Legendary Carnatic musician and genius Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna turned 81 on Tuesday. Born on July 6, 1930, the multi-faceted Dr. Balamuralikrishna, is known as a musician with a Midas touch. At ease with composing, writing, singing and directing, he is also hailed as an innovator and is very popular for his vintage film music. He has discovered many new ragas such as Mahati, Sumukham, Sarvasri, Prati Madhyamavati, Ganapati and Siddhi. Known for his versatility, he is at home in multiple languages such as Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and French. Dr. Balamuralikrishna is also an expert in playing the violin, viola, veena, mridangam and kanjira. A prolific composer, he has composed several varnams, kritis, tillanas, and jaavalis. He has also composed in all the 72 melakarta ragas.
The MBK Trust has been established with Dr. Balamuralikrishna as its founder trustee with the object of developing art and culture and to do extensive research in Music Therapy. A dance and music school VIPANCHEE is a part of the trust and is run by his managing trustee Kalaimamani Saraswati.