Telangana News

Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (86), the popular Carnatic vocalist, playback singer and composer, passed away just a while at his residence in Chennai.

After having lunch in the afternoon, he rested for a while by sleeping, which was his daily habit. But he was found dead, when the family members, tried to wake him up in the evening.

Born in Sankaraguptam, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, on July 6th 1930, Balamuralikrishna’s journey in music is inspiring to the several aspiring musicians. His father was a well known musician and could play the Flute, Violin and Veena and his mother was an excellent Veena player. 

His mother died when he was an infant and Balamuralikrishna was raised by his father. Observing his penchant for music, his father put him under the tutelage of Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu, a direct descendant of the shishya parampara of Tyagaraja.

For his contribution towards the Indian Art, Mangalampalli was awarded several popular awards like Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan etc. In 2005, he was made Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2005.

He composed over 400 compositions in various languages like Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada and Tamil. His compositions range from Devotional to Varnams, Krithis, Javalis and Thillans, in all the fundamental 72 melakartha ragas to film music.

Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna even made his acting debut with Bhakta Prahlada (1967) under AVM Productions as Narada, and even continued to act in several films later on.