A day before the 87th birth anniversary of legendary vocalist Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, the government declared it as an annual State function. Pursuing the requests made by the Director of Language and Culture, the government declared that the birth date, July 6, would be celebrated as State function every year, a GO released on Wednesday said.
The order also said the ‘Government School of Music and Dance, would be rechristened as ‘Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna Government School of Music and Dance.’ Also, an award would be initiated in the name of Balamuralikrishna which would carry a cash prize of ₹1 lakh and would be given every year on July 6 to a reputed vocal, Carnatic musician.
Scholarships would be given in the name of the legendary vocalist to 10 meritorious students in the Carnatic vocal music of the State.
Primary eligibility for the scholarship would be the completion of the certificate course and each student would be given ₹10,000 per year.
The government would also record 300 kirtanas composed by Balamuralikrishna in audio format. Balamuralikrishna was born on July 6, 1930, in Sankaraguptam village in East Godavari District and died in Chennai on November 22, 2016 at the age of 86.
