‘He could sing lower than the lowest note of the violin’

I have had the good fortune of learning from him directly, 30 of the songs which he had composed. He taught me to surrender to music. Whenever I got nervous on stage, he would tell me that we, as artists, are just a medium; the music plays by itself.

I remember an anecdote, when he was teaching me one of his compositions in Telugu, which he had created before I joined him. Since I didn’t understand Telugu, he translated this composition, which was about a beautiful violinist. He casually remarked that he had composed about me even before he met me (laughs).

As a performer, he was always giving a helping hand to fellow accompanists. When we were performing at Dover Lane in Kolkata to an audience of over 8,000 people, the strings of my instrument had loosened. I was nervous and took a few minutes to fix it. Seeing my struggle, Dr Balamuralikrishna started singing, keeping the audience occupied till I was ready to play. He was a performer who could size up an artist within the first two notes. He would know the artist’s strength and sing in a way that would bring out the best in the accompanying musician. 

Dr Balamuralikrishna could play many instruments – viola, mridangam, flute, violin and many others. He could sing lower than the lowest note of the violin. He was truly a legendary musician and a guru, who is very dear to me.