Balabhaskar. Thank you for the music.

Taken from balabhaskar.in

On Tuesday, 2nd of October 2018, Malayalis and other Indians across the world woke up to the news of musician Balabhaskar's death. Just a week prior, they woke up to the news of the car crash that took his daughter's life on the same day. 

I woke up later than usual today, the 2nd of October being a holiday. I woke up and scrolled through Twitter only to see that Mohanlal had shared a video of Balabhaskar playing Kanneer Poovinte from one of Mohanlal's most prominent and moving films, Kireedam. The song in itself is a sad song - and while it is one of my favorites of Mohanlal songs from the 80s and 90s, I listen to it on rare occasions because such is the power of that song to move you to sadness. 

The violin is a beautiful piece of instrument. When I was 9 years old and had gone to summer camp, I had learnt to play it - although I did not continue once summer ended for a myriad of reasons. My first encounter with a violin however, was literary and may be what prompted me to choose violin instead of the guitar or the keyboard for that summer. 

Before JK Rowling took over the literary adventures of my childhood, they belonged to Enid Blyton. I devoured her stories about elves and goblins and magic brushes and shoemakers. I devoured her collections of the Famous Five and the Secret Seven. In one of the Secret seven books titled Puzzle For The Secret Seven, a house burns down and later, the children witness the theft of a very expensive violin. The Seven decide to help the family whose house burnt down - a kind lady who makes them gingerbread, and her two children. Later on, the Seven and others begin to hear a "strange wailing, unearthly and beautiful". Before long, the Seven find out that the sound is little Benny - one of the two children - playing the violin. They also find out that Benny is blind.

The violin. It is a beautiful instrument. I don't think any other instrument is as capable of producing such melancholy, of moving someone. When Balabhaskar plays Kanneer Poovinte, the songs takes on an added layer of sorrow. But on hearing his playing it, after the knowledge of his death, the song becomes infinitely more so.

Watching Balabhaskar play the violin was like watching magic unfold on the screen, it was a surreal experience. You could often see the joy the instrument brought him on his face while he regaled the audience with his music. He made millennials like me fall in love with older music through the renditions on his violin. What we might have otherwise thought of as "boring", was made lively through his performances - he played for you, for himself. 

He revolutionized Indian fusion music. The words "child prodigy" were always used to introduce him - he first picked up the violin at just three years old. He composed music for his first film at the age of 17. These are all just facts, but they come close to showing you through words, why he was so revered. To understand properly, you need to witness him playing.

Perhaps we say "Rest In Peace" because it seems a horror to imagine a soul like that lost forever. It is cliché to say his music will live on forever. But perhaps in this sadness that we all share, this is all we can do. And so, I will include links for a few of his performances below.

1. A performance from 2016 with Stephen Devassy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TilOYEuLJOw&feature=youtu.be
2. A cover of AR Rahman's Vennilave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VcspVgG3Eg
3. A cover of an old Malayalam song, Ethrayo Janmamayi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7NG7TTqwuY
4. You always remember your first Balabhaskar song. This was composed by Balabhaskar and I loved listening to it when I came back after school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY8yWlTBYKQ