Carnatic music exponent M Balamuralikrishna had shared a great bond with the cultural city of Mysuru. Mysore Nagaraj and Mysore Manjunath, the noted violinist brothers, were his popular pairs in most of the concerts held in the country and abroad for over three decades.
It was in 1975 that Mysore Nagaraj, then a 15-year-old boy who had shown extraordinary skills in playing the violin, got a call to pair with the legendary vocalist in a concert at Nanjangud. The boy was delighted to the core and impressed the singer in the very first attempt.
Since then, he had paired with him in hundreds of concerts across the globe. His brother Mysore Manjunath also joined them in 1983. Nagaraj said either him or his brother used to pair with him in concerts after they got in touch with Balamuralikrishna. “People really used to enjoy when we brothers used to play the violin for him. There were hardly any concerts of him in Karnataka without us after we got in touch with him. He used to ask the organisers to get us,” said Nagaraj.
T he brothers have also performed with him in the US, England and Germany and all the major cities of India. Once at a big concert in the US, the brothers had performed with him and that was one of the huge hits in their career. N agaraj said until 2005 when Balamuralikrishna slowed down, they used to perform with him in at least 10 concerts a year. Till a decade ago, he used to give at least one concert in Mysuru at prestigious events like Dasara, Ganapathi Sachchidananda Ashram, Suttur Mutt and Rama Seva Samiti