TIL Desk Bollywood/ Veteran musician M Balamuralikrishna passed away on Tuesday in Chennai. He was 86. The legendary Carnatic singer had not been keeping well for the past few days. Born in Sankaraguptham in Andhra Pradesh, Balamuralikrishna started singing at the young age of six. He was well-versed in Carnatic vocal music, viola and violin.
The singer is known to have collaborated with musicians like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Pandit Harisprasad Chaurasia, among others and has performed in over 25,000 concerts worldwide. The singer had also composed for several films and even acted in a few films.
He is the only South Indian artiste who, on invitation, sang Tagore’s Rabindra Sangeet in All India Radio to preserve it for posterity. He was the recipient of several awards including the Padma Shri and the Padma Vibhushan, Knights of the Order of Arts and Letters awarded by the French Government and the Gandhi Memorial Medal, UNESCO, amongst others.
Many would remember the veteran singer from the iconic DD special song Mile Sur Mera Tumhara which featured several renowned musicians, actors, sports stars along with Balamuralikrishna.