Narayanaswamy Rao award for Balamuralikrishna

bangalore: eminent musician m. balamuralikrishna has been selected for the s.v. narayanaswamy rao memorial national award. the award was instituted last year in memory of narayanaswamy rao, founder of sree rama seva mandali in chamarajpet, to recognise personalities who made significant contribution in classical music. last year, the award was given to m.s.subbulakshmi. the award carries a cash prize of rs 50,000, a citation and an image of sri rama. it will be presented at a function on may 19 as part of the 64th ramnavami music festival beginning in bangalore on april 13. a child prodigy, balamuralikrishna gave his first public concert when he was just eight, and two years later he performed on all india radio. with nearly 400 compositions to his credit, balamuralikrishna is not only a vocalist par excellence but also a deft player on the veena, violin, viola, mridangam and kanjira. the sree rama seva mandali has been organising music concerts during ramnavami for the last 64 years to promote classical music. this year''s programme will begin with a performance by saxophone exponent kadri gopalnath. besides celebrated artistes and promising youngsters will perform during the month-long festival. prominent artistes include t.n. krishnan, malladi brothers, k.j. jesudas, n. rajam, sudha raghunathan, sanjay subramanyam, mandolin u. srinivas and u. rajesh, a.k.c. natarajan, p. unnikrishnan, n. ramani, neyveli santhanagopalan, rajkumar bharathi and kunnakudi vaidyanathan.