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The Many Lives of Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna: An Authorized Biography
Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, the internationally renowned Carnatic vocalist, was a child prodigy and proficient at a number of musical instruments. He was a school dropout, a teenage poet and composer, a restless mind, a versatile musician, a polyglot, wordsmith, pioneer and an unparalleled musical genius, and this is the story of the many lives of the iconic maestro. With in-depth research into archival material, fortified by interviews with his family, disciples and peers, Veejay Sai's definitive biography of Balamuralikrishna traces his journey in the world of music, a place of beauty as well as egos.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 22, 2022
This biography shall be heralded as one of the finest works in the literary world in the time to come. Masterpiece of a book, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READ, for it unravels the world of a genius to us, the lesser mortals.
Writing this review will be quite a task for me, for one who has grown up listening to his songs. This could be a bit lengthy review for there is a lot of ground to cover, both the book and the man himself.
The first impact i.e. the cover page is brilliant. It showcases the objective of the book in a simple, yet effective manner. The one striking aspect of the book is the humungous amount of research that has gone into this. The author should be specially lauded for creating such an extensive life sketch of a genius.
The author starts off the book with an absolute brilliant section i.e. The music of Telugus. This section has captured tons of information on the various forms and experts from the Telugu land who have graced this earth and blessed her with their compositions. One of the most striking aspects of this section is the part on the Ashta Diggajas from Krishnadevaraya’s court. The author has named each one of them. Absolutely brilliant !!!. The section also has rich information on the sequence of events and circumstances that lead to Chennai becoming the Carnatic capital of India.
Each chapter and sub-section makes one more aspect of this virtuoso known to the wider world. One of my favourite incidents from the book (which I wasn’t aware) relates to one of my favourite artiste, Chembai Vaidyanathan Bhagavathar. A genius in his own right, the magnanimity of him to perform the “Gandapendaram” cermony to MBK has many lessons to be learnt.
One of my other favourite chapters is “The magic of Murali Gaanam”. This is yet another must read chapter. Personally, anecdotes from my favourite authors like Ralflapalli Ananthakrishna Sharma, Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh was an added icing on the cake.
The author has to be commended a lot for ensuring that the controversial aspects like Abhayambika or Saraswati weren’t left out. The author has also dealt with the Raaga controversy in an objective manner.
The book can get technical, but the brilliance of the author is to ensure that the reader doesn’t get lost in technicality. There’s just enough information to keep everyone enthused.
While the book is definitely a massive work of love, respect and hardwork, there are some aspects that could potentially get revised in future revisions. Some aspects repeat a couple of times which made me a feel bit off.
So what do we take out of this book? For me, this book had a similar impact on me as my most favourite book, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. The story of Dr. MBK was nothing short of a Fountainhead. A revolutionary genius, an ever encouraging guru, a generous magnanimous genius, a person who has made potentially one of the largest contributions to Sastriya Sangeetha for a long time to come.
One can write more, but I guess the flavour of the creation has to be savoured individually. The end of the book i.e. acknowledgement section ends with my eternal favourite “Endaro mahanubhavulu ….”
Writing this review will be quite a task for me, for one who has grown up listening to his songs. This could be a bit lengthy review for there is a lot of ground to cover, both the book and the man himself.
The first impact i.e. the cover page is brilliant. It showcases the objective of the book in a simple, yet effective manner. The one striking aspect of the book is the humungous amount of research that has gone into this. The author should be specially lauded for creating such an extensive life sketch of a genius.
The author starts off the book with an absolute brilliant section i.e. The music of Telugus. This section has captured tons of information on the various forms and experts from the Telugu land who have graced this earth and blessed her with their compositions. One of the most striking aspects of this section is the part on the Ashta Diggajas from Krishnadevaraya’s court. The author has named each one of them. Absolutely brilliant !!!. The section also has rich information on the sequence of events and circumstances that lead to Chennai becoming the Carnatic capital of India.
Each chapter and sub-section makes one more aspect of this virtuoso known to the wider world. One of my favourite incidents from the book (which I wasn’t aware) relates to one of my favourite artiste, Chembai Vaidyanathan Bhagavathar. A genius in his own right, the magnanimity of him to perform the “Gandapendaram” cermony to MBK has many lessons to be learnt.
One of my other favourite chapters is “The magic of Murali Gaanam”. This is yet another must read chapter. Personally, anecdotes from my favourite authors like Ralflapalli Ananthakrishna Sharma, Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh was an added icing on the cake.
The author has to be commended a lot for ensuring that the controversial aspects like Abhayambika or Saraswati weren’t left out. The author has also dealt with the Raaga controversy in an objective manner.
The book can get technical, but the brilliance of the author is to ensure that the reader doesn’t get lost in technicality. There’s just enough information to keep everyone enthused.
While the book is definitely a massive work of love, respect and hardwork, there are some aspects that could potentially get revised in future revisions. Some aspects repeat a couple of times which made me a feel bit off.
So what do we take out of this book? For me, this book had a similar impact on me as my most favourite book, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. The story of Dr. MBK was nothing short of a Fountainhead. A revolutionary genius, an ever encouraging guru, a generous magnanimous genius, a person who has made potentially one of the largest contributions to Sastriya Sangeetha for a long time to come.
One can write more, but I guess the flavour of the creation has to be savoured individually. The end of the book i.e. acknowledgement section ends with my eternal favourite “Endaro mahanubhavulu ….”
January 1, 2025
A must read for Balamuralikrishna fans!
March 10, 2023
The book is packed with information about Dr. Balamuralikrishna. The reader is introduced to many of his compositions and the nuances of his compositions are also explained well. It is also helpful that the compositions are named with the ragam and new thalams are also explained well. The book covers all aspects of Balamuralikrishna's music - film, carnatic compositions, jugalbandhis with other artists, dance compositions.
But the book is badly edited. The overall narrative isn't clear. The author jumps from one topic to another. For example, I would have liked to see both sides of the arguments to the Raha controversy in the same chapter and not across chapters. Some of quotes are just in original languages and not transliterated which makes it difficult for readers who cannot read the script. The translations aren't always given. The author also assumes knowledge of carnatic music. When one starts reading the book, one is bombarded by similar sounding names without knowing where this narrative was going. An index of names, a glossary with definitions of important words for lay readers who enjoy Dr. Balamuralikrishna's music would be really helpful.
But the book is badly edited. The overall narrative isn't clear. The author jumps from one topic to another. For example, I would have liked to see both sides of the arguments to the Raha controversy in the same chapter and not across chapters. Some of quotes are just in original languages and not transliterated which makes it difficult for readers who cannot read the script. The translations aren't always given. The author also assumes knowledge of carnatic music. When one starts reading the book, one is bombarded by similar sounding names without knowing where this narrative was going. An index of names, a glossary with definitions of important words for lay readers who enjoy Dr. Balamuralikrishna's music would be really helpful.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews