In unison
CONFLUENCE OF ARTS: Balamuralikrishna sings as A. V. Ilango paints in the background. Photo: M. Karunakaran.
Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna was a prodigy who had composed kritis in all the 72 melakarta ragas in Telugu, Sanksrit and Tamil, when he was just 14. Vipanchi Trust has published these compositions in six languages — Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English.
At the launch of these publications at the Forum Art Gallery recently, musicologist B.M. Sundaram spoke of the author and his oeuvre, and traced the history of melakarta ragas.
The books were released by Sri Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty and received by Dr. Thyagarajan, Vice Chancellor, University of Madras.
Priya Jayaraman performed a dance for one of Dr. Balamuralikrishna's compositions in the melakarta raga Rishabhapriya, following which was the performance by Srikanth and Ashwati for the kriti in Gayakapriya.
The major attraction was a vocal performance by Dr. Balamuralikrishna; as he sang, artist A.V. Ilango painted, with sweeping strokes of the palette knife.
How the two could be linked was anyone's guess. Even as the first note emanated from the veteran's voice, the artist had applied a few strokes in different colours. Thus one drawing inspiration from the other did not seem possible. Such an event is nothing new; several years ago Bhimsen Joshi sang while M.F. Hussain painted.
LAKSHMI VENKATRAMAN
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