Balakrishnan B – A Superb Talent

INTRODUCTION

Balakrishnan Balasubramoni (Balu for short) is our singer number four in a series of young singers on Smule Sing that show high potential in developing singing as a career. Without delay let us all congratulate him on his recent win at the Mersal Mettu.

Balakrishnan – Sound of Music

It was one of the widely advertised events by its organizers among the regional events from South (apart from the mega event called Smule Tarang from Kerala in 2017). Mersal mettu organized under Smule’s community mainly by the singers from Tamil Nadu (as per written in the write up appeared on Smule Blog). The meet happened in Chennai (Madras) on September 15th of this year with over seven hundred participants. Earlier this year organizers have announced a competition for singing using the Smule app with prestigious prizes winning for the winner. It was intensely competed from the word go, with some six hundred or so entries to selected forty singers /to five semi finalists /to three finalists (info as provided by Balu during his interview). Balakrishnan was announced as the winner at the end of an intense competition from a region that historically take music as an important part of their culture and have seen with abundance in talents.

We knew about Balakrishnan when we spoke with some other Tamil featured singers during their interviews. Thanks to all of them to bring our attention to Balu and his singing. In fact we planned to add some of his songs on previous features, got edited in the process. It was such a pleasure to present a very hard working, down to earth singer, who doesn’t realize the greatness in his singing despite a recognition from an entire Tamil community. 

BALAKRISHNAN B. WINNER OF Mersal Mettu

Arranged to meet with Balu on a Skype line we were excited to hear all about his music, winning and all the exciting news of a very vibrant South India’s singing community meeting right from the very participant whose life have changed like the wave of a magic wand (which is a great gesture from its organizers. Great job all).

Balu with the trophy seen here with his wife

Balakrishnan Balasubramoni is his full name and he hold an Engineering degree in Electronics, working for India’s major Air Port at Mumbai Airport Authority in their air traffic control domain. Balu is basically from Kerala (in fact from Trivandrum) born to a family where instrument based  Karnatic music was a big part of his earlier music experiences. His grand mother was a Veena vidhushi (expert in playing a string music instrument from India, See below video) and a teacher of the same . Her name is Smt. Lalitha Mahadevan and Balu’s dad although never pursue any career is the other singer in the family. 

Balu was not serious at early ages about music or even during his college days. During his school days he was trained in classical music and some of his teachers helped a lot in the basics of his initial encounters with music. All those years were fully dedicated to his studies and there is a number of achievements he can brag about in that department. He at very young age itself was accepted into a position at India’s Airport traffic control unit. 

Apart from studies and a focused life time wish to become an Engineer, Balu like many in his times never thought there was another career possible alongside; until later he stumbled upon Smule app and started experimenting on his singing abilities. Balu remembers it was very impulsive and could not resist the temptation to sing using the app once he started using it. Living in the city of India’s Bollywood Industry and where many artists dreams are built and shattered, Balu said he started a new dream of becoming a singer. He said “Being in this city, always make it easy for me to try to meet with music directors to do audition tests and that make me very happy about my prospects in pursuing my play back dreams.” Balakrishnan is not only a dreamer and but ready to work so hard for achieving his dreams.  Many things we heard during the conversation told us that this is a simple guy with a very high genius; if he set a mind on something, he give it one hundred percent and more of him to get there. 

Now the serious questions for him; what do you want to do with your music? Balu affirmatively said “Need to learn more singing styles and genres. Will never give up on music and really appreciate this encouragement by all you guys gave me through this recognition”

What sort of music is close to you? He said immediately “On any day it is Semi-classic, like the from Malayalam songs created by Ravindran Mash (an expression for respect) is my all time favorite.” Right there we say Balu’s music tastes are very impressive considering the high difficulty level of those songs. “From Tamil Raaja sir first and ARR second.” But more than these Balu said he like the music made by M. S. Vishwanathan and Balu surprised us by saying specifically about K.V. Mahadevan (who was contemporary to M.S.V.); both these music directors are few that Balu listen to along with Sharreth, Ravindran and S. P. Venkatesh. It is not just a line of names, Balu had a clear description and a song to sing of each and every singer and the music directors he liked. He said the songs composed by MSV and SPV were all Raaga based and were some of the best music ever made in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam music industry. 

Any singers? K.J. Yesudas with a clear demarcation no other singers next to him. Balu said this about him ” The dedication of KJY to his work and the work ethic when he was actively singing in all languages is attractive to me.” Right there it is never surprising for us to hear this from Balu. As a singer who see singing as a serious career he is thinking and seeing famous musicians and their success stories beyond their music and try to imbibe those qualities in his life. Definitely that is what we saw in Balakrishnan more than many singers we come across. It is hard work more than ones’ talent that matters in success. He already realizes it.

Among female singers Balu likes Shreya and at the same time also very fond of P. Suseelamma’s song. He says names of few other singers like Hariharan, and  Satyaprakash from new age singers . He said the knowledge displayed by these two (he mean Hariji and Satya) are outstanding among the modern day singers. 

Asked to comment about the popular singing of fusion genres. Balu said after a brief thought “May be I am in favor of everything that is happening in that field. Because I think some of the Karnatic fusion made in the recent times are really good. They all tried not to destroy the actual style and stick  to original raagas and I see no problems with that.”

