1. MYSTICS OF MURALI MUSIC
This article has been presented to the whole interest of rasikas
and in particular students and fans of Dr M
BalamuraliKrishna. Articles in the past talk in plenty about his
functional abilities and biography. This is a small attempt to
describe his technical dynamism.
Sangeetha Saarvabhouma, Sangeetha Samrat, Sangeetha
Kalanidhi Dr M Balamuralikrishna is a unique musical
phenomenon of the 20th century. He is a complete musician,
complete Rasika, a child of destiny nurtured by his musical
sadhana and aided by the laws of nature “success begets
success”
During our Q&A sessions Balamurali Sir always says

2. that music cannot be documented, it only has to be
experienced. One would catch the connotation of his words
when he/she kicks off to pen down a few things about his
music. I am sure that one would suffer from Alphamia,
Wordomia, Sentomia (deficiency of alphabets, words and
sentences respectively) during an attempt to outline his vast
repertoire of technical prowess.
The music fraternity accepts that he is “One of the kind”
whether be it his voice, his clarity of diction, his
Multilingualism , skill to sing ragas like Raghavardhini,
Jyothiswaroopini like he sings Kalyani or Shankarabharana,
the way he keeps the audience guessing which raga he has
actually begun, his technique of Graha Bedham swinging
from the original raga to Bedha raga like a Pendulum, his
compositional style whether it be Varna, a Ragamalika, a Gati
Bedha kriti, a Thillana; his Sarva Laghu Swaram equalling the
velocity of river Alaka, his Intellectually-Intuitioned Swara
Akshara called Poruttam today, his Dwi raga Pallavis, his
selection of ragas applicable for tonal shift, new Mukhi Tala
system, composing a Pallavi without Sahitya, singing a four
note raga( Saadharitha Raga) and still giving the crowd a feel
of Sampoorna raga, his presence of mind to sing the Kanakku
the Mrudangam player played on the last Avartham, his
brilliant Karvai patterns, the unconventional Mukthayam and
the list just goes on and on and on.
In short Balamurali Krishna is a musician who does not play
the game according to well established rules. He reverses
tradition, but not its trappings. He does not regard all that is
said in its name as sacrosanct. However, over my years of
observation it is strange that his name is excluded when dealt
with abstractions like Grahabedha, Dwi Nade, Dwi Raga

3. Pallavis, Thillanas, Karvai, Poruttam though his contributions
have been plenty and sometimes stands alone in doing so.
So, the objective of this article would be to bring out his Bani
of Swaraprastaram. Before we get into the intricate let us first
understand what a Kalpana Swaram is and its facets.
Kalpana Swaram is derived from the verb Krupi SAmarthye.
SAmarthya refers to potential while kalpana refers to
creativity. Kalpana Swara in a nutshell refers to the LayakAri
raga delineation with the right combination of Ganamakas.
This article, although by no means exhaustive, aims to
demystify some of the elements of Kalpana Swaram singing
as per traditional norms and the way Balamurali Krishna
looks at it. Please find the accompanying links at the end of
the article, I have sung examples of the various aspects
discussed in the article to help illustrate the techniques.
In a typical scenario, the musician chooses a point in a song (
Pallvi, Anu Pallavi or Charanam or Pallavi in Ragam Thanam
Pallavi exposition and breaks into Kalpana Swarams. I’ve
attempted to enumerate some interesting aspects of Kalpana
Swaram singing.
1) Progression from Simple to Complex:
A typical example of Kalpana Swara singing starts off with
short, simple Swarams which may be a few notes long and
progresses into longer and more complex patterns. Each round
of Kalpana swarams ends at the particular point in the lyric
chosen.

