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 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 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. 
    
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

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: 

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.

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

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 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 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

Hamsavinodini - Chittai Swara

Hariye Gati - Chittai Swara