THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The iconic song ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon has received a fresh spin. A group of musicians from across the globe, who are presently in the city, has crafted an instrumental cover of the song -using violin, cello, flute and piano - as a tribute to popular violinist Balabhaskar.
The tribute video ‘A Tribute to Balabhaskar’ has Gleb Nachaev on violin, Kenzhegul Akshekina on cello, Alexander Klimov on flute, Dana Bekpossynova on piano and Kamila Karasheva on violin. Music composer and violinist Balabhaskar died on October 2 from injuries sustained in a car crash.The musical tribute was given by the faculty of the Trivandrum Academy of Western Music (TAWM) in the city.
“Because he was a colleague,” says cellist Kenzhegul Akshekina on creating the musical tribute. The musicians had not met Balabhaskar in person, but as musicians, they share the same space and this united the artists hailing from different parts of the globe to create the music. “We knew about him and wanted to meet him. We really wanted to play with him,” she adds.
Once the team at TAWM decided on the music, the sheet music was written by the musicians and in an hour the recording was made.“Balabhaskar talked with the audience through music. During concerts, he would be amongst them, communicating. We saw a concert where he played a melody and the audience repeated with him. It was amazing. Not every musician can do it,” says Kenzhegul Akshekina. “We wanted to connect with him and play something nice. I believe he did a great job in popularising electric violin here. We understand he was a big dreamer and the song best suited him. It would have been interesting to play with him if it was possible,” says violinist Gleb.
“We wanted to have a conversation with him. But it didn’t happen and in music, we are trying to pay our respect to him,” adds Kenzhegul Akshekina.The video was recorded by Suraj Khan of TAWM and edited by Hari Gopinathan, founder-director, TAWM. It was Suraj’s idea to make the tribute. “Until Balabhaskar, violin was just an accompanying instrument. He showed the immense possibilities of the instrument, infusing the Western elements but never leaving his roots,” says Suraj.
“Initially, we thought of doing a piece just on violin. But when the others learned about this, they all wanted to join in. Balabhaskar created a new space. We had very rare soloists in violin here. He dreamed of a new area and made it work. A lot of people got inspired. This is the most appropriate musical tribute for him,”says Hari.