Asked about the lack of respect for singers on Smule, among popular music directors due to the fact that most of the voice modulating tools that is provided to users make it hard to distinguish good singing. Balu said “Yes, it is very very true. But good singers are still good singers. A good music director who know about all these voice modulating softwares must definitely should be able to distinguish between the good and bad.”

And lastly Bala said “I have to say this about my little sister who is also on Smule Sing. Her name is Saranya and her Smule ID is Saranya Mangal. She is a super star in our family who is the torch bearer of my Grandma’s Veena playing traditions. She learned her basics from my grandma Lalitha Mahadevan and later took vocal coaching in Karnatic from various teachers Parasala Ponnammal and Nedumkunnam Sridevi. I personally request everyone to visit her profile and encourage her.” It is most sweetest thing we ever had to write here. Such proud brother.

Balakrishnan with his little Sister Saranya

When we end up speaking with Balakrishnan it felt so much ease and relaxed. During the whole time Balu sang songs of Ravindran and other songs. Listening to him directly was such a pleasure and felt so good and  singing comes to him so naturally; yet very cautious about all the little details in his singing even during a casual talk. It all came down to our feel that he totally deserve this position that he gained through pure dedication, hard work and that ethics and ability to stick to his principles for success. We wish Balakrishnan every success and want to show all the support he need to build his singing career.

Without delay let us hear all that great singing by Balakrishanan that won hearts of an entire Tamizhagam (Tamil world). Here without delay this is the very performance from the Mersal Mettu. It is an onstage performance recorded. Not the best recording. Song is from one of the best Tamil movies ever made ” Kaadal Ovium” and originally sung by S.P.B. in the raaga Revathi. It says if there is a raaga that can express the feel of all the pain and sorrow of a broken heart this is it. Listen and Feel it? Very tough song to sing and the profound music was made by none other than Raaja sir and made immortal in the voice of king of emotions SPB. Enjoy this is Balu’s voice. 

Nee Pournami a K.J. classic, Balakrishnan’s favorite idol singer and Raaja sir composition, from the movie Oruvar Vaazhum Aalayam a heart touching  very beautiful song. This beautiful song set in the most discussed raaga Simhendra Madhyamam of which people say this song set by the genius Raaja uses all the characteristic of this raaga, bold and grandeur . It is said to be have similar versions in Gypsy music of Balkan countries. Balakrishanan who listen to music with a Raaga in mind this is the best he can think of. Give a listen this is absolute bliss.

This is the best one can ask for if one want to assess a singer’s ability; Song  Ramakadha, the iconic song sung by KJ in the music direction of Ravindran and lyrics by Kaithapram from the Malayalam movie Bharatham. Balakrishanan with this song here says he is one of the best young singers on Smule that put him at a position that not many can easily reach. There is a lot of hard work behind this despite a natural talent. Listen all, he is awesome here.

Here is yet another classic movie and song by Illayaraja from movie Sindhubhairavi; again KJ’s magic. Balakrishnan prove himself as a seasoned singer here by singing such tough choices of songs one after another  (most may hesitate to try). Balu takes challenges like this and unbelievable performances are on display on his profile. Do we all say, Balakrishnan you are creating a record on Smule by singing the most difficult songs in a convincing manner. Kudos.

Balu is not always serious; a fun song with a fun co-singer, SindhuShibu, whom we had featured several times in many other Tamil features; a very talented singer need a mention here. Enjoy this.

Iyengaru Veetu joined by our own Preethi;  any day, any song by Preethi will be a perfect rendition. Super join and such a pleasure to say how proud we are for her previous feature here. Please visit Preethi and make her sing and come out of hibernation.

Our own Ranjani Sukumaran whose feature here also not forgotten. She joins Balu on this beautiful song from Hindi movie; the song lyrics is about the beauty of rain and this performance is indeed top notch. Give a listen. Ranjani S. and her great voice joins Balu’s excellent singing.

A classy song and a classy join by this co-singer Kumar Sundaram. Amazing singing by both. Enjoy this. The co-singer and his voice quality is amazing.

Let us close this singing joins here with a beautiful join by Vidhu Vivek. Absolutely have to say she is the best of best on Smule female singers who definitely have to be singing for play back. Her versatility and voice quality are amazing. Balu join this collaboration and make it even more beautiful.

We leave you all with Balu joins his little sister Saranya. Beautiful melody from Malayalam Aaro Viral Meeti, Saranya a super talent appreciated here because of nothing else other than pure talent. Please go to her profile and encourage this young talent here.

 A Veena performance by Saranya at a special occasion/Video Courtesy Balakrishnan

END NOTES

It is such an amazing feeling when one see and hear a singer of such caliber reach heights from his sheer hard work and efforts. Balakrishnan said during the interview that many of his followers think he belong to Tamil Nadu. For him all that love and support he got from a whole Tamil community by honoring him with this great prize makes him so humbled and motivated to sing more and learn more singing. 

At the end, anyone can encourage a good singer as much as one can, yet with singers who are so focused on a career on one end but also have a parallel dream of becoming a singer is only possible by sheer determination, hard work and a lot of talent. Balu is already on his way to show that he can make it happen with his discipline and sheer willingness to do hard work and an unmistakable talent; much sure that hard work will pay off in the long run. We wish him all the best of luck and good fortune. Keep singing and smiling.

Addendum: Mersal Mettu events videos Provided by Balakrishnan

Performance at the Mersal Mettu by the other two finalists, All the best for their careers as well.

Alaudin

Balaji Ramanujam