M. Balamuralikrishna

M. Balamuralikrishna during Rajarani Music Festival at Bhubaneswar on 19 January 2013

Balamuralikrishna was born in Sankaraguptam, East Godavari District, Madras Presidency (now a part of Andhra Pradesh state).[6] His father was a well known musician and his mother 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 of Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu, a direct descendant of the shishya parampara (lineage of disciples) of Tyagaraja.[7] Under his guidance, the young Balamuralikrishna learned Carnatic music. At the age of eight, he gave his first full-fledged concert at a Thyagaraja Aradhana in Vijayawada. Musunuri Suryanarayana Murty Bhagavatar, a Harikatha performer, saw the musical talent in him and gave the prefix "Bala" (lit. child) to the young Balamuralikrishna.[8] (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.[9] Not merely content with his fame as a Carnatic vocalist, he also played the kanjira, mridangam, viola, and violin.[10][11][12] He accompanied various musicians on the violin. He also presented solo viola concerts.He was the person who introduced viola to classical Indian music. [13][14]

Balamuralikrishna performs in 2005

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 as Ganapathi, Sarvashri, Mahati, Lavangi etc. are credited to him. The ragas which he invented represent his quest for new frontiers. Ragas such as Lavangi are set to three or four notes in ascending and descending scale.[9] Ragas such as Mahathi, Lavangi, Sidhdhi, Sumukham that he created have only four notes; while his other ragaa creations such as Sarva Sri, Omkaari, and Ganapathy have only three notes.[15]

He also innovated in the tala (rhythm) system. He has incorporated "gati bhEdam" (గతి భేదం) in the "sashabda kriya" (సశబ్ద క్రియ). Actions that can produce sound/shabda (శబ్ద) in talas 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, and Navamukhi are the basic classifications in his New Tala System.[16]

He gave his authorisation to S. Ram Bharati to found "Academy of Performing Arts and Research" in Switzerland. He also worked on music therapy. He established the 'MBK Trust' with the objective of developing art and culture and for carrying out extensive research into music therapy. A dance and music school, 'Vipanchee' is a part of this Trust.[17][15] He has authored a musical therapy research paper with Shreya Kappagantula regarding the "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.[18]

Balamuralikrishna during a concert in Kuwait on 29 March 2006, accompanied by Mavelikkara Sathees Chandran (violin), Perunna G. Harikumar (mridangom), Manjoor Unnikrishnan (ghatam)

Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna and Ravi Joshi, during a concert in San Francisco, California, April 2014

Balamuralikrishna has sung in several films in Telugu, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil.[19] He made his acting debut with the Telugu film Bhakta Prahlada (1967) as Narada, and has acted in a few other films in Telugu and Tamil.[16][20]

Balamuralikrishna passed away at his residence in Chennai on 22 November 2016; he was 86.[21] His died in deep sleep at around five in the evening, due to a cardiac 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.[22] 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.

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 acted in few films and gave his voice to some selected songs in Indian 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. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to M. 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.