A Visualisation of a VOCAL Concert on Spool - Dr. M Balamuralikrishna - 19 June 1977

In early October 2019, Smt. Mahathi Srinivas (daughter of Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna [BMK]) sent me an old spool tape, given to her by a benevolent curator.

A handwritten note on the paper case of the spool indicated to me that it was a live concert of BMK held on the 18th and the 19th of June, 1977.

The spool was carefully packed and sent to my distinguished friend Sri. Ravi Joshi in the USA for restoration and digitisation.

Sri. Joshi, despite his pressing commitments, has diligently cleaned the old tape and digitised the contents of the spool which was later further cleaned and remastered. Now it is being offered to you.

Before sharing some thoughts on the contents of the spool, I would like to gratefully acknowledge the generous gesture of Smt. Mahathi Srinivas’s contribution, and Sri. Joshi’s devotion in his meticulous transfer of the contents of the spool. My sincere thanks for their support in our endeavour towards music for posterity.

The two recordings in the spool are a viola solo concert of 18th June 1977 and a vocal concert held on the following day, 19th June 1977. The contents in the spool are the first-off of the concerts held on these two days. This means, we have only about 1h 30m of recording from both the concerts. I must say, without the help of both Smt. Mahathi and Sri. Joshi, these parts of the concerts too would have remained unknown and melted away in the sands of time.

BMK in his long musical journey, spanning over several decades had the opportunity of accompanying many masters of Carnatic Music on viola and violin including his own adorable guru, Sri Parupalli Ramakrishnaiah Pantulu.

The flyers of the music programmes of 1940’s stand as a testimony to tell us that BMK accompanied his own guru on the violin or viola, in a concert series which was followed by his own vocal concert on the following day. This pattern of playing viola or violin followed by a vocal concert on day 2 might have been a practice for some years in those golden times.

This concerts of 18th and 19th June 1977 also appear to be one such rare sample of presentation of versatility par excellence of the musical genius – Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna.

The concerts are presented in two albums. To provide you an ambience of a vintage concert setting, the actual footage of Sri. Joshi’s spool machine playing the actual spool is looped and rendered with markers for each piece presented.

Hope the visualisation together with the music would take you to those times of nostalgic moments when the maestro performed.

On listening to these recordings, Sri. Purnachander gāru informed me that these live concerts were arranged for posterity by All India Radio and recorded them. While Sri. Purnachander himself accompanied BMK on the violin, Sri. Guruvayur Dorai played the mridangam.

Is it a coincidence that a posterity intended by AIR finding its way through this YouTube channel to continue its journey further?

Here are the details of the VOCAL concert, dated 19th June 1977
00:00 🌹 Welcome to the album " A Visualisation of a VOCAL Concert on Spool "
00:00:06 🎵01 - Mahanīya namassulivé - Sumukham - Rūpakam - BMK
00:14:17 🎵02 - Sudhā madhurya bhāshaña - Sindhurāmakriya - Ādi - Tyagaraja
00:18:42 🎵03 - Vāchama gócharame - Simhāravam - Ādi - Tyagaraja
00:26:53 🎵04 - Kamaladalayāta - Bahudāri - Ādi - BMK
00:34:07 🎵05 - Appā Rāma bhakti entó - Pantuvarāli - Rūpakam - Tyagaraja
00:41:18 🎵06 - Dākshayañi Abhayāmbiké - Tódi - Rūpakam - Muthuswami Dikshitar

Видео A Visualisation of a VOCAL Concert on Spool - Dr. M Balamuralikrishna - 19 June 1977 канала Music for Posterity : Sreenivasa Murthy