Throwback to Balamuralikrishna’s thillanas

Balamuralikrishna stood apart from his contemporaries because he could bring unique rhythmic patterns to his compositions

M Balamuralikrishna was a musician extraordinaire. He was a Carnatic vocalist, composer, playback singer and instrumentalist. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 86.

His music journey spanned over seven decades and was filled with immense creativity. He popularised thillanas. For the uninitiated, thillanas are a mix of lyrics and rhythmic phrases, usually sung at the end of classical concerts. Brindavani thillana, Jayaragamalika thillana, Kuntalavarali thillana and Kalyani thillana are some thillanas made famous by him. Look up YouTube to find videos of Balamuralikrishna singing these thillanas.

For instance, you can hear Brindavani thillana in a four-minute video uploaded on the Art and Artistes channel. After a brief alaap in raga Brindavani, he starts the thillana, belting out rhythmic phrases like ‘Dheem Nananana Tillillana Tillana Nadirdeem’. The harmonies lent by the violin and the rhythmic variations of the mridangam accompanying the piece enhance the divinity of the thillana. He sings the phrase ‘Sogasuloora Hoyalu Kori Nee Darini Jetrini’ in Telugu in a mellifluous voice, in praise of the beauty of Lord Krishna.

Spend some time online and chances are you will come across ‘Learn How to Sing Classical Vocal — Thillana — Step by Step Tutorial — Dr M Balamuralikrishna’. In a video uploaded on the Geethanjali — Learn Music and Arts channel, Balamuralikrishna is seen teaching the Brindavani thillana to two of his disciples.

This thillana is also popularly used in Bharatanatyam recitals. You can view two such performances on Indian Raga’s channels. These have garnered over 1.5 lakh views combined.

Likewise, a thillana video uploaded on the Musique4ever channel has logged nearly 3.5 lakh views. The six-minute song is fast-paced and has ghatam, mridangam, morsing and violin as instrumentation.

Balamuralikrishna also stood apart from his contemporaries because he could traverse the range of three octaves with ease and bring unique rhythmic patterns to his compositions.

He has created 20-plus unique ragas such as Ganapati, Lavangi, Sumukham, Mahati, and Trisakthi without altering the tradition of Carnatic music.

Raga Lavangi has only four musical notes (Sa Re Ma Da) and raga Ganapathy has three ( Sa Ga Pa). Usually, ragas have at least five notes.

He also made new classifications like Trimukhi, Panchamukhi, Saptamukhi and Navamukhi in the tala system and sang several compositions set to them.

Balamuralikrishna’s music legacy is celebrated every year on the occasion of Guru Purnima. Even this time, tributes poured in from the classical music fraternity.

Talking of gurus, you can find a YouTube video of Balamuralikrishna singing ‘Bhajre Guru Daivam’ as a tribute to his teacher Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu. He sang this along with Ajoy Chakrabarty.