Ghanaraga Pancharatna Keertanas By G Balakrishna Prasad: Events in Hyderabad

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He is the Asthana Gayaka of Lord Venkateshwara, no less. This, then, is a concert for the gods.

Panchasya Sudharnavam, in association with Sri Thyagaraya Gana Sabha, is organising the Vaggeya Vaibhavam - Sankeertanotsavamulu for 3 days, from 23rd December. Today, there is a recital of Sri Thyagaraja Ghanaraga Pancharatnas by Gana Gandharva Garimella Balakrishna Prasad, at Sri Thyagaraya Gana Sabha.

Balakrishna Prasad is the Asthana Gayaka of the Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam at Tirupati for the last 25 years. He is expected to sing some Ghanaraga Pancharatna keertanas like Jagadhanananda, Duduku, Sadhinchane, Kanakana Ruchira and Endaro Mahanubhavulu. He will be supported by Palaparthy Nageshwar Rao on the violin, M L N Raju on the mridangam and Sharada Gopi on the morsing. The compere is Samaveda Shanmukha Sarma.

Garimella Balakrishna Prasad is a name synonymous with Annamayya keertanas, and is an uncrowned king in the field of devotional music. His soulful renditions are vibrant, vivacious and virtuous, filled with bhakti and bhava. He has sung more than 500 Annamacharya sankeerthanas in nearly 150 ragas, covering all styles - viz., Carnatic classical, light classical, folk and light music. He has composed more than 200 krithis, varnams & thillanas, apart from more than 300 songs of Annamacharya and hundreds of other modern lyrics.

Prasad, a Diploma holder in Carnatic vocal music and a graded artist of the AIR, has been into the fold of the Annamacharya project of TTD, as a special graded vocal artist. His first and foremost gurus were his parents Late Krishnaveni and Late Garimella Narasimha Rao, who was a music teacher as well as a Vaggeyakara. He then trained under Sangeetha Kalanidhi Nedumuri Krishna Murthy. Later, he had some lessons under Padmasri Dr Mangalampalli Bala Murali Krishna. He had the privilege of being a disciple of Prof D Pasupathy too for some time.

He has given innumerable performances all over India, under the TTD Annamacharya Project. He also performed under the sponsorship of the Sri Annamacharya Project of North America, Chicago, & Sri Venkateswara Society of America, Los Angeles, in 1997.

He was awarded the Annamacharya Vidwanmani in Chicago & the Annamacharya Nada Jyothi in Los Angeles. He was also conferred upon the Gana Kala Visarada in Vijayawada for the 7-day Sankeerthana Yagnam, where he sang 216 songs. The Academy of Fine Arts of Tirupati awarded him The Spirit Of Excellence in 1999 during their Golden Jubilee celebrations of Indian Independence. The Delhi Telugu Academy conferred upon him the title "Enchanting Singer" in 2001.

Panchasya Sudharnavam was established in 2006 by Tadepalli Sethu Madhav, a retired employee of a pharmaceutical company, in memory of his grandparents. Being an avid lover of music, he intends to organise high quality classical music concerts in the near future.

For further details, please contact Sethu Madhav at 2773-7017.