Poornachander with Pappu Gyandev on violin, Burra Sriram on mridangam and Raghu Hari on morsing. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Versatility was the hallmark of M. Balamuralikrishna. An unorthodox and experimental approach marked his musical journey. Apart from being a talented singer, he was also a musician, instrumentalist, percussionist and a guru. Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha recently organized P. Purnachander’s concert on the memory day of M. Balamuralikrishna.
An accomplished violinist and accomplished singer, Poornachander had the rare fortune of learning from two renowned musicians – Lalgudi Jayaraman and M. Balamuralikrishna. And in this concert, his repertoire consisted mostly of works composed by Balamuralikrishna.
Poornachander started with the popular varnam ‘Omkara Pranava’ in raga Shanmukhpriya, which uses several swaraksharas.
He then performed Balamuralikrishna’s Tamil composition ‘Pirai Aniyum Peruman Menthan’ on Ganesha in the raga Hansadhwani. It has a captivating Chitteswara and the Kalpanaswaras rendered by Purnachander were soulful. Pappu Gyandev’s responses on violin were equally enjoyable. An engineering graduate, Gyandev was born and brought up in a family of musicians and was groomed by veteran singer Pantula Ram.
Purnachander’s next work was composed by Balamuralikrishna on his guru, Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu. The work was ‘Guruni Smarimpumu’ in raga Hansavinodini. After this he applied a piece of Kamavardhini on Goddess Bala. Chittaswaram increased the appeal of the piece and Poornachander chose the charanam line ‘Raka Nishakar Bimbananane’ for Niraval.
rare melody
Like his guru Balamuralikrishna, known for his compositions in rare ragas, Purnachander chose to present a rarely heard tonality. His choice of masterpiece was ‘Shri Ramam Sada Bhajeham’. This was followed by an elaborate Shankarabharanam alapana, and a beautiful response from Jnanadeva, followed by the Tyagaraja kriti ‘Manasu Swadhinmaina’ in Misra Chapu. The vocals were in Pallavi.
Purnachander further presented his creation to his guru. After an alapana in Saurashtram, he rendered the work ‘Antho Bhagu Murali Raavam’. Anupallavi describes how Balamuralikrishna trained under Ramakrishnaiah, while Charanam highlights his musical prowess and personality.
Thani was well planned and presented by Burra Sriram (Mridangam), an IT professional, and Raghuram Hari (Morsing), a teacher.
After Balamuralikrishna’s Bhimpalas composition, ‘Parakelane O Parambike’ came his Tamil piece in Charukesi, ‘Thunai Neye Kumara’ and Poornachander did full justice to it. He followed this with another Tamil work ‘Jaya Jaya Gurunath’, set in the rare raga Vallabhi with guru keertanai by Balamuralikrishna.
Before he ended his concert with the popular Vrindavani Thillana, ‘Dheen Nanana’, Purnachander chose to render ten verses (daslokas) in praise of Balamuralikrishna composed by Amarnath Sarma. Poornachander concluded with the Madhyamavati masterpiece ‘Mangalam Giri Tanaye’ (Mishra Chapu, Balamuralikrishna).
Chennai-based critic writes on Carnatic music.