Carnatic singer M Balamuralikrishna passes away in Chennai, Venkaiah Naidu offers condolences

Veteran Carnatic music singer M Balamuralikrishna, 86, passed away on Tuesday in Chennai. The Carnatic music veteran was not keeping well for some time and breathed his last at his residence here, his family sources told PTI. [caption id=“attachment_3119258” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Balamuralikrishna[/caption] A native of Sankaraguptam, East Godavari District, Balamuralikrishna was a 5th generation descendant of the saint-composer Tyagaraja in the guru-shishya tradition, according to DNA. Known and celebrated as one of India’s greatest vocalists, Balamuralikrishna was well-versed in playing the violin, the mridangam and the kanjira. Balamuralikrishna accompanied Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar and Chittoor Subramania Pillai on the violin in 1944, notes Sruti magazine. He also gradually accompanied other singers including Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Voleti Venkateswarlu, KV Narayanaswamy. He also acompanied Lalgudi Jayaraman on the kanjira. Although born into a family of musicians — his mother was a veena player and his father was skilled in the flute, the violin and the veena as well — Balamuralikrishna never had any formal education, according to an India Today report. He performed his first concert at seven and first radio concert when he was nine. A report in The Hindu mentioned that he was credited to “innovating the tala system with Thri Mukhi, Panchamukhi, Saptha Mukhi and Nava Mukhi”.

He is also credited with creating several ragams such as Ganapathi, Sarvashri, Mahati, Lavangi. Balamuralikrishna made his acting debut in the 1967 film Bhakta Prahlada. He was also well-known for his hit number ‘Oru Naal Pothuma’ in the 1965 Sivaji Ganesan starrer Thiruvilayadal. Christened Muralikrishna, the singer got the prefix “Bala” to his name when he was eight years old and was performing a concert in Vijayawada, notes DNA.

“This prefix Bala (child) is good. It is a constant reminder that I shouldn’t stop learning. I was barely eight when I got an opportunity to perform a full-fledged concert at a Thyagaraja Aradhana in Vijayawada. This then became a part of my name for listeners.”

Balamuralikrishna was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1991 and made Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2005. Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu tweeted his “heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family”.

A great loss to the Music World. India has lost legendary Carnatic Vocalist Shri Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna. 1/

— M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) November 22, 2016

Nobody can fill the void left behind by his death. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. RIP #Balamuralikrishna 2

— M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) November 22, 2016

More from Entertainment

'Jugnuma' Movie Review: Manoj Bajpayee, Deepak Dobriyal, Tillotama Shome’s terrific performances stood out in this beautifully restrained way of storytelling ‘Real fight’ is between Karisma Kapoor and Priya Sachdev: Sunjay Kapur's mother's lawyer says in HC: 'Rani Kapur does get impacted by it but...'

The late singer’s fans took to Twitter, putting out some of their favourite renditions of his.

What a genius Balamuralikrishna was. Most of you know him as a great vocalist with a 6 octave range but watch this https://t.co/4msY7rqiDV

— Krish Ashok (@krishashok) November 22, 2016

What an outreach Sangita Kalanidhi #Balamuralikrishna had. He even sang Rabindrasangeet! Sample this: https://t.co/EbyT41cGs9 @veejaysai

— Abhi or Never (@abhiertigibbet) November 22, 2016

#BalaMuraliKrishna could play a number of instruments including the flute and veena. Here he is on the violin: https://t.co/LYIVRDxSoA

— churumuri (@churumuri) November 22, 2016

He summed it up with these words-Isai Deivam Naanada!! #OruNaalPodhuma #Balamuralikrishna pic.twitter.com/aXgf81eDN7

— Janani Sivakumar (@janvats) November 22, 2016

With inputs from PTI