If you know he is Veena Doraiswamy Iyengar’s son, you will see it sets him apart – the lineage, the background, the upbringing and the sheer greatness. If you didn’t know, even then, you will see it does sets him apart. He has made his own contour, he has set his own standards, he has created his own style and he is on his own. Achiever in his own right and musician par excellence, Aparna S in conversation with Shri Balakrishna D
Balakrishna was learning mrudangam from Shri Ayyamani Iyengar who was a contemporary of Palaghat T S Mani Iyer, very early in life when the calling for Veena came and he made the switch when he was 12. It is interesting to know that his father had a different view on this and wanted to make sure that he didn’t force his son into taking up the Veena. He used to say – it should come naturally and not be forced. It was his father’s uncle who told his father to teach him to play. And the journey then began. Balakrishna started playing at the age of 16 – 17 along with his father at concerts and in his lifetime, performed with him across the state, country and abroad and in all the major Sabhas. His first concert was in the year 1975. Balakrishna still recalls the huge moral support he then got from the stalwart mrudangist, Palaghat Raghu. He shares that his father always encouraged him to develop his own technique and style from the very beginning.
One very interesting detail he shares about the legend is that – he never rehearsed for his concerts. This in his early days had a slight discouraging impact on this young musician who felt challenged and bruised not being exactly ready for every concert. It is also true that he felt like giving up midway. But, in the long run he has realized that was one of the greatest lessons to have learned from his father. He believed that every performance was a new opportunity, to create a new experience, to offer something new and fresh to audiences. Tremendous! By the age of 30, he had motivated himself and used the time to develop his own style of music and had dealt with the mammoth challenge of not mimicking his father but being on his own. “It was encouraging to know that slowly, over time, people started identifying, recognizing and acknowledging that he had indeed his own style of performance, including from many stalwarts like R K Narayan, Flute Ramani and so on.” Since then, over three decades, he has come into his own space and discovered the huge space in the world of music. He is a A grade artist with the AIR, performed in India and abroad, delivered lectures in institutions, been a teacher and much more. He also had a professional career with RBI.
Stoically, he says – ‘The stalwarts have come and gone. There will be none like them. They have handed down the tradition to us. But we must change with responsibility. Unless you actually understand tradition, you cannot change or move forward.” Fully agree. They were the masters. They were path breaking, pioneering and creative beyond imagination. But the audiences change over time – so do the artists have to change with time. The presentation, rendering, ragas, experience all changes over time. “We have to play for a new audience whose knowledge, background, experience and expectations are completely different from those days.” This is a YOUTUBE generation – completely agree. Today artists have to perform keeping the classical expert and the layman in mind. One has a responsibility to appeal to both.
The RAGA Universe
When I ask on what about the depth and range of classical music appeals to him – he says, it is the RAGAS. Ragas have a unique capability of stirring, evoking different emotions – happiness, sadness, pathos and so much more. Balakrishna feels ‘life worth living’ when he delves into the ragas. There is a huge difference between the composers and performers of the past and present. When the stalwarts composed and performed, they had a spiritual current running underneath it and every performance had a fragrance of that experience. There was a prayer and a plea to God, there was a quest for God and godliness, for devotion. It is different with the renditions now – full of emotions that appeal and attract making it very humane. The stalwarts and music giants had a lot of faith and conviction in their creation and were at the pinnacle of creativity, hugely, immensely phenomenal. It created history, it created our cultural heritage. “Man is capitalistic by nature, in the habit of selling anything – today music is a profession.” The music today is not the same as in those days, while the structure is the same – today the biggest transformation is that it is a performing art. The Ragas, Nirwals are rendered into a crescendo, and dramatized. Earlier they used to perform, sing for salvation. Today, things have changed and developed into demonic proportions and the standards of music have been raised tremendously.
My Father
It was a slow and great revelation to know the greatness of my father’s stature, his caliber, his achievements, and his sheer greatness. When I was young, obviously, I didn’t realize. But as I grew it slowly sunk in. One thing Balakrishna clearly remembers is that his father never performed for an applause. He performed for the sake of music. He would consider the group he performed with and play accordingly. He never rehearsed and always said – never give stale offering to audiences. Rehearsing will make things monotonous and mechanical. For sure, I can never match him, says Balakrishna in all humility but I developed my own style, I am in my own space and I have my audiences.
Message for the youth, media & organizations
Balakrishna feels very positive and hopeful for the youth, believes they have lot of potential. The key thing is that music should be inculcated at home, in the family ecosystem itself. Then, the understanding, adoption, acceptance is seamless. The artists need to enhance their knowledge, gauge the audiences and play. In addition, he says, all organizations which are working towards creation of a platform and advocating art and music should ensure they select good artists and not just ‘popular’ artists. The difference in their selection should be evident. There is also a strong need for media to encourage and enhance the perpetuation of classical music. All TV channels should have at least half an hour of music mandatorily incorporated into their agenda. Especially considering that the visual medium has a very high impact.
Future plans
It’s great to hear Balakrishna’s future plans which includes writing compositions for Veena in the traditional style in the form of an orchestral piece/ ensemble. This is exciting because the project intrinsically has a superior goal in it which is to ensure people develop and cultivate a taste for instrumental music.
In October – November, this year, Shri Balakrishna will be felicitated with The Veena Sheshanna National Award conferred to him by The V N Swaramurthy Memorial Trust. Accolades and applause follow. And when he plays, it will be sheer melody, music where there is no language barrier, where he takes the experience to greater heights and renders simply, magic.
If you know he is Veena Doraiswamy Iyengar’s son, you will see it sets him apart – the lineage, the background, the upbringing and the sheer greatness. If you didn’t know, even then, you will see it does sets him apart. He has made his own contour, he has set his own standards, he has created his own style and he is on his own. Achiever in his own right and musician par excellence, Aparna S in conversation with Shri Balakrishna D
Balakrishna was learning mrudangam from Shri Ayyamani Iyengar who was a contemporary of Palaghat T S Mani Iyer, very early in life when the calling for Veena came and he made the switch when he was 12. It is interesting to know that his father had a different view on this and wanted to make sure that he didn’t force his son into taking up the Veena. He used to say – it should come naturally and not be forced. It was his father’s uncle who told his father to teach him to play. And the journey then began. Balakrishna started playing at the age of 16 – 17 along with his father at concerts and in his lifetime, performed with him across the state, country and abroad and in all the major Sabhas. His first concert was in the year 1975. Balakrishna still recalls the huge moral support he then got from the stalwart mrudangist, Palaghat Raghu. He shares that his father always encouraged him to develop his own technique and style from the very beginning.
One very interesting detail he shares about the legend is that – he never rehearsed for his concerts. This in his early days had a slight discouraging impact on this young musician who felt challenged and bruised not being exactly ready for every concert. It is also true that he felt like giving up midway. But, in the long run he has realized that was one of the greatest lessons to have learned from his father. He believed that every performance was a new opportunity, to create a new experience, to offer something new and fresh to audiences. Tremendous! By the age of 30, he had motivated himself and used the time to develop his own style of music and had dealt with the mammoth challenge of not mimicking his father but being on his own. “It was encouraging to know that slowly, over time, people started identifying, recognizing and acknowledging that he had indeed his own style of performance, including from many stalwarts like R K Narayan, Flute Ramani and so on.” Since then, over three decades, he has come into his own space and discovered the huge space in the world of music. He is a A grade artist with the AIR, performed in India and abroad, delivered lectures in institutions, been a teacher and much more. He also had a professional career with RBI.
Stoically, he says – ‘The stalwarts have come and gone. There will be none like them. They have handed down the tradition to us. But we must change with responsibility. Unless you actually understand tradition, you cannot change or move forward.” Fully agree. They were the masters. They were path breaking, pioneering and creative beyond imagination. But the audiences change over time – so do the artists have to change with time. The presentation, rendering, ragas, experience all changes over time. “We have to play for a new audience whose knowledge, background, experience and expectations are completely different from those days.” This is a YOUTUBE generation – completely agree. Today artists have to perform keeping the classical expert and the layman in mind. One has a responsibility to appeal to both.
The RAGA Universe
When I ask on what about the depth and range of classical music appeals to him – he says, it is the RAGAS. Ragas have a unique capability of stirring, evoking different emotions – happiness, sadness, pathos and so much more. Balakrishna feels ‘life worth living’ when he delves into the ragas. There is a huge difference between the composers and performers of the past and present. When the stalwarts composed and performed, they had a spiritual current running underneath it and every performance had a fragrance of that experience. There was a prayer and a plea to God, there was a quest for God and godliness, for devotion. It is different with the renditions now – full of emotions that appeal and attract making it very humane. The stalwarts and music giants had a lot of faith and conviction in their creation and were at the pinnacle of creativity, hugely, immensely phenomenal. It created history, it created our cultural heritage. “Man is capitalistic by nature, in the habit of selling anything – today music is a profession.” The music today is not the same as in those days, while the structure is the same – today the biggest transformation is that it is a performing art. The Ragas, Nirwals are rendered into a crescendo, and dramatized. Earlier they used to perform, sing for salvation. Today, things have changed and developed into demonic proportions and the standards of music have been raised tremendously.
My Father
It was a slow and great revelation to know the greatness of my father’s stature, his caliber, his achievements, and his sheer greatness. When I was young, obviously, I didn’t realize. But as I grew it slowly sunk in. One thing Balakrishna clearly remembers is that his father never performed for an applause. He performed for the sake of music. He would consider the group he performed with and play accordingly. He never rehearsed and always said – never give stale offering to audiences. Rehearsing will make things monotonous and mechanical. For sure, I can never match him, says Balakrishna in all humility but I developed my own style, I am in my own space and I have my audiences.
Message for the youth, media & organizations
Balakrishna feels very positive and hopeful for the youth, believes they have lot of potential. The key thing is that music should be inculcated at home, in the family ecosystem itself. Then, the understanding, adoption, acceptance is seamless. The artists need to enhance their knowledge, gauge the audiences and play. In addition, he says, all organizations which are working towards creation of a platform and advocating art and music should ensure they select good artists and not just ‘popular’ artists. The difference in their selection should be evident. There is also a strong need for media to encourage and enhance the perpetuation of classical music. All TV channels should have at least half an hour of music mandatorily incorporated into their agenda. Especially considering that the visual medium has a very high impact.
Future plans
It’s great to hear Balakrishna’s future plans which includes writing compositions for Veena in the traditional style in the form of an orchestral piece/ ensemble. This is exciting because the project intrinsically has a superior goal in it which is to ensure people develop and cultivate a taste for instrumental music.
In October – November, this year, Shri Balakrishna will be felicitated with The Veena Sheshanna National Award conferred to him by The V N Swaramurthy Memorial Trust. Accolades and applause follow. And when he plays, it will be sheer melody, music where there is no language barrier, where he takes the experience to greater heights and renders simply, magic.