Venue: India Habitat Center

Sometimes one does not wish to complain. He lets go of criticism and is happy to concentrate on the positive.  This is how we would describe our evening at IHC when Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, a living legend of Carnatic music (remember the DD national integration song ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’), performed last Saturday.

Samadhan Foundation, an NGO working in the field of de-addiction, had organized the event.   Given that Dr. Balamuralikrishna rarely performs now, listening to him live, in Delhi, is a dream come true.

Hailing from the warmer Chennai, the nip in the November weather of Delhi had taken a predictable toll on Dr. Balamuralikrishna’s voice. Notwithstanding the obvious discomfort that he was suffering, within the first ten minutes, his rendition was oscillating among a gamut of vocal ranges. Within no time, the otherwise restive Delhi audience was pin-drop silenced in awe to the rich and resonating voice of the maestro.

We could not follow the lyrics as these were mostly in Tamil or Sanskrit. But that did not come in the way of our experience in enjoying the concert. Case in point – good music breaks barriers as it has a language of its own.