4. 2) Importance of “Eduppu”:
“Eduppu” denotes the starting point of the lyric that follows
each round of Kalpana Swarams. The Eduppu may be on the
Samam (coinciding with the beat) or AnAgatha (the talam
precedes the music) or AthEtha (the music precedes the
talam). There is no rule or requirement that one has to choose
a particular line of a given song for Kalpana Swaram singing.
Musicians often choose different lines of the same song in
different concerts.
3) Slow and fast tempo Swarams:
Very often, Kalpana Swarams are sung in slow tempo first
and fast tempo subsequently. The sedate, slow tempo (Chauka
KAla) Swarams provide ample scope for Gamaka based and
pidi (typical phrases in a given raga) based exploration of the
raga, while the fast tempo (Dhurita KAla) Swarams add an
exciting crescendo effect and often include interesting
calculations and Swara patterns.
4) “Kanakku” or calculations:
Musicians often use calculations to enhance the flavour of a
Kalpana Swaram rendition. The complexity and extent of use
of calculations depend on the musician’s school of thought
and less often, on the extent of mastery over rhythm (some
musicians are extremely proficient in laya or rhythm and
enjoy performing challenging complex calculations in an ex
tempore fashion).
•Use of some standard calculations or korvais

5. A typical example would be the 5*3 sequence, say in Mohana
Ragam, G R S D P, R S D P G, D P G R S. Some korvais may
be long and take up the span of an entire avartanam (tala
cycle) and may be repeated 3 times with the same basic
rhythmic structure.
•“Poruttams” or calculations customized to eduppu
Instead of using a standardized calculation, the rhythmic
pattern is customized to merge seamlessly with the melodic
pattern of the lyric. Often, the calculation is done so subtly
that the listener may not even realize its complexity!
5) Sarva Laghu Swarams:
This style of swaram singing brings out the beauty of the raga
without resorting to heavy calculation. When employed
skilfully, it greatly compounds the overall harmony of rhythm
and melody.
6) Focal notes/patterns:
Traversing up and down the scale without any patterns or
focal points will result in monotony and the performer will
likely run out of ideas. One technique that is often employed
is the use of “focal notes”. These notes are chosen to suit the
raga in hand, and patterns are built around that given note.
Some times the same pattern can be sung with different focus.
7) Koraippu:

6. Often performed as a finishing touch to the Kalpana Swarams
Koraippu (literally meaning reduction) involves starting with
longer Swaram patterns say, 5-8 Avartanams and
progressively performing shorter patterns (2, 1, ½, ¼
avartanams etc). The alternation between the Vocalist and
Violinist provides an interesting contrast.
THE GRAND MURALI BANI
Balamurali sir believes in making complex things looks too
simple; at the same time makes simple things look extremely
complex. His short Swarams are typically out of the
traditional circuit, but he still excels in singing phrases like
MPN...PMS in Amruthavarshini, PMGS..RG in Kalyani
without tampering the essence of the raga.
When it comes to Eduppu, he is an expert to take up unheard
and not frequently used or never used point in the kriti for his
swara rendering. One good example would be “Shobillu
Sapthaswara” in the Raga Jaganmohini. Traditionally
musicians choose Shobillu for swara prastaram. Some go
ahead and display their vidwat by choosing the point Sapta
Swara. Now Balamurali Sir goes ahead of all of them and
chooses the point in the Charanam, “ Dara Ruk SAma du la
lo”, he elaborates at “SAma Dulalo”. One needs to keenly
observe that he is not only choosing a unique point but is also
converting the above mentioned shaitya part into the swara
pattern “Sa Ma”. This can be again of two focal points i.e. (in
Sa Ma -> Sa can be the Madhya stayi Sa, he shall also
make it Tara Sa) creating a terrific experience on his listeners.

