"பாலமுரளி சார்" பற்றி அசுவதித்திருநாள் இராம வர்மா எனக்கு அனுப்பிய மடல் ...

[rajam]

தன் ஆசான் "பாலமுரளி சார்” பற்றித் திருவிதாங்கூர் இளங்கோ அசுவதித்திருநாள் இராம வர்மா எனக்கு அனுப்பிய மடலை அவர் சொன்னவாறே உங்களுடன் பகிர்ந்துகொள்கிறேன்:

Namaste.

Here are three small tributes to Balamurali Sir that I wrote last week.

Please feel welcome to share them with your music loving friends.

Kind regards,

  Varma

ramavarma.yolasite.com 

For First Post

Indian classical music is one that respects parampara or lineage a lot.

One of the greatest exponents of this system of music was Sri Thyagaraja.

A few generations of disciples later….after Manambuchavadi

Venkatasubbaier, Susarla Dakshinamoorthy and Parupalli

Ramakrishnayya Panthulu….appeared a young boy in 1930, (in the tiny,

obscure little village near the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh

called Sankaraguptam), who was to change the face of South Indian

Classical music for ever:- Muralikrishna.

Because of his stunning command over all the aspects of music

when he was just 6 years old when he started to sing in public,

a Bala (Child) was prefixed to Muralikrishna. As his fame grew,

so did his name and the titles that came before it.

Padmavibhushan, Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Dr.Mangalampalli

Balamuralikrishna.

While it is easy to get mesmerized by the depth, the sweetness,

the range, the dynamics, the speed, the clarity and the sheer

beauty of his Voice….and equally easy to be overwhelmed by

the very long list of Doctorates, awards and titles that he won

over the decades, I was fortunate enough to become obsessed

with his mind as a Composer, above everything else.

Newness is something that is attractive to most human beings.

And the allure might fade after a time, when one becomes

intimately familiar with something or someone.

But, having spent more than 20 years, obsessively studying

his music, his poetry, the charming melodic cadences and the

vivid and riveting rhythmic pulses, I can honestly say that

I have only become infinitely More fascinated over time,

with the freshness and brilliance of his

compositions and by the extraordinary genius of the mind

of the creator behind them.

When Lord Ganesha destroyed the evil intentions of the

Demon Durasaraa who attacked the city of Varanasi, it

translates into verbal magic effortlessly and spontaneously

in the capable hands of Dr.Balamuralikrishna as

“Vaaranaasinaakraminchina Duraasaruni Duraasha

Niraasha Gaavimpa” for example.

In his Thamizh song “Pirai Aniyum”, Lord Ganesha

is described as “Munnam vanangi anugiya perukku

Pinnam nindru thunai seyyum” :- “For those who

stand with folded hands in Front of you,

you stand Behind them and help them!”

In Na Jaane Thava Dhyaanam Vina, he interprets

the three syllables of the word “Bha-Ra-Tha” as

Bhakthi (Devotion), Rakthi (Emotional content) and

Thanmayathwam (Aesthetic sense), as opposed to

the usual interpretation “Bhaava, Raaga, Thaala.”

“It is Bharatha and not Bhaaraathaa, no?” he would

chuckle, with a gleeful twinkle in his eye.

The five Pada Varnams, the Thaana Varnams,

a Padam or two, a Javali or two, a bunch of

Scintillating Thillanas that would bring life into

the laziest person in the world, songs in all the

72 Melakartha Ragas that he composed and published

when he was just a teenager, a few exquisite Ragamalikas,

a few beautiful Bhaava Geethas, around 200 Krithis….

many of them scattered all over the world unlisted….

from Singapore to Rajapalayam….and then the music

he gave to the lyrics of  great masters like Annamayya,

Bhadrachala Ramadasa, Sadasiva Brahmendra,

Narayana Theerthar, Purandara Dasa, Maharaja Swathi

Thirunal, Jayadeva, Kaiwara Amara Nareyana, Mallekonda

Ramadasa, Etla Ramadasa and others…the compositional

wealth that he left us is really and truly overwhelming…

and much much much more precious and valuable than

all the awards and titles that he won.

The entire body of his work can be compared to a University,

that musicians, music students, music teachers and music

lovers can delve into again and again and come up with

something fresh, original, vivid, beautiful and useful

each and every time.

Being at heart, an exemplary Performer, the composer

in him often took a back seat. When he felt that the listeners

were waiting for their favourite songs like Endaro Mahanubhavulu

or Samaja Vara Gamana or Devadi Deva or Nagumomu or

Pibare Rama Rasam or Oru Naal Poduma again for the hundredth

time, he felt that he couldn’t let them down by not singing them.

