Vijayawada has a special place in Balu's heart

Vijayawada: Legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam had a close ties to Vijayawada. He was very much attached to Krishna river and Goddess Kanaka Durgamma. Whenever he pass through Vijayawada, he used to visit these places once. It is also to be mentioned that director K Viswanath and Jandhyala are also from Vijayawada who were very close to Balasubrahmanyam.

Balasubrahmanyam had attended programmes in Vijayawada many times and also participated in musical concerts arranged by local organisers and made the function bright. He participated in a concert organised by Bhavana Kala Samithi at Gandhiji Municipal High School and rendered many songs in his early days.

Another occasion was the audio releasing function of 'Thyagayya' movie organised by Prasanna Kumar at Exhibition Grounds. He attended the success meet of 'Mudda Mandaram', the first movie of Jandhyala as director and also attended the Sankarabharanam 50 days function organised by Sumadhura Kala Niketan at Rotary children's auditorium. He also participated in a concert organised by Vijayawada Club.

Balasubrahmanyam was received the prestigious Sidhardha Kala Peetham award along with another legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar.

"Balu, who used to call me 'Agraja', is no more, which is indeed a cruel fact! We have been friends for more than four decades. Our common friends being writer cum director Jandhyala and the ace director Kalatapaswi Dr K Viswanath. I had the privilege of Balu singing a song written by Veturi picturised on me in the film 'Subhodayam'. Sri Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam, dearly known as Balu was a multi-talented personality with deftness in acting, composing, voice-dubbing and even mimicking. He helped Rotary Club of Vijayawada, when I was the president of the same, in raising funds for the Rotary Red Cross Blood Bank in 1997, which is saving lives everyday. In 2017, he was honoured by the Club with Life Time Achievement Award. Telugu, his mother tongue, was very dear to his heart and he used to check the pronunciation of certain syllables in his magnum opus Padutha Theeyaga musical programme. He was an ardent reader of English books whose content he used to share with me now and then. His demise is an irreparable loss not only to the world of music but also to the literary circles. Balu is no more! But, his melodious voice will reverberate in the ears of music lovers forever. He lives by his song eternally," said Dr MC Das, educationalist, mentor, actor and director.

"I interacted with SPB several times and the recent visit to receive the lifetime achievement award by Rotary Club of Vijayawada a couple of years ago. I remember of SPB sharing with me the joy of singing the intricate "Aaja Aaja Mere Jaan" from the not-so-popular film "Aaja Meri Jaan" under the baton of RD Burman," said Shridharan, senior journalist and singer.

Shridharan also recollected that Balasubrahmanyam commented on the recent Telugu film Industry on discipline.

Balasubrahmanyam received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Rotary Club of Vijayawada and on same day he also participated in a concert organised by Mayur Orchestra.

To the surprise of young and upcoming artiste, he also sang two songs with all the participants present on the dais. The organiser of Mayur Orchestra Mahammad Khaja said that is his fortune to felicitate Balasubrahmanyam on the day and he blessed the artistes Pragna, Keerthana, Sushmitha, Rasul Babu, Vinod Babu, Anil and Vijaya Lakshmi. He also recollected the memory that Balasubrahmanyam also render songs along with these artistes. Khaja also said that he had an opportunity to share the stage with SPB in Thyagayya movie audio function arranged by Prasanna Kumar.

Charumathi Pallavi, Bhamidipati Sreelalita, Bhavyasri Geethika, Popuri Gowrinath, Modumudi Sudhakar and other music exponents expressed their condolences for the demise of legendary singer and music promoter Balasubrahmanyam.