There aren't any videos or audio clips available online, which would justify the experience of watching him play violin live.
It was around 2004 when I first watched a clip of him in a Malayalam television channel (before I knew the existence of YouTube and Google!), performing at a college event. Later, the same year, I decided to learn to play violin, and also happened to watch him live in an event organised by Soorya Krishnamurthy, in Palakkad (Kerala, India).
I still remember meeting him after the event, excitedly telling him how I love him playing the violin, how I started learning to play violin inspired by him and shaking hands with him. He had his signature charming smile on, while talking and you could see how down-to-earth he was.
Here are some favorite clips of mine which I could find online.
#1 - Soorya Festival - Theme Music
This is my favorite track composed by Balabhaskar. Though a remixed/revamped version has been released by him, I find the original one better.
#2 - Uyire (cover)
I had to post atleast one of the clips of him performing live, for the sake of this blog post. He covers some songs so beautifully! This video would be an example.
#3 - The Big Indian Band
I used to watch this show regularly. Wish someone would upload the videos online. I loved all the collaborations.
#4 - Maule Mere (cover) - MTV Unplugged India - Ranjit Barot
Watch it here. (There is also a YouTube link, which I am not able to access at the moment.)
This video featured Balabhaskar on violin and it was really nice seeing him collaborate on something different after a very long time.
Also, this song (Maula Mere) is extremely beautiful.
#5 - Carnatic live performance
Seriously wishing someone would upload good videos of his live performances. But here is one decent video I found. This is Balabhaskar playing in a Carnatic concert (kacheri) and my favorite - 'Krishna Nee Begane'.
In this age of lip-syncing, auto-tuning and all the gimmicks during live performances, it feels really good to see musicians like Balabhaskar still performing live passionately, with pure and honest music.
There might be many more great violinists around, but Balabhaskar did revolutionize the perception towards this instrument in India and will always remain an inspiration to me musically when it comes to violin.
I hope he composes more soulful music, continue to perform live and mesmerize people with his violin.
