State condoles Balamurlikrishna's passing away

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Tuesday condoled the passing away of noted Carnatic musician M Balamuralikrishna at Chennai.

In his message, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Balamuralikrishna was 'an incomparable personality in contemporary Carnatic music' and his death was an 'irreparable loss' to the music world.

Kerala also joined the nation in mourning the death of one of the great musicians of the country, he said.

The state is indebted to him for bringing into the limelight the various krities of Swati Tirunal, the erstwhile Maharajah of Travancore, by including them in his concerts and making them popular, he said.

Balamuralikrishna had been awarded the prestigious Swati Puraskaram, the state's highest honour for musicians instituted by the Kerala government in 2012.

He rendered songs in various languages, including Telegu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Punjabi, Vijayan said in a Facebook post.

State culture minister A K Balan and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, also condoled his death.