THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If someone has been eloquent on a violin in recent times, it has to be the ace violinist Balabhaskar. He connects with the crowd effortlessly, a fact that got reaffirmed when he performed at the Jazz Fest in North Carolina, United States, recently.
“Ustad Zakir Hussain, drummer Ranjit Bhanot and I were the only Indians who took part. The day after my performance, I woke up early and went over to the place where the sound-check was happening,” he said. “I saw Lenny White, the legendary jazz drummer, standing at the venue.”
Balabhaskar tiptoed up to him and asked for an autograph. Lenny stared at him for a few seconds, and said, “Hey man, you’re the one that played the violin yesterday?” Balabhaskar managed to stutter yes, and then he exclaimed, “C’mon, I want a picture with you!”
That, right there, was Balabhaskar’s moment of glory. “No award can ever match up to that feeling,” he said. Talking about his newly-launched YouTube channel, Balabhaskar said, “This is the second time I am starting a channel.
There were many lapses the previous time, but hopefully this time, it will be a better ride. Since I’m an independent artist, there’s a need for a platform to showcase my music. Also, I have always wanted to do small tutorials for aspiring violinists and answer their queries,” he said.
Does the going get tough for an independant musician? “Initially, to get people to listen to instrumental music was a difficult task. Luckily, youngsters started taking to it, and that worked in my favour as they get to decide the musical trend every decade or so! And now, I can safely say that the genre is catching up, and people like it,” he stated.
Most of them don’t realise how their interest can really help the artist, especially the ones who belong to the non-mainstream scene. “If you like the work of someone, be it a workout master, musician or threatre personality, and subscribe to their channel, that gives them more visibility,” he said.
“And that helps in building a parallel industry that can hope to sustain alongside the mainstream music scene. It also keeps unauthorised videos from doing the rounds on social platforms.”
As to why he never ventured into the film industry, Balabhaskar said that his age became a hurdle. “I started playing when I was 17, and it was difficult to communicate my idea of music to the people then,” he said.
“Also, I felt that I needed my creative space, so I went about doing that. I’m very committed to music. I want to do what I do very well, and be able to tell that story too.”