Carnatica Brothers-Thematic concert-BMK Compositions-14 Aug

[pavithrac71]

K.N.Shashikiran & P.Ganesh

S.Varadarajan-Violin
Neyveli Narayanan-Mridangam
Anirud Athreya-Kanjira

Dr.M.Balamuralikrshna's compositions in celebration of His 81st Birthday

Organized by the Chennai Fine Arts, the concert was well attended and received by the audience and comprised of a galaxy of musicians.


1.Amma Anandadayini(Varnam)-Gambira Nattai-Adhi
2.Siddhim Dehi-Siddhi-Adhi (Kalpana Swarams)
3.Chintayami Santatam-Sucharithra-Mishra jampa (Raga sketch)
4.Maa Manini-Thodi-Adi (Raga sketch)
5.Hanuma Anuman-Sarasangi-Adi (Raga Alapana & Kalpana Swaram)
6.Sada Thava Paada-Shanmukapriya-Adi (Raga alapana, NIraval & Kalpana Swaram, Thani)
7.Poovulagil oru-Kapi-Adi-Muralidharan (Composed in praise of Dr.BMK)
8.Thilana-Brindavani-Adi

The brothers traversed through the concert entirely keeping the focus on the compositions. Shashikiran explained the significance or the idea behind each kriti that they sang.

Siddhi- a 4-note raga has been handled so marvelously by the Genius Dr.BMK. The Kalpana Swarams in this ragam were refreshing !
Chintayami resembled Dikshitar's style of composition and by itself was in praise of Dikshitar. Maa Manini- a swaraksharam composition was rendered well. The brothers shared the Raga alapana of Shanmukapriya followed by Sada Thava Pada. Neyveli Narayanan & Anirud Athreya came up with a brisk thani avartanam. Varadarajan's playing deserves a special mention.

Post Main item was a song composed by Muralidharan of Chennai Fine Arts in praise of Dr.BMK. The brothers concluded the concert with BMK's master piece thillana in Brindavani !

There were felicitations by Prof.TRS and Smt.Suguna Purushotaman (Both, contemporary composers having their unique style) initially followed by a video on Dr.BMK.

It was a great gesture on the part of Dr.BMK to have sat through the whole concert and bless the singers after they concluded the concert.
During his talk,Dr. BMK explained his own composition on His Guru and sang the song. He said that the Pallavi, Anupallavi and the Charanam described the qualities that he attributed to His Guru. He paid his tribute to his Guru saying that his Guru was the One who showed him the right path. In Dr.BMK's talk he also appreciated Muralidharan for his efforts and the Carnatica Brothers for having beautifully rendered his compositions.

It was truly a very memorable evening. Dr.BMK's genius is absolutely Infinite !

[rajeshnat]

7.Poovulagil oru-Kapi-Adi-Muralidharan (Composed in praise of Dr.BMK)
Post Main item was a song composed by Muralidharan of Chennai Fine Arts in praise of Dr.BMK.
.....
During his talk,Dr. BMK explained his own composition on His Guru and sang the song. He said that the Pallavi, Anupallavi and the Charanam described the qualities that he attributed to His Guru. He paid his tribute to his Guru saying that his Guru was the One who showed him the right path.

Is Muralidharan of Chennai Fine Arts different from madurai muralidharan who composes varnams and dance composition.?

May I know what Dr BMK sang on his guru, IIRC there is a hamsavinodini composition that he has composed on his guru.

Thanks pavithrac71 for your review.

[ganeshkant]

Siddhi- a 4-note raga has been handled so marvelously by the Genius Dr.BMK. The Kalpana Swarams in this ragam were refreshing !

May I know the grammar for this rAgam ? Even "Mahati" is a 4 note rAgam.

Meanwhile I listened to their concert on Dr.Rukmini Ramani's compositions a couple od days before.It was an excellent concert.Their dealing of HamsAnandhi for the main was marvelous in all areas i.e R,N & S.The opening varnam in Saraswati was also sung beautifully.The svarams they sang for a composition in kAnada was erudite.

[pavithrac71]

Ganeshkant: Siddhi has the same Arohanam and Avarohanam as Mohanam, but without the "Ga"

Rajeshnat: Sorry, I am not sure if they both are the same person and I also cant remember the name of the song BMK sang on his Guru.

[ganeshkant]

Thanks Pavithra.

[SREE]

MURALI GEETHA SAMARPANAM - The entire event!

The Carnatica brothers gave a power-packed performance of Dr. Balamuralikrishna's compositions to commemorate his 81st birthday celebrations organized by the Chennai Fine Arts. The compositions of this genius are always a challenge to perform and the duo did justice by giving a crisp two hour concert that had perfect balance of everything - raga alapana, niraval and kalpana svaras. The accompanists were also in great sync. In fact Dr. Balamurali, who was for once off stage, listening to the concert, remarked at the end, 'it is only while listening to others render my compositions that I know how well those have come out!'

The whole event proceeded as follows. The highlight was on the word 'Vaggeyakara', as Chennai Fine Arts is one establishment which has 'Vageeyakkara Vaibhavam' as one of its core principles. It is successfully carrying out the task of documenting and popularizing the compositions of rare composers in the Karnatik music arena. Every year during the December music festival, the sabha organizes concerts and lectures featuring the compositions of such exceptional composers. Rightly so, it chose to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Balamurali who is one of the outstanding composers in the contemporary period. A scholarship was also instituted in the name of Dr. Balamuralikrishna, which will be awarded from this year's December Music Festival for deserving Music Students.

