Valapulélané vinta talapulélané - Hamsavinodini - A I R Lalitha Sangeetham - M Balamuralikrishna

FROM EMOTIONAL ADVERSITY TO MUSICAL PROSPERITY

The years 1951 and 1952 could be counted as watershed years in the history of South Indian music. Especially in the seven plus decades musical career of Dr Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (BMK) in general and in the audio listening choices of the general public in the Madras presidency and Andhra regions of South India.

Those were the years of emotional adversity for the singing sensation of the 1940s.....the young Murali, or BMK, who had already captured the hearts of thousands of Carnatic music fans. The sudden loss of his voice in 1951 was a virtual fall from heights of fame to a doom of despair. Many had then written him off as a mere shooting star that was meant to shine for a moment and fade off into nowhere.

Three people did not subscribe to this and strongly believed that the adversity was meant to be a precursor to an imminent musical prosperity, and more so for the music connoisseurs of all hue and shade. They were Subbamma, the foster mother of BMK; Dr. Ayyagari Subba Rao, the then Station Director of All India Radio (AIR), Vijayawada; and Swami Vimalananda Bharati, the spiritual guide of BMK's guru Shri. Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu.

Dr. Subba Rao made bold, through his connections at Delhi with the Director-General of AIR, to facilitate the appointment of BMK as the Music Supervisor at AIR, Vijayawada radio station. The premise of the suggestion was to leverage BMK's immense knowledge of music despite the then absence of the earlier musical charm in his voice. BMK took up the job on April 1, 1952, and the rest can be summed as musical prosperity through musical history.

The musical prosperity became a reality later as AIR, Vijayawada pursued a path that was laid out by BMK. To begin with, the standard of the music programmes broadcast from AIR, Vijayawada rose to newer heights under his supervision. Taking cue from this success, Dr. Subba Rao proposed to Delhi to set up a light music section at AIR, Vijayawada. On approval, BMK was elevated to the rank of a music producer.

BMK in his first stint as the Music Supervisor, for the first time then, introduced a new programme, entitled "Bhakti Ranjani." It is a purely devotional programme that is still in vogue, heard by thousands every morning.

BMK in his newer stint as a Music Producer broke new ground. In his he picked up the poetry of poets, known and unknown, and tuned them to fit the genre of Lalitha Sangeetam or light music. Retaining the classicism of the different rāgas, selected with an ear for the spirit of a particular song, he fashioned a phenomenon of sorts - elevating the light music in stature than the usual come down that it was light in music.

The various compositions, devotional or poetry, got a face-lift with the tunes of Balamuralikrishna. It placed a feather on the cap of AIR, Vijayawada. Thanks to the efforts of BMK then, even today the programme is very popular and is listened to by thousands, every morning, from even outside the state.

BMK soon regained his sonorous voice, sweeter than earlier. Melody, fluency to execute any phrase at an incredible speed with felicity, and his extraordinary creative ability soon paved the way for the immense musical prosperity that followed. Prodigious output in the form of extraordinary concerts, renditions, recordings - classical and light music, and musical features were part of the musical prosperity that the thousands of connoisseurs of muraligānam inherited.

We offer some of these recordings that have been restored from that period of resurgence of muraligānam.

Valapulélané vinta talapulélané is a composition of Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, is based on the rāga Hamsavinódini.

In this poem, the poet says “Life without love is barren. Within the mind rise curious thoughts based on sweet emotions. The world appears like you. You are everything to me as you say with a smiling face”

Please enjoy them as testimony to the proverbial story of musical prosperity from emotional adversity.

My sincere thanks and appreciation to Sri. T K Ramkumar for his narration for this album.