SP Balu will be with us forever with his songs : RV Sujay Krishna Rangarao

Vizianagaram: Legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam who breathed his last in Chennai on Friday, had a close association with Vizianagaram.

The city has 100 years old Music College and it has produced many musicians like Saluri Rajeswara Rao, Chalappilla Satyam and singers like Ghantasala and Suseela. There are many upcoming musicians from this place, who are playing a good role in film, television industry.

Many cultural organisations and associations in the city conduct programmes here regularly and used to invite legends as chief guests for the shows. SP Balasubrahmanyam was invited on November 30, 2017 to participate in Ghantasala Jayanthi celebrations here. He was honoured with Gandapenderam by the Kinnera Arts Theatre here on the occasion. During his trip to Vizianagaram, he also visited the house of Mahakavi Gurajada Apparao and paid rich tributes to the great poet.

Former Minister RV Sujay Krishna Rangarao who had shared the dais along with SP Balasubrahmanyam at the function, on Friday recalled that Balu talked about his association with the great singer Ghantasala and stated it was a great pleasure for him to receive an award instituted in the name of Ghantasala.

Sujay said, "It was my pleasure to share dais with that legendary singer. He was not only a singer but also a multifaceted personality with down-to -arth attitude. Though he had physically disappeared from our midst, his songs, words and his works would remain in our memory forever. We all should be proud to have seen such a great person during our lifetime."

M Geetha, former MLA, who also participated in the Ghantasala birth anniversary fete said, "We cannot believe that SP Balu is no more. But he will be with us forever with his songs. When our mood is not good, his songs would work like a medicine to wipe out our agony from our hearts and minds."

Samudrala Guruprasad, a writer and founder of Ghantasala Samskruthika Samakhya said, "I cannot forget Balu in my lifetime. He felicitated me after unveiling a book written by a great director and artist Bapu". His demise is a great loss to the music world but Balu would be forever with us, he added.