The programme started with the welcome address by the founder of Chennai Fine Arts, Sri. P.N. Muralidharan. A Chitravina artist and chartered accountant, he was spot-on in explaining the significance of the 81st birthday celebration and its coincidence with the sabha's 81st vaggeyakkara vaibhavam concert. This Murali had two things to dedicate to Balamurali. One, a poem that he wrote praising the 'genius' of Balamurali that he admires and the other, a composition, as a reverence to the 'guru' Balamurali. This composition which was set in Kapi raga and Adi tala was rendered by the Carnatica brothers in the concert that followed later in the evening.

The monumental works of danseuse Dr. Saraswathi, founder of Vipanchee Trust, were also commended in the welcome address. For more than fifteen years now, she is involved in the task of documenting Dr. Balamurali's compositions and also his renditions of some of the very rare compositions of Saint Tyagaraja. Two books, Suryakantham - consisting the compositions of Balamurali and Saraswathi - consisting his compositions in 72 melakartha ragas have been published by this organization. The one unique aspect to be noted in this is that the script in Telugu is handwritten by the maestro himself.

After the welcome address, Prof. T.R. Subramaniam and Vidwan Smt. Suguna Purushothaman felicitated Balamurali. TRS stated that he is associated with Balamurali since his boyhood and is in fact elder to him by 10 months. He spoke of the brilliance of Balamurali in creating new ragas and also in composing the 72 melakartha raga compositions when he was just twelve years old. He also mentioned that it was Balamurali who first introduced Algebra and Mathematics in the concept of rendering kalpana svaras.

'I remember listening to Sri. Balamurali for the first time when I was a young girl, at the music academy' said Smt. Suguna Purushothaman. 'The feeling that I had of his performance cannot be explained in words. I was astounded to listen to his voice which could easily traverse three octaves. I learnt a few of his compositions from him then', she stated singing a few lines. She praised Balamurali for his boldness in composing and also for his simplicity as a warm human being.

Then Sri. Balamurali addressed the audience. He started off calling Muralidharan a thief who stole away his intellects. 'Music is a vast ocean. Every day I am learning how much is left unlearnt in music. I am not denying the fact that I have composed so much and have sung well as you all say but I am not proud of that. It is entirely my guru's blessings that have made it possible. If at all I can take some pride, then it'll be of the various positions I have held as the Principal of Government Music College, etc, without any formal education' he said and rendered his classic composition on his guru.

Then a few senior musicians from the audience including Sri. Chitravina Narasimhan, Dr. Lokanadha Sarma, Sri. V.S. Narasimhan, Sri. Trichur Narendran, Sri. Kumbakonam Saravanan, Sri. Tanjavur Murugaboopathy and others honored Dr. Balamurali. This was followed by the concert. It was a 'Samarpanam' indeed of a few masterpieces of Dr. Balamurali, rendered with acumen. Balamurali sat through the concert and lauded the artists and Muralidharan for his composition 'Poovulagil' (Kapi - Adi) and organizing the event as a whole. He also concluded stating Muralidharan should henceforth be called 'Bala' Muralidharan!

[hamirkalyani123]

>> May I know what Dr BMK sang on his guru, IIRC there is a hamsavinodini composition that he has composed on his guru.

I think BMK is refering to the song on Guru which is "Ayya Guru Varya" in raga Sushama, where Dr. BMK avoided his mudra Murali intentionally so that anyone can sing it in their Guru's praise.

It is available in youtube for watching and listening at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKpvvjxP ... re=related

It goes like this...

Ayya Guru Varya

Anupalli:

nee anathi tho paaduchuntinayya

charanam
Nee mrudu pallava vachovilasamu pallavi ga
nee anubandhamu anupallavi ga
nee charanamule charanamu ga
nee aakrutiye maa krithi ga

It has a very beautiful meaning. Raga is a creation of Dr. BMK

I think you are refering to this. Pl. confirm.

[Sundar Krishnan]

23/9/11

I have searched this site, and other sites, for some time now - for getting some link(s) to obtain the lyrics of Dr BMK's compositions.

http://www.karnatik.com/co1030.shtml gives only 2 songs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Balamuralikrishna gives a list, but no further links to lyrics of his individual songs.

Among other songs of his, for eg, I would like to have the lyrics of his song :
Nee Daya Rada in Purvi Kalyani.
Taalam ??

Thanks in Advance (TIA).

...

[sindhu29]

Here are two videos where Dr.BMK is himself teaching some of his compostitions to the students of Veenavaadini Music School in Perla:
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEykKdsVOXw

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ts1eEVh ... re=related

[Lakshman]

nI dayarAdA. rAgA: pUrvikalyANi. Adi tALA.

P: nI dayarAdA amba nApai
A: I dAsuni bahu dOSamulanu shamiyimpa jEya paramEshvari nApai
C: kallADucu kapaTa vESinai kAmAdulanu kAdanalEka
kAla mEla nIkai vinutimpaka gaDipitinamma muraLIrava mOhini

[Sundar Krishnan]

25/9/11

Thanks sindhu29 for the 2 UTb links, and Shri lakshman for the Lyrics.

However, as I requested, do we have a web link where we can get the Lyrics of atleast some of BMK's songs.

TIA

...