From: mani@aix.Berkeley.EDU (Mani Varadarajan)
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical
Subject: Re: M.D.R.- The musician among musicians ?
Date: 6 Apr 92 17:54:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: aix.MANI.92Apr6125400
	<9204020037.AA05091@cec1.wustl.edu>
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
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In-reply-to: sp2@cec1.wustl.edu's message of 1 Apr 1992 18:39:02 -0600


<sp2@cec1.wustl.edu (Sundara Pandian)> writes, regarding MDR:

>>I wonder whether he was awarded Sangeetha Kalanidhi at all..

No, unfortunately, MDR was never awarded the Sangeeta Kalanidhi.
Rumor has it that he has reincarnated as a cat that roams around
the Music Academy, still waiting for the coveted title.

>     A careful evaluation of all mentioned musicians leads me to say that
> Dr.BALAMURALI KRISHNA is the musician among musicians. He is one who can play
> all musical instruments. He has composed a lot of ragas and kritis. 

I do not intend this to be a war as to who is the best musician, 
because in the end such a question is unresolvable; however, it
is important to discuss the merits and demerits of particular
musicians.  While it is true that Balamurali is a genius, and that
he was a very good classical Carnatic musician in days of yore, 
I must say that his performances these days (on Doordarshan as well
as elsewhere) do not do justice to Carnatic music.  

We have, first of all, the 4-svara raga that he ``created'' (its
name currently escapes me) and in which he composed the song
``umaa sutam namaami''.  In addition to beind quite unmelodic (the
gaps between the svaras are too large for depth of gamakam), the
raga violates the principle that all ragas must have at least
5 svaras in them.

He has shown great originality in composition, but his
destruction of the tunes of such standard kritis as ``devi
brova samayaamide'' (in Chintayami Ragam, by Syama Sastri) and
``jagadoddharana'' is quite unpleasant. And to witness his
distortion of ragas, all one has to do is watch the Svara Raga
Sudha episode on Doordarshan where he introduced
Kharaharapriya.  I don't recall what raga it was that he sang,
but it sure wasn't Kharaharapriya.

>      M.D.R.'s career is not that impressive. He has style.Noone can deny that.

MDR certainly doesn't seem to have shown the productive capacity
that Balamurali has, but as Carnatic *music* goes, I must say that MDR
appeals to me far more.  The reasons for this are simple: MDR
has a commanding baritone, and slowly develops ragas and kritis.
In his prime, he showed a unique creativity that few have had. 
For example, there is a (poor) recording of his Sriragam alaapana at 
the Krishna Gana Sabha in Madras. His gradual development of the
ragam, with embellishments here and there, is quite thrilling. 

Balamurali, on the other hand, seems to enjoy gimmicks of late, and
his tendency to overmodulate his voice really irritates me.  

If this thread continues, please be sure to be specific as to
what aspects of each performer's music appeals to you and why;
I hope I have done this above. Otherwise we well just descend
into a flame war, a la SCI.

	-- Mani			   mani@sprite.berkeley.edu
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical