Bala, the musical giant
 For the past five or six years, D J Balakrishna, affectionately called 'Bala' in Dubai's Carnatic music circles, has been imparting traditional Carnatic music to students of here. A disciple of
T V Sankaranarayanan (TVS) and a versatile artiste himself, Bala had 'students' of different age groups, some of them older than him. In the last year or so, Bala gave several chamber concerts, characterised by spontaneous explosion of manodharma, which is the specialty of our Indian classical music.
Coming from Madurai Mani Iyer school of music, Bala was well-versed with most of the compositions popularised by his guru parampara. And, invariably, his senior students had the benefit of learning most of these songs from him while he was in
Dubai.
These songs include compositions like 'Thathwamariya Tharama', 'Kapali', 'Sarasamukhi', 'Maaramanan', 'Sahalagraha' and so on. Furthermore, hailing from Karnataka, Bala has the advantage of being proficient in Kannada and is versatile with many of Purandaradasa's compositions. Any time there is a Purandaradasa aradhana in Dubai, Bala will present a few songs that you have not heard but are so well and fully absorbed! How can one forget the
Saveri song he presented this year?
The strongest aspect of Bala's music is probably the instantaneous improvisations which he launches into so well and often without any planning. Sometimes, you would hear him venturing into detailed manodharma on rare songs and rare ragas, just depending on the mood of the moment.
 Some of Bala's classes for advanced students themselves resemble excellent pieces of concert renditions and he really enjoys doing that. He would sing sangathis of the songs in the order that flashes in his mind at that moment. Just like his concerts, some of his music classes too are not planned. He would have told the student in the last class, "I will teach you this song in the next class, but remind me, okay." But if in the next class he starts another raga and the student tries to remind him, he would simply say, "Learn this today." If this happens, the student is only blessed because his imagination on that raga will be so extraordinary that it will be a rare gift to the student to learn what he teaches that day.
It is very difficult for Bala to perform within a limited frame of time or expectations. Once he had accepted to perform during a
Jugalbandi in Dubai and the team had done several rehearsals on the limited scope of swara kalapana for the programme. This was required because several instrumental artistes (veena,
flute, sitar, violin, etc.) were participating in the programme and so even the swara kalpana segment had to be pre-set to ensure proper timing and coordination. Bala being the artiste he is, went well beyond this and the overall performance started sparkling from that point onwards!
A very sensitive person, Bala has a strong regard and respect for his guru, TVS. He insisted that the student have full faith in his or her guru. He used to encourage his students to come and perform on stage. When his student performs, he would sit in the first row, smiling, encouraging, appreciating and keeping time with the thalam. He would suggest to his students on how to do extra practice to improve their vocal skills. He even taught some secret tricks of the trade like how to practice to deliver a brigha within the voice limitations. He repeatedly advises his students to hear the performance of great artistes.
Once, during a concert at the Dubai Indian consulate,
Neyveli Santhanagopalan openly declared, "Now that Bala has come to Dubai, Dubai will be fully enriched with traditional Carnatic music." No doubt, Bala met this expectation and was a well-respected guru and a music personality in Dubai.
Recently when he got a good offer to settle down in India with a prestigious music-related career. He accepted it because he wanted to complete his M.A. in Sanskrit and wanted to enhance his music skills too!
 Looking back at his performances and music classes, it appears that Saint Purandaradasa must have been Bala's favourite composer, though he taught compositions of almost all the popular composers. Among the ragas, he probably had a special passion for Madhyamavathi, especially for the song 'Palinchu Kamakshi'. He taught this song to his senior students so exclusively and filled their hearts with this composition.
Though he renders several songs with passion and full involvement, one can never forget his rendition of the song 'Garuda Gamana' in Hindolam, which always had his special stamp. Especially the listener can feel the presence of the Lord when he sings 'Nara Hari Namo
Namo'.
With his impressive music, Bala has left some deep impressions of Carnatic music as a guru and performer in the golden sands of Dubai. We wish all the very best to Bala and his family.
S Manickavasakam
Dubai
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