Noted violinist Balabhaskar, who was critically injured in a car accident, died at a private hospital here early Tuesday.
Balabhaskar always belonged to the people. He has perhaps spent more hours on the stage than in the studio. The one image that comes to everyone’s mind at the mention of his name is that of he walking amid the audience with that winning smile, conducting a conversation between them and his violin.
On Tuesday, many of those people came to University College here, his alma mater, as he was brought here for one final time. It was from here that his music first caught the imagination of the wider public, during the Kerala University Youth Festival in 1999.
Band ‘Confusion’
“Our college had not won the overall championship for a long time. Balu and his friends were the ones who led the team. They even organised gana melas in the streets to raise funds. One of the highlights of that year was the music performance by Balu’s band. After the win, he started it as a full-fledged band called ‘Confusion’,” says Manoj, who was the Students’ Union secretary that year.
Balabhaskar became acquainted with the violin at a pretty young age, under the tutelage of his uncle B. Sasikumar. With a strong base in carnatic music and mastery over his chosen instrument, he was performing on stage by the age of 12. He would go on to compose music for a film at the age of 17, for Mangallyapallakku . But, films were never in his scheme of things, as most of his friends attest.
At a time when non-film musical albums and bands were a rarity in Malayalam, he composed quite a few albums, spanning genres. Even though the initial albums like Ninakkay with a conventional sound became a hit, he chose to experiment further.
Songs from later albums, like Naye Zamane ki gaana and En Nenjile, were quite a rage on the campuses. One of the memorable tunes composed in those years is the rousing theme music for the Soorya music and dance festival. He had another acclaimed album titled Heartbeats with K.S. Chithra and Karthik.
For him, exploring the immense possibilities of the violin, without any purist inhibitions, was the life purpose. Fusion became his calling, as he forged collaborations with musicians ranging from Stephen Devassy and Sivamani to Ustad Zakir Hussain and Mattannoor Sankarankutty.
A perfectionist
“I have recorded four songs with him in his early days. Blessed with an immense music sense, he was a perfectionist,” says singer R. Ravishankar.
On stage, along with his mesmerising experimental work, it was his trademark rendition of popular film songs that pulled the audience to him. It was never about playing the song as it is. He infused them with nuances and emotions that wouldn’t be present in the original. He had much more left to do with the bow, when he bid an untimely adieu. The stages will miss him. The people will miss him.