I used to fight with him relentlessly, arguing that the listeners

would Surely request songs like Pahi Sameera Kumara or

Gaana Maalinchi or Kamala Dalayatha Lochanamulave or

Kaavave Kanyakumari or his Kharaharapriya Pada Varnam,

if only he would Sing them from time to time and make them

aware of their existence.

But he would deftly deflect my arguments by asking me

“How come You know all these songs ?” and continue

“Because you took the trouble to come to Madras all the

way from Kerala and learn these songs from me. And make

me remember songs that I haven’t sung since the 1950s.

So you got them. The people who are happy to listen to

Nagumomu again and again….well….that is what they are

meant to get!” and the case would be closed.

From being outspoken to being politically correct, gullible to astute,

innocent to naughty, disarmingly simple to explosively

confident, his personality was as unusual and fascinating a

mix as the mountain of the compositions that he has left us.

Like an elaborate buffet at a 5 star hotel, there would be

something for everyone….and it would be up to us to take

what appeals to us, be it Nagumomu for the 500th time,

Paluke Bangaramayena for the 400th time or his own

mesmerizing composition “Maamava Gaanalola” in the

hauntingly beautiful raga  “Rohini” created by him.

Rohini, Lavangi, Mahati, Sumukham, Ganapathy, Vallabhi,

Chandrika, Prathimadhyamavathi, Siddhi, Roopavahini….

just the ragas created by him would be enough material to

do a Phd on.

While his physical presence would be terribly missed,

thanks to technology, the internet and sites like youtube.com

and sangeethapriya.org, one can hope that more and more

people who are serious about good music, would explore further,

delve deeper and be rewarded more and more abundantly by the

ocean of music left to us by this extraordinary man.

May his soul rest in peace.

Rama Varma

November 23, 2016

For The Hindu

There is a beautiful lullaby by Sri Purandara Dasa in Anandabhairavi

which goes "Jo Jo Yashodeya Nanda Mukundane." You can find the 

recording on youtube.com.  There is another song; also in 

Anandabhairavi, by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal, "Smarasi Pura Guru

Vanitha" from his opera on Kuchela, called "Kuchelopakhyanam."

Both these songs use a particular phrase using the Anthara Gandharam

which is stunningly beautiful, vivid and very very unusual.

Both these songs were set to tune during the 1990s.

Further research reveals that the same phrase was used around 

100 years ago by a man from a tiny village called Gudimellanka

in Andhra Pradesh, in his song "Varalakshmi Devi".

This man was the creator of some of the sweetest, cutest and 

most endearing songs Ever composed, like Rama Rama Ena Raada,

Bala Tripura Sundari, Krishnamma, Ramududbhavinchinadu and

Eme O Chitti :- Prayaga Rangadasa.

The person who used the same phrase a century later, was his 

celebrated Grandson, Dr.Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna.

While there are many singers, poets and music composers, 

the title of  "Vaggeyakara".....an individual from whom both 

lyrics and music burst forth simultaneously as a single and 

inseparable unit....can be applied only to a precious few.

There might be intelligent individuals who are competent 

both in music as well as in grinding out a few lyrics with 

rhyme and meter. But their product would fall under a "Craft"

rather than  "Art"  when that  special something.....that divine

spark....is missing.  Dr.Balamuralikrishna had that spark in

abundance. and the compositions poured out of him for more than

60 years. 

On January 1, 2000, the Madras Music Academy gave 

him the  Vaggeyakara Award, for being the greatest living 

Vaggeyakara. He made a characteristically short speech 

which encapsulated his thoughts succinctly “I am very 

happy that I am a Vaggeyakara. I am very happy that I

 

am living. And I am very happy to be the first person to 

receive this award... on the first day of the first year of

 

the  new millenium. Thank you.” That was

 

Balamuralikrishna. 

Be it his words or his musical ideas, one hardly ever 

heard  him fumbling around aimlessly. The notes that he 

sang.. both the pure notes (“Shuddha Swarams”……

wrongly labelled "flat notes" by those who can’t get

 

them)  as well as the gamakams or ornamentation, were

 

crystal  clear. 

The two distinct approaches to vocalization in Carnatic 

music are, the Veena based which is subtle and refined 

and the Naadaswaram based which is grand, majestic 

and  overwhelming. Balamurali Sir was  one of the few 

artists whose singing embodied Both these approaches

simultaneously. Apart from being a vocalist

 

extraordinaire, he was adept at playing the violin (where

 

he followed a style that was strikingly similar to that of

 

the Great Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu), the viola

 

(which he played in a way that mirrored his singing), the

 

mridangam and the kanjira.

