M. Balamuralikrishna: Quotes about music

“Classical music is a perennially flowing river and nothing can affect its flow. No one needs to worry about Indian music. It is forever.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Source: Staff Reporter, "Mangalampalli can't wait to come home".

Music

“Style. It varies from person to person. Without it music will be monotonous.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Source: Chitra Swaminathan "He defines ‘style’ as tradition".

Music , Personality

“Our arts, particularly music, are more livelier than any sport. I play with my `raagas.' And there is no defeat here. Only victory for everyone - singers, listeners and the music itself.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Source: Staff Reporter, "Mangalampalli can't wait to come home"
On his singing on the occasion of an India-Pakistan cricket match.

Art , Music , Sport , Victory

“It is only rigorous training and in depth study that make music mature into the realm of the classical.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Source: Staff Reporter, Mangalampalli can't wait to come home http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2003/03/01/stories/2003030108610300.htm, The Hindu, 1 March 2003.

Music , Study , Training

“Everything I did was deprecated by the media and others. I think I derived my strength from it. There was brouhaha over my singing my own compositions. I wondered why I cannot choose words to express myself. That’s what Tyagaraja did. He described Rama the way he saw him. Ironically many of my works are now being used by musicians and dancers. It’s heartening though. I never expected to reach where I am today. I learned music without knowing it will one day become my calling.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Source: Chitra Swaminathan "He defines ‘style’ as tradition".

Music , Way , Thinking , Learning

“I like to take things easy. I don't constantly think about music. I never plan concerts, practise or even hum. When I go up on the stage, music courses through me. My family members attend my concerts because they do not hear me sing at home. I have entrusted you [Prince Rama Varma] with the task of popularising my style of singing among others, especially in foreign countries. I have heard some of your foreign students sing my compositions and was surprised. They sound better than many Indian students. I want to be known more as a composer than as a musician. You are now making this happen.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Source: Interview by Prince Rama Varma "There's no one way to teach".

Family , Music , Home , Thinking

“With all awards and accolades at the international level and his outstanding contribution to classical music, his appeal was not restricted to purists or the elite connoisseur. He endeared himself to the public at large by his tasteful rendering of light music and film songs.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Jayalalithaa in: Balamuralikrishna deserves Bharat Ratna: Jayalalithaa http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/26/stories/2005072617030500.htm, Thee Hindu, 26 Jul y 2005.

Light , Music

“The real issue underlying these controversies appears to have been a challenge to his philosophy of music; nay, that of the Trinity. Balamuralikrishna has long held that Carnatic music today is an entity outside the strictly religious domain. He remarked once that those who believed that concert singing denigrated the essence of Carnatic music should confine their singing to puja rooms.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Garimella Subramaniam in: "A musical colossus".

Music , Singing , Appearance

“An enduring legacy of Balamuralikrishna is the wider accessibility of classical kirtanas to the public. Many of his contemporaries tend to treat classical and popular music as watertight compartments.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Garimella Subramaniam in: A musical colossus http://hindu.com/2004/07/06/stories/2004070603272000.htm, The Hindu, 6 July 2004.

Music

“He was one of the earliest South Indian Classical w:MusiciansMusicians to perform abroad. He has acted in films, sung for films and even scored the music for films. Apart from his own compositions numbering more than two hundred, he has breathed life into compositions of other composers whose original tunes were lost in the sands of time like w:Narayana TeerthaNarayana Theertha, Annammaachaarya, Purandara Daasa, Kaiwara Amara Nareyana, Kaiwara Amara Nareyana, Sadasiva Brahmendra, Bhadraachala Raamadaas and Maharajah Sri Swathi Thirunal.”

M. Balamuralikrishna

Prince Rama Varma in: "Murali And Me: A tribute by Prince Rama Varma".