Meet Baliah who plays kinnera with his mouth
Sangareddy: We have heard the story of the Darshanam Mogilaiah, who is known to be the only man to make and play the 12-fret Kinnera instrument. He was richly honoured by Telangana and the union government with Padmashri and other benefits this year. But, the story of another village musician from erstwhile Mahabubnagar district, Balaiah […]
Sangareddy: We have heard the story of the Darshanam Mogilaiah, who is known to be the only man to make and play the 12-fret Kinnera instrument. He was richly honoured by Telangana and the union government with Padmashri and other benefits this year.
But, the story of another village musician from erstwhile Mahabubnagar district, Balaiah from Chukkaipally of Kollapur Mandal in Nagarkurnool district is more interesting. Balaiah, a septuagenarian, was known for playing music with his mouth which exactly sounds like a 12-fret kinnera being played. He had also given several performances across Telangana during the past few years. However, unlike Mogilaiah, Talari Balaiah did not get due honour from either the State government or Centre. Balaiah is not even getting his Aasara pension for reasons best known the local officials. The villagers said that he used to get a handicapped persons pension until a few years ago, but it was discontinued. Balaiah and his wife Lakshmamma were surviving on the Aasara pension of Lakshmamma.
Coming to know about the condition of Balaiah, Winners Foundation founder by BDL-Bhanur employees have visited him recently. The employees led by Arikepudi Raghu and Monappa Vadla have donated Rs 10,000 in cash. In addition to this, the foundation has decided to provide Rs 3,000 pension per month from May onwards to support him. Balaiah has urged the State government to give him a monthly pension recognising him as an artist with rare talent.
Speaking over the phone from Chukkaipally, Balaiah has said that he has five children – three sons and two daughters- who were all married. Since he got just one acre land, his sons were cultivating the land. Saying that he is ready to teach playing kinnera music with mouth to the younger generation, Balaiah said that it needs a lot of grit and determination to learn music. Balaiah said that he had learned the art from Kolisetty Chandraiah of Chinthapally village five decades ago. It took him three months to master.
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