     

While landmark recordings of him singing songs like

 

Nagumomu, Devadi Deva, Endaro Mahanubhavulu,

 

Samaja Vara Gamana, Pibare Rama Rasam and so on

 

are guaranteed a place in posterity, a vast amount of his

 

own compositions sadly remain more or less unexplored

 

and undiscovered.

 Thanks partly to his mesmerizing voice and partly to      

people’s tendency to imitate him, there is a general 

misconception that only he could sing his own 

compositions properly. (A small digression vis a vis 

“imitation”. Very few classical musicians seem to close 

their mouth properly while singing a syllable like “Um”. A 

song like say, Siddhi Vinayakam would often be sung in 

ways like Siddhi Vinayakauuu. Since Balamurali Sir was 

one of the few people who closed his mouth where 

necessary and enunciated the lyrics  clearly and properly, 

casual listeners automatically jump to the conclusion 

when one sings “Um” properly, that one was “imitating 

Balamurali” while in reality, all one would be doing would 

be to sing the words correctly.)

Though I have always felt that some of his gifts were truly 

extraordinary, as far as composing went, he was quite 

cool  and laid back about what he did as a Singer.

Sruthi Shudhdham

Laya Shuddham 

Swara Shuddham

Gamaka Shuddham

Akshara Shuddham

Purity of sruthi, rhythm, clarity of phrasing and 

enunciation of the lyrics, voice culture, a pleasant 

demeanor, being aesthetic and tuneful…. these are all 

qualities that have been prescribed for several centuries, 

right from the time of Purandara Dasa (in songs like 

Thaala Beku) and by other great masters like Sri 

Thyagaraja in a whole bunch of songs about music.

Being intimately familiar with the lyrics and thereby, with

the mind, soul and spirit of the composers, Balamurali Sir

always felt rightly, that he was singing correctly, while 

some others had sadly established singing off sruthi,

without any regard to the lyrics or clarity of gamakams

as "Tradition" and that anything outside this idiom 

would be labelled "non classical."

"If we sing in sruthi, people would call it Hindustani.

If the lyrics are enunciated clearly, people call it Light."

So much so that he was provoked to make statements

like  "I am not singing Carnatic music. I sing

Muraleegaanam!"  

While a statement like that taken in isolation, could be 

interpreted as sounding rather arrogant, one tends to 

see where he is coming from, when one closely observes

what Is usually accepted as  "Classical" or 

"Sampradayam" or whatever. 

Only time will tell how much of the artistic values he 

represented  and embodied will hold among future 

generations and how many people would go that extra 

mile, to look beyond the artistic framework

imposed by their immediate Guru or Bani and try to 

connect with the great Vaggeyakaras like Sri Thyagaraja, 

Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar and others and do one’s best, 

to sing those songs the way they deserve to be sung.

I feel grateful that he has left us So much of artistic 

wealth, to delve into and to benefit from.

Call it Muraleegaanam, call it Sampradayam.....I hope

that eventually Good music will triumph.

Rama Varma

November 23, 2016

For Sri Rama Lalithakala Mandira

Long before I knew what Ragas and Swaras were, I was already attracted to Ragas with two Madhyamams….particularly Behag.  My father tells me that as a baby, I would constantly ask him to play a song that went “Kukushishi.” Several years later, while I continued to love the song in question, I discovered that “Kukushishi” was actually “Muddu Siri” from “Muddu Siri Purandara Vittala”  which comes at the end of the Behag song  “Naaneke Badavanu, Naaneke Paradesi?” 

During Sri Purandara Dasa’s time, songs had just the Pallavi, followed by several Charanams. The “Anupallavi” was invented by Sri Thyagaraja, several centuries later. But many people have chopped up the Pallavis of Purandara Dasa’s beautiful compositions into two and have labeled the second part as “Anupallavi”, usually with rather unfortunate results.

In the song in question, Purandaradasa grandly challenges in the Pallavi “Sri Nidhe Hari! Enage neeniruva thanaka, naaneke badavanu? Naaneke paradesi?”  “Oh Hari! When You are there for me, how could I ever be a beggar or an outsider?”  In the charanams that follow, he names Hari as every possible relative; be it mother, father, sibling, friend, companion….you name it! 

