News - Views - Reviews |
DR. M BALAMURALIKRISHNA - THE INIMITABLE MASTER, PART 1 |
Before he embarked on his current tour of
the UK and US, Dr. Balamuralikrishna was honoured by the Vishakha
Music Academy with the title of Nada Vidya Bharati, carrying a purse of
Rs. 1 lakh. Soon afterwards, Carnatica contacted him and requested him for
an interview, which he readily consented to grant. We take this
opportunity to thank him for the same.
Over to this master of all trades and jack of none! The interviewer is Lalitha Ganeshan. |
Yes. They wanted to give me the award on August 11th but I told them that it would not be possible for me to make it on that date. They immediately advanced the date for my sake. I was conferred the title of Nada Vidya Bharati.
I have no award that I think is different from another. Each and every award that I have received so far is equally important. If I treat some award as special then it means that I don’t treat others on the same plane. My website has details of all my awards.
I don’t really await awards. If people feel like giving me an award, they give it to me, and I take it if I am satisfied with it. If not I don’t take them. I don’t expect awards at all. If someone feels like honouring me with an award, I accept it happily. If not also I am equally happy.
I had only one Guru. You should have only one wife; similarly, you should have only one Guru. My Guru was Parupalli Ramakrishna Pantulu.
I started giving concerts at the age of 9.
I have never been to school. Others feel I am a prodigy, I don’t think so.
Yes. I was hardly 9; they were all about 50-60 years old. I was also a top-ranking artiste then. I have actually provided violin accompaniment for them.
My parents were not intersted at all. They didn't support me either. They infact didn't want me to sing at all. It all just happened. They did not even encourage me.
Nobody actually. I was on my own and I was my own inspiration. Music was my inspiration.
I don’t know much about today’s child prodigies. I am not even interested in them nowadays. The only child prodigy of yesteryears was T R Mahalingam. There may be many prodigies now, but those days were totally different from today. |
Await Part 2 of this interview! Coming next week! |
Posted on September 5, 2002 |