The Universality of Music in Muraliganam - M Balamuralikrishna - Live at Raja Annamalai Hall (1975)

More than 3 decades ago in a concert, Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (BMK) spoke for a few minutes after being honoured by the organisers. He was speaking about the various saint composers. He said after a thoughtful pause, “Music has no language ....,” paused again for a while, and with a twinkle in his eyes continued with an aphorism of his own by adding, “.....and, musicians have no age”. The entire auditorium roared in laughter and applauded him for his spontaneity, for that alliterated phrase, and for his animated manner in saying it. Unfortunately, the immensity of his first statement was lost to us then due the humour he pulled off with his second statement. It is much like his music, whose profundity appears as mere melody until one attempts to sing one of his lines. Fast forwarding to a reflection triggered by a heartening comment, posted a few days ago by a rasika in this channel, reinforced what BMK said then. The rasika said, “BMK’s music is helping me in understanding my own nature in a great way, making me feel closer to my dear God, Sri Hari. I am a native Hindi speaker and do not understand the language of lyrics in the songs uploaded here; yet I feel it (the music) in every thread of the fabric of my life.,” Contemplating upon what the maestro had said as a revelation then and what the aficionado has experienced on listening to his music now, melted the timeline in my mind and revealed a hidden principle to grasp -- the universality of music. The vintage concert offered here is one such example to experience “The Universality of Music in Muraligānam”, to transcend the notional boundaries of language and only impart the “music of rasānubhava” for all those who seek. Today is 21st June and is celebrated as the world music day or fête de la Musique everywhere. The concert presented here finds its relevance and importance in making us experience the universality of music just by listening to it, even without following the lyrics of Tamil or Telugu. In other words, the facet of versatility that makes use of the platform of a language to convey the transcending principle of universality of music. The vintage concert that we are discussing here is from 1975. The concert was organised by Tamil Isai Sangam and was held at Raja Annamalai Hall in Chennai. BMK was accompanied by V Thyagarajan (violin), Ramanathapuram M N Kandaswamy (mridangam) , V Nagarajan (khanjira) and an unidentified morsing artiste. The platform of languages, in the form of compositions and their renditions presented here, reminds me of da Vinci’s observation “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Some are short pieces, sung only as a composition (without rāgālāpana or svara-vinyāsam), to give the effect of comprehensiveness in music and depth in emotion; while the others, much like a detailed treatise, makes the listener to relax and enjoy without the need to fully understand much of the complexities that they contains, be it a rāgālāpana, tānam, sāhitya-vinyāsam or svara-vinyāsam. There are compositions of Tyagaraja and BMK in this concert. The main item is in the rāga Tódi, a Tamil composition of an unknown composer on the presiding deity of Vāranāsi (Kāshi). A transliteration and translation of the same can be found in the comments section. Another major component of this aural treat is the presentation of a KRT (Kriti-Rāga-Tāna) in the rāga Móhana, a creative offshoot of RTP (Rāgam-Tānam-Pallavi). BMK’s true commitment in driving the universality of music has no time for anything that interrupts his focus. This becomes evident to the listener, as he or she participates in BMK’s journey in music. 00:00 🌹 Welcome to the album " The Universality of Music in Muralīgānam" 00:00:10 ❇️01 - Swara-vinyāsam - Hamsadwani - Ādi - BMK 00:07:45 ❇️02 - Sogasujuda tarama - Kannadagowla - Rūpaka - Tyāgarāja 00:13:20 ❇️03 - Paramāthmudu - Vāgadheeshwari - Ādi - Tyāgarāja 00:28:30 ❇️04 - Varuga varuga - Pantuvarāli - Ādi - BMK 00:46:53 ❇️05 - Darisika véndum - Tódi - Ādi - Composer TBI 01:35:20 ❇️06 - Ayé kalaikkelām -Móhana - Ādi - BMK 01:58:00 ❇️07 - Laya-vinyāsam - Kandaswamy & Nagarajan - Ādi 02:16:25 ❇️08 - Tunai neeye - Chārukéshi - Ādi - BMK 02:23:07 ❇️09 - Tillāna - Dwijāvanti - Ādi - BMK Enjoy the Muralīgānam, embracing the universality of music.