4 + 4 + 4 | 5 + 4 | 5 + 4 || ).

Following this method, four Talas can be generated:

This scheme can be extended across all 35 sooladi thalas, however currently these four are in practice.

Compositions:

There have been many pallavis set to panchamukhi Tala such as 'Isai inbathirku ēdillaye ivulakil – sentamil' in ragam Lathangi composed by Amrutha Venkatesh and 'Aadi Vaa, Pirai Soodi Vaa, Aalavaai Naathane' in ragam Abheri composed by Rameshvaidya and tuned by S.J Jananiy and also others in Bilahari, Thodi and Kalyani composed by Dr. Balamuralikrishna himself.

There have also been Alarippus composed for Bharathanatyam in Panchamukhi.

Balamuralikrishna has composed songs few albums and has sung, list of albums and songs below

Balamuralikrishna acted in few films and gave his voice to some selected songs inIndian cinema.

• "There's no one way to teach".The Hindu. 28 February 2006.
• Swaminathan, Chitra (4 January 2008)."He defines 'style' as tradition".The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008.
• Khurana, Suanshu (2 September 2013)."God's Own Voice".The Financial Express. India. Archived fromthe original on 5 March 2016.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toM. Balamuralikrishna.

• Murali and Me: A tribute by Prince Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma.
• Balamuralikrishna with his musicians in Switzerland in 1992.
• Various devotional works of Balamuralikrishna.Archived 17 November 2012 at theWayback Machine

• 1930 births
• 2016 deaths
• Male Carnatic singers
• Carnatic singers
• Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• Kanjira players
• Kerala State Film Award winners
• Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts
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• Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
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• Sangeetha Kalanidhi recipients
• Best Music Direction National Film Award winners
• Indian male playback singers
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• 20th-century Indian male singers
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• 21st-century Indian male singers
• 21st-century Indian singers
• Best Male Playback Singer National Film Award winners
• Carnatic composers
• Sanskrit-language singers
• 20th-century violists
• 21st-century violists

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