Ragas Ananda Bhairavi, Deshakshi, Chandrajyoti & More
Masterworks from the National Centre Performing Arts (NCPA) Archives<
Dr. Balamuralikrishna There are very few musicians who have made such an overarching contribution to Carnatic music in recent times as Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna. He was born in 1930 in Sankaraguptan a village in Andhra Pradesh and it wasn’t long before his talent for music became evident and was put under the tutelage of Parpalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu who came in the direct line of disciples of Tyagaraja Balamurali made his mark immediately with his debut at the young age of nine. In his teens he was recknoned as one of the most exciting talents and he was soon blazing a trail a trail of music that became popular for its brilliance technical prowess and wide range. Simultaneously he was carving his identity and reputation as a composer. It is quite a feat to compose in all the 72 melakarta ragas and it is even more remarkable that Balamurali did it at the age of 16. He has since gone on to compose over 500 pieces in a variety of musical forms be it varnam, kriti, tillana, bhajan or padam. He has composed songs with multiple pallavi lines songs with non religious content and also a song where most of the lines follow by creating ragas with four notes and a few with just three notes. He has built up an enviable repertoire of compositions and his stock of Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar is second to none. He has also popularized many annamacharya and bhadrachal ramadas kritis and quite a few of his notations for lyrics without tunes have become the accepted versions. Balamurali is also acknowledged as an expert in voice culture. His immaculate breath control is evident in many of his renditions generally during the kalpana swaras and especially the final portion of his Amritavarshini tillana. Balamurali’s concert paddhati is structured in a way to provide constant interest and stimulation for listeners whether in the manner of his sequencing or in the way he works with the interplay of lyrics and melody, revisiting lines in different ways apart from producing unexpected and clever repetitions of sections playing with silence modulation and time sequences. Balamurali’s oeuvre has been founded on the idea of constant movement and extension of the artistic idiom within the broad traditional framework and his musical expression as a performer demonstrates this admirably.
The NCPA Archives Described as the Treasure trove of Indian classical music the NCPA archives has over 5000 hours of music of the who’s who of classical music both in the Hindustani and Carnatic Styles. Maintained for over 4 decades in the most ideal conditions of temperature and humidity and on the best recording formats the NCPA Archives preserves and protects India’s rich musical heritage. According to the Artists themselves the work recorded on the Archives features some of their best works recorded at the prime of their careers. This wonderful ‘khazana’ is being presented to the music loving public for the first time.
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