Chandrababu Naidu asks AP govt to set up music varisty, national award in memory of S P Balasubrahmanyam

Telugu Desam Party chief and former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has asked the Jaganmohan Reddy government to establish a music university in Nellore and institute a national award in remembrance of legendary singer S P Balasubrahmanyam.

The illustrious playback singer, music composer and actor breathed his last on Friday in a hospital in Chennai after battling Covid-19 and other ailments for over 50 days.

On Sunday, Naidu wrote a letter to Chief Minister Reddy also asking for the installation of Balu’s bronze statue in the proposed university.

“The government should develop the place as S P Balasubrahmanyam Kalakshetram. The state music academy should also be named after him. This would encourage the youth towards fine arts as Balu had desired,” the opposition leader said.

SPB or Balu (74) as he was known to his millions of fans, hailed from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. SPB’s father S P Sambamurthy was a musician and Harikatha exponent, whose devotional musical shows and social plays were the primary impetus for Balu’s transformation into an accomplished musician and thespian.

Though he settled in Chennai for professional purposes, SPB maintained a firm connection with Nellore through his friends, family, and visits. In February this year, Balu donated his ancestral house in Tipparajuvari Street in the town to the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham for running a Vedic school.

In his communique, Chandrababu Naidu also stated that Balu had wished for installation of a statue of Tikkana Somayaji in Nellore. The 13th century Telugu poet from Nellore is famous as one of the Kavi-trayam (poet triumvirate), who translated the great epic Mahabharata into Telugu.

“As per SPB’s wish, a bronze statue of Tikkana was moulded during our tenure. The government should unveil it and fulfil his wish,” Naidu said.

“Honoring our ancient Telugu art traditions, upholding our cultural ethos would be the befitting tribute to SPB,” the TDP chief said.

Naidu demanded the YSRCP government to institute a Rs 10 lakh annual national award in the name of SPB and hold his birth anniversary as a state festival.

The ex-CM reminded that during his tenure, a Rs 10 lakh national award in traditional music was established in honour of another Telugu son of the soil—renowned Carnatic musician Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (1930-2016).