7. By doing this he shall follow Swara Patterns as follows:
1. Ṡ N P M G R S N Sa | MAdhulalo
2. S N P M G R, S_Ṡ, S_N, S_P,Sa|MAdhulalo
In the above patterns it is important to note the technical
equity he is implementing. It is short yet looks longs when
asked to reproduce, looks simple but seems next to impossible
when asked to repeat, It cannot be called a Konakku at the
same time one cannot betray it, it is also a poruttam but of a
different variety.
Now, we know that he makes a difference. Let’s learn the
differential difference with some more examples.
The next example I would like to take up is “Shambo
Mahadeva” in the raga Kamavardhini. The point he chooses
is Maha Deva in the Anu pallavi which is at the 3½ beat from
the Samam. Now again the Swara formed behind Maha is Ma
Dha. Ma Dha becomes the swarakshara ( Swara and Sahitya).
We shall try to cover all the facet from short swarams to
lengthy and complex patterns by keeping Poruttam constant.
Let’s pick a few examples:
1. SRG | Ma Ha
2. SRG MD_RG MD_G MD_ |Ma Ha
3. ṠNDP MD_NDP MD_DP MD_P MD_|Ma Ha

8. You can notice the Yati being followed along with the
swaraksharam and a different spot chosen for swara and the
eduppu is 3½ beat. This is Balamurali in this format, he is buy
one and take all!
The fare offered is quite a range for even a perceptive listener
as many of them are above comprehension. Let’s take the
example of Hamsadwani and his Focal Note singing.
This is a common phrase “G R S N P G”
Now he treats this phrase in 7 different ways. Take a look:
a) Ġ Ṙ Ṡ N P G
b) G Ṙ Ṡ N P G
c) G R Ṡ N P G
d) G R S N P G
e) G R S Ṇ P G
f) G R S Ṇ P̣ G
g) G R S Ṇ P̣ G̣
He uses this method during his “Korp” with different melodic
patterns to accentuate the effect. With the rollercoaster ride he
has already taken his listeners to now comes the most
interesting and breath taking portion of his swara prastaram
the “Koraippu”.
Traditionally we hear musicians commence their Korapu from
2 avartams, come to 1 avartham then ½, ¼. But there is a twist

9. in the tale. Now after Balamurali sir sings ¼ he proceeds and
goes to ⅛ and even to ½ of ⅛.
Let us consider the avartham has 32 letters. His first attempt
would be to sing 48 aksharams. He used to follow this method
till 1975; he is actually singing 1½ avarthams. He used to sing
close to 15-20 of 1½ avarthams and then would start the
descend. So from 48 he comes to 32, from 32 to 16, from 16
to 8, 8 to 4. Now comes the tricky part, he now starts the
mixer. He will start alternating between 4,2,1,3 etc with each
pattern ending in one or more focal notes.
It is still not done. He can make it a little more complicate
sometimes. Here is an example.
In a typical Chatusra nadai (4 subdivisions per beat), some
sophisticated techniques include an unlimited tisram (3
subdivisions per beat) which becomes Chatusra Tisram (the
underlying gathi is still chatusra but each note takes up 3/4th
of a beat) i.e. for 4 intervals accommodating only 3 notes.
In several of his lecture demonstrations and concerts he has
illustrated with examples of how a chittai swara or the
mukthaya should end. As defined in Sangeetha Suryodaya
there has to be a connection with the chittai swaram and the
point of the sahityam. The same principle applies to the
mukthayam. We can observe Mrudanga Vidwan Palghat
Raghu sir adopted this technique during his Tani
Avarthanams. The Mukthayam is a part of the song and not an
independent entity so is the tani.
I have sung a Chittai Swaram from the composition Guruni
Smarimpumu in the raga Hamsavinodini and an other Chittai

10. Swaram from the Raga Malika Composition Hariye Gati.
Swara Prastara files illustrates the Poruttam concept as used
by Dr M Balamuralikrishna.
Audio Links:
Swara-Prastara
https://soundcloud.com/krishna-vaasistha/shambo-mahadeva-swara-prastara
Hamsavinodini - Chittai Swara
https://soundcloud.com/krishna-vaasistha/hamsavinodini-chittai
Hariye Gati - Chittai Swara
https://soundcloud.com/krishna-vaasistha/hariye-gati-chittai