Balamurali Krishna Felicitated for Lifetime Contribution to Carnatic Music

Chicago IL: Padma Vibhushan Dr. Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna (BMK), who began singing at the age of six, was conferred a lifetime achievement award at the ripe age of 82 by the Sri Annamacharya Project of North America (SAPNA) at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago (HTGC) in Lemont, Ill., on Sunday, April 28, 2013. Having inaugurated SAPNA’s first year, he was here now to celebrate its 25th anniversary. His full-house concert was the culmination of the Fifth annual three-day Veena festival, and was also the occasion for SAPNA to honor several media personalities. Consul General of India Mukta Dutta Tomar joined in personally conferring the awards.

Tomar and BMK joined SAPNA founders Sriram Sonty and Saradapurna Sonty in lighting the auspicious lamp before the veena-wielding goddess of music, Saraswathi. Balamurali, who typically signs off his own compositions with the name of the “flute-playing child” (bala-murali) Krishna, received honors worthy of a god. Not only was the stage scattered with petals to soften his tread, he received full-length prostrations while seated regally listening to the Sanskrit panegyric composed in his honor and recited at the podium by Prof. Vedala Srinivasacharyulu. Music is divine, and Balamurali had become one with his music! “Do you believe in God?” Consul Tomar had just recalled BMK’s response to this question: “My Music is my God!”

BMK and Tomar conferred community service awards on behalf of SAPNA on videographer Nagabhushan Rao (YouTube presentations), Sharma Konkapaka (HQ audio services), and TV Asia’s Midwest bureau chief Vandana Jhingan, for faithfully recording, archiving, or disseminating over many years cultural performances and community events across Chicagoland, including SAPNA’s activities. Previous SAPNA lifetime achievement awardees were Dr S. Gopala Sastry, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr Sripada Pinakapani, and PVRK Prasad (formerly IAS).

This grand finale was a one-of-a-kind BMK performance. Rasikas (connoisseurs) half his age, felt older than him: at 82 years, such is his energy, passion, and his voice forays always bear his peerless style, leaving the audience thirsting for more! The concert, featuring his more popular numbers, was clearly aimed at the mainstream. He was accompanied by young artistes R. Satish Kumar (violin) and K. Parthasarathy (mridangam). His manager Kalaimamani Saraswathi, seated behind, introduced each item with an anecdote that spoke volumes.

Thyagaraja’s Naada Tanum Anisham in ragam Chittaranjani was appropriately sung first, followed by the set piece (varnam) Amma Ananda Daayini, his own composition (krithi) in ragam Gambhira Nattai, till date matchless in its form and presentation. Though Muttuswami Dikshitar’s Vatapi Ganapathim in ragam Hamsdhvani is common fare, BMK has the knack of interpreting the same krithi in a subtle yet powerfully expressive way that gives it a completely different signature. There followed Mysore Vasudevacharya’s Devadi Deva with alapana (purely melodic exploration) in ragam Sunaada Vinodini and Thyagaraja’s Samajavara Gamana with an articulate Hindolam alapana: their highlight was the effortless spanning of all three octaves (tristhaayi sanchara) with deep voice intonations. These unexpected yet deliberate glides showed unmatched command and mastery, despite age, over his smooth unmistakable voice.

“Sogasu Nee Sommu Kalyani Ragini,” one of his over 400 own compositions, was sung with such romantic abandon that the feelings (bhava) evoked by its ragam (Kalyani) and its lyrics (sahitya) seemed to intertwine, permeating seamlessly into the portal of the Absolute-as-Sound (naada brahmam). A musical silence, an ecstatic ‘wah’, a hearty smile, a soul dancing with joy, heck, even goose-bumps were some responses from enthusiastic connoisseurs – the energy was palpable. Great maestros immerse themselves in music to weave a tapestry of spiritual energy that transforms our experience from mundane to sacred. Audience choice krithis, Sadashiva Brahmendra’s haunting “Pibare Ramarasam” in ragam Yamankalyan and an ever-appealing “Paluke Bangaramayina” in Ananda Bhairavi concluded the concert and drew the curtains on the three-day festival. Belief in oneself, confidence in presentation, and an abject surrender to musical discipline (sadhana) are some of the virtues any aspiring learner can imbibe from BMK.

Saraswathi’s anecdotes added further depth to the brief vocal renderings. When BMK sang for twenty minutes at the insistence of his proud guru at the Tiruvarayu festival, reserved for seasoned musicians, other impressed stalwarts likewise volunteered slots of their own time: the six-year old ended up continuing for a full two hours. His successful foray into movies resulted in his being cast only in the role of the celestial musician Narada, such that he decided to withdraw permanently from both the screen and the stereotype. Tomar had already praised BMK’s versatility in other Indian languages, specifically his acclaimed recordings of Tagore’s Bengali songs. Facing an assembly of Western musicians in Paris, BMK’s ability to sing in unknown languages and untried instruments was challenged by a skeptic, who gave him a French song to render vocally and on the viola. After listening to its recording, BMK returned to render it convincingly in the original language and on the Western instrument, much to the amazement of the trained assembly, who asked how this could be possible. The prodigy, who had composed his detailed opus on the 72 melakartas (basic scales of Carnatic music) at the age of fourteen, retorted that it was this grounding in the ‘language’ of his own tradition that empowered him to assimilate and render others so naturally. This truth had been already affirmed by mridangamist Trichy Sankaran at the inaugural concert of the three-day festival and amply demonstrated also by Chitravina Ravikiran through his effortless glides between Carnatic and fusion music. BMK has founded a Trust to research the field of music therapy, and therapy it was for the audience!

Over 500 people attended over the three days of the festival, which was held at Balaji Temple in Aurora, Ill., and at HTGC. 25 years and going strong, SAPNA run by the Sonty couple gave the intangible gift of “deliverance through music” (naadaapavarga) to classical music connoisseurs of Chicago. The sound of the Veena is still resonating….until next year…kudos!