Hyderabad: Though a contemporary of doyens of Carnatic music including M.S. Subbalakshmi, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M.L. Vasantha Kumari and Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyer, Balamurali krishna was a Vaggeyakara, penning and composing like the holy trinity of Carnatic music Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Shyama Sastry, and the saint composer Annamacharya. He not only sang in all the 72 melakarta ragas (parent ragas from which other ragas may be generated) of the Carnatic traditional music but also wrote kritis.
Out of all ragas, he loved Kalyani the most and sang several kritis in the raga. His songs in Telugu films are from the same raga. His song in Narthanasala, Salalitha Raga Sudha Rasa was in Kalyani. He also wrote a song in praise of the raga: Sogasu Nee Sommu Kalyani Ragini.
