Music Career - Devotional Music
Another area of music in which Master Krishna showed his creative and innovative genius, was in the composing of fresh new tunes for devotional music. His first experiment for Gandharva Natak Mandali’s musical play 'Saneet Kanhopatra', was well-received by audiences. Before this, devotional songs in dramas were usually set to already existing tunes of abhangs, bhajans and bandish compositions.
For Prabhat Film Company's movie 'Dharmatma', he composed tunes based on classical music, moving away from the earlier trend of setting devotional songs in films to the tunes of traditional Varkari music and aartis. Not only was this experiment successful with audiences, many other musicians followed his path to compose devotional music in this style.
Around 1970, HMV released a record of devotional music composed and sung by Master Krishna. 'Parabrahm Nishkam To Ha', 'Tujhi Ye Nidli', 'Dev Mhaney Namya Pahe', 'Krishna Majhi Mata, Krishna Majha Pita', 'Bhav Thethe Dev', 'Aik Aik Sakhaye Bai' . The abhang and gavlan forms in this collection, treated with Master’s unique touch, became extremely popular.
In 1970, HMV released a record titled 'Sangeetkalanidhi Master Krishna Rao Marathi Bhakti Geete' . Commenting on this record and on Master Krishna’s musical prowess, poet and literary giant Ga Di Madgulkar said in an article:
Seventy-two years ago, a child was born in the holy town of Devachi Alandi on the banks of the Indrayani river. He was born with the gifts of beauty and music bestowed by Nature. At the age of ten, this sparkling child entered Marathi theatre as Lord Vitthal, and sang with his God-given voice. Everyone was captivated by his rendition. Music greats like Bhaskarbuva Bakhle were also drawn to this talented boy. Buva took him under his wing as a disciple, to impart formal training to the boy. The giver was pleased to give. The receiver accepted it with the joy and reverence of one who receives the holy prasad. His voice is brilliant, flexible, versatile. And extremely sweet.
Bhaskarbuva popularized classical music by using the stage as a platform. Master Krishnarao carried on the tradition of his guru with great devotion, enhancing and enriching it. His guru had trained and nurtured Master’s God-given voice. Master carried forward this legacy by composing tunes for the great Bal Gandharva and continuing his own musical growth, achieving phenomenal success as a singer.
The term music director belongs to the glitzy world. But earlier, during the heyday of theatre, Master had already woven many magnificent garments with his music to adorn the stage. He also played many great roles on stage. For Bal Gandharva’s songs in the play Kanhopatra, Master came up with path-breaking compositions, taking stage music to another level. It was as if stage music had now broken the boundaries and mingled with ease amongst the people, on the street, in temples. You could say that raags and raginis themselves began to take pleasure in chanting the name of God. Bal Gandharva himself was captivated by the tunes and devotional instruments that Master used in the music for this play.
The great achievement of filling the golden chalice of classical music with devotional nectar should be attributed to Master. The notes of his devotional songs like 'Aga Vaikunthiche Raya', 'Patit Tu Pavna', 'Parabrahma Nishkam', 'Dev Oghde Namya' Pahe continue to light up our land and fill it with their fragrance.
A successful actor, a seeker, an expert…and yet a senior artist who kept up with the times in his eternally youthful way… this is the golden path that Master walked. Let us remember the dawn of the film era, to which Master brought his fresh vision. The music of Amarjyoti, Gopalkrishna, Manus, etc. was composed by Master. The song Suno Suno Banke Prani became popular all over India. The film Gopalkrishna is something of a memorable opera.
During his illustrious career, Master composed over a thousand tunes, dazzled us in thousands of concerts, earning the title Sangeet Kalanidhi. He is the great singer and musician who composed for the celestial musician Bal Gandharva himself!
This album contains eleven devotional songs sung by Master Krishna Rao himself. This is a bouquet that will last forever. The beauty and fragrance of each flower is distinct, unique and will get richer as the years pass. These flowers cannot fade, they are ageless.
- Kavivarya G.D. Madgulkar
In one of his essays, musicologist Dr. Ashok Da. Ranade has called Master Krishna the 'originator of light music'. By giving ‘easy’ or accessible tunes to the songs in the film Gopalkrishna, without weighing them down heavily with any rigid classical rules, Master Krishna established the foundation for sugam sangeet, the lighter form, Dr. Ranade says. Master incorporated bhavgeet and sugam sangeet in his musical compositions. This is evident in the devotional song 'Mannarmana Madhusudana' that he composed for Natyaniketan’s musical play Kulavadhu, and all the songs composed by him for Prabhat’s film 'Gopalkrishna'. The skilful blend of lighter forms and classical music is also beautifully showcased in the devotional songs 'Mana Papi Bhula' from the film Manus, in 'Shri Ramachi Ayodhya Nagri' from Prabhat's film Shejaari. It is interesting and worth noting that all the songs sound sweet and effortless to the ears. But many singers have experienced that Master Krishna’s tunes, while seeming to be ‘simple’ or ‘easy’ are difficult and demanding to perform well.
Influenced by the endless efforts by Master to make 'Vande Mataram' the national anthem of the country, in front of the members of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar requested him to set Buddha Vandana to music. Master accepted the request and composed the Buddha Vandana without taking any remuneration, in the spirit of serving the Lord Buddha. For this work, he went to Siddhartha College in Mumbai, studied the Pali language, first learned the meaning of Buddha Vandana. Dr. Babasaheb hailed this work, felicitated Master Krishna and brought out a record of Buddha Vandana in 1952. This record was played at all official Buddhist events such as lectures and speeches, and other ceremonies. The religious leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, as well as Buddhist monks from China and Germany took notice of this composition and welcomed it.
Buddha Vandana
Dr. Babasaheb hailed this work, felicitated Master Krishnarao and brought out a record of Buddha Vandana in the year 1956. For the first time, this record was played on 14th October 1956 on the auspicious day of Samrat Ashoka Vijayadashami festival at the mass conversion ceremony held in Nagpur. Furthermore, this record was played at all official Buddhist events such as lectures and speeches, and other auspicious ceremonies like weddings. The religious leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, as well as Buddhist monks from China and Germany took notice of this composition and welcomed it.