Poornachander with Pappu Gnandev on the violin, Burra Sriram on the mridangam, and Raghu Hari on the morsing.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Versatility was the hallmark of M. Balamuralikrishna. An unconventional and experimental approach marked his musical journey. Apart from being a gifted vocalist, he was a composer, instrumentalist, percussionist and a guru. Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha recently organised P. Purnachander’s concert, on M. Balamuralikrishna’s remembrance day.
An accomplished violinist and proficient vocalist, Purnachander had the rare privilege of learning from two legendary musicians — Lalgudi Jayaraman and M. Balamuralikrishna. And in this concert, his repertoire comprised kritis mostly composed by Balamuralikrishna.
Purnachander began with the popular varnam ‘Omkara pranava’ in raga Shanmukhapriya, which has several swarakshara prayogas.
He then rendered Balamuralikrishna’s Tamil composition on Ganesha, ‘Pirai aniyum perumaan mainthan’ in raga Hamsadhwani. It has a captivating chittaswara and the kalpanaswaras that Purnachander rendered were soulful. Pappu Gnanadev’s responses on the violin was equally enjoyable. An Engineering graduate, Gnanadev, was born and brought up in a family of musicians and was groomed by senior vocalist Pantula Rama.
Purnachander’s next was a kriti composed by Balamuralikrishna on his guru, Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu. The kriti was ‘Guruni smarimpumu’ in raga Hamsavinodini. He followed it up with the Kamavardhini piece on goddess Bala. The chittaswaram enhanced the appeal of the piece and Purnachander chose the charanam line ‘Raaka nishaakara bimbaanane’ for niraval.
Rare raga
Like his guru Balamuralikrishna, who is known for his compositions in rare ragas, Purnachander too chose to present the rarely heard Tanarupi. His choice of kriti was ‘Shri ramam sada bhajeham’. After this came an elaborate Sankarabharanam alapana, and an elegant response from Gnanadev, followed by the Tyagaraja kriti ‘Manasu swaadheenamaina’ in Mishra Chapu. The swaras were at pallavi.
Purnachander next rendered his own composition on his guru. After an alapana in Saurashtram, he rendered the kriti ‘Entho bhagu murali ravam’. The anupallavi described how Balamuralikrishna trained under Ramakrishnayya, while the charanam highlighted his musical prowess and personality.
The thani by Burra Sriram (mridangam), an IT professional, and Raghuram Hari (morsing), a teacher was well-planned and presented.
After Balamuralikrishna’s Bhimpalas composition, ‘Paraakelane o paraambike’ came his Tamil piece in Charukesi, ‘Thunai neeye kumara’ and Purnachander did full justice to it. He followed it up with yet another Tamil piece, ‘Jaya jaya gurunatha’, a guru keerthanai by Balamuralikrishna set in the rare raga Vallabhi.
Before he wound up his concert with the popular Brindavani thillana, ‘Dheen nanana’, Purnachander chose to render ten shlokas (Dasasloka) in praise of Balamuralikrishna, composed by Amarnath Sarma. Purnachander concluded with Madhyamavathi piece ‘Mangalam giri tanaye’(Misra Chapu, Balamuralikrishna).
The Chennai-based reviewer writes on Carnatic music.