On 3rd December a Shradhhanjali was organised for Padmavibhushan Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna by violin artist L. Nagaraju and Prabhakar Kaza and was attended by over 125 persons who paid rich tribute to the departed Maestro. Dr Balamuralikrishna passed away on 22nd November in Chennai at the age of 86. He sang on stage for 75 years and his music was believed to be unparalleled in the world of Carnatic music.
He was not only a Carnatic vocalist but also a man of many talents---- musician, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer, composer, and character actor. His phenomenal contribution to music was recognised by a grateful nation with the award of the second highest National award—Padma Vibhushan in 1991. He leaves behind a substantial body of work—over 25,000 concerts worldwide.During his lifetime he has popularised the poets Bhadrachala Ramadasu and Annamacharya. Apart from his mother tongue Telugu, his works also include contributions in other languages like Tamil,Kannada,Malayalam, Sanskrit,Hindi,Bengali and Punjabi.He has over 400 compositions to his credit.
Prabhakar Kaza, Santanam Swaminathan, Karaikudi Krishnamurthy, Jagatheeswaran Pillai and Mrs Geetha Kaza spoke on the occasion. Dr.Nandkumara, Director, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London narrated his memorable experiences with Dr.Balamuralikrishna, who stayed several times at the Bhavan and taught many students.
The event was compered by Dr Bhanu Sistla and videographed by Aaditya Kaza.