In the version I had heard as a child, “Srinidhe Hari enage, neeniruva thanaka” would come as the “Anupallavi” and I just enjoyed the melody, with absolutely no clue about what the lyrics meant…..a case point being “Kukushishi.”

Decades later, I heard Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna sing the same song…….with all its Charanams……and the complete Pallavi, without being chopped up into two. Suddenly the exquisite meaning of the song and the precious spirit of Purandaradasa started to reveal itself, even though I didn’t speak a word of Kannada at the time. Puttisida Thaay Thande, Ishta, Mithranu Neene….and I could understand words like Thaay, Thande, Ishta, Mithra, Ashta Bandhuvu and so on. The same thing keeps happening again and again even now…..with songs by Purandaradasa, Annamacharya, Bhadrachala Ramadasa, Sadasiva Brahmendra, Narayana Theertha, Jayadeva, Maharaja Swathi Thirunal, Kaiwara Amara Nareyana and others which have been brought to life by the perfect tunes given to them by the unparalleled Vaggeyakara  Dr.Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna.

When Balamurali Sir would sit down to tune a song by someone else, he would keep his mind completely blank and never decide beforehand that he would tune the song in this Raga or in this Thaala. He would just contemplate the lyrics and think of the composer and a tune would simply come! It would take him literally the time taken to Write the notes down, physically! I have witnessed this scene time and again and whenever I have asked him (which I Have, many many many times!) how he did it, he would simply smile and say  “I don’t know…..It comes!”

He was one rare and privileged being for whom  “It” just  “Came!” Be it music, poetry, manodharmam or creativity in abundance, fresh, new and radical ideas, speed, power, range…..everything just seemed to come…..effortlessly and spontaneously. He would pride himself in making declarations like “I never practiced!”….Well…..maybe he didn’t sit at home and practice the Sarali Varisais and Alankarams the way ordinary mortals like you and I should ideally be doing, but he certainly had his Huge big share of  “practice”  because  he would give hundreds of concerts every year, right from the time he was a child. The hours and hours of practice would therefore, happen in full public view rather than in the privacy of his own home.

The essential restlessness, the quest for doing something new, something different and original, the courage to defy established tradition, the flamboyance, the unbridled love for the self, the irresistible charm, the disarming sweetness, the streak of mischief and playfulness…..all this characterized his music as well as his personality. When people accused him of being different from others, he would ask  “Did Musiri sound like GNB? Did Ariyakudi sound like Maharajapuram? Did Chembai sound like M.D.Ramanathan? No! Each of them was original and different. And I want to sound like Balamurali only and not like anyone else!” And he certainly succeeded 100% in sounding like Balamurali and not like anyone else. 

If one studies his rendition of compositions by the Great Masters like Sri Thyagaraja and Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar, one would find that rather than being “Modern”  or  “Non Traditional”  as he is often mislabeled, he was perhaps closer to the original forms intended by the composers than probably anybody else. This is because apart from being part of a solid and authentic Shishya Parampara of Sri Thyagaraja, he took care to study the word by word meanings of the songs that he sang, which is something of a rarity in the Classical Music milieu. In his own compositions, numbering around 300 or so, one finds the perfect blend of melody, rhythm,  literary and poetic merit, not to mention sheer aural delight! Having had the privilege of studying many of his compositions directly from him and having been present by his side when he set to music dozens of compositions by other Vaggeyakaras whose original music was lost, I find that the process as helped me immensely, to connect with the minds and souls of the Great Masters from the past too. 

Though he was a Vaggeyakara from whom the lyrics and the music burst forth as a single unit, the incredible thing is that, while on the one hand just the music is so amazing that his compositions sound wonderful even when played on an instrument, on the other hand the poetry is so amazing that one could just read and enjoy the lyrics separately too! It is up to us the music lovers, music students, musicians and music gurus, to make the most of the wealth that he has left us, much of which is freely available in sites like youtube.com and sangeethapriya.org. I pray that rather than this being the End of an era, it would be the Beginning of a new era where people nurture and enrich the art further, making proper use of the tools that he left us.

Rama Varma 

November 2016

Some videos related to Balamurali Sir and me

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9-AxgfSQwNZ8xLKdSMzlvVOlKUoqKUzK 

அன்புடன்,

ராஜம்

[C.R. Selvakumar]

அன்புள்ள அக்கையாரே,

இதனைப் பகிர்ந்தமைக்கு நெஞ்சார்ந்த நன்றி.

அன்புடன்

செல்வா

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Regards
Selva
___________________
C.R.(Selva) Selvakumar