N S Prasad: Mandolin that ruled Kannada sugama sangeeta falls silent

With the passing of N S Prasad on Saturday, July 25, the world of music has lost one of its biggest links to the golden era of Kannada sugama sangeeta.

Mandolin Prasad, as he was popularly known, turned 66 this year, and was planning eagerly to revive many of his dream projects.

Admitted to Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology in Bengaluru after suffering a mild heart attack, he battled for life for three days. Doctors couldn‘t perform an angio as his blood pressure was too low, his daughter Ragashree told Hit.

Prasad leaves behind a sound that defined at least two decades of independent Kannada music. He made the mandolin popular in Karnataka by playing with such stalwarts as Mysore Ananthaswamy, C Ashwath, H K Narayana and Padmacharan.

Prasad‘s mandolin is featured in hundreds of songs recorded in the 1980s and ‘90s. In subsequent decades, he devoted his time to teaching and promoting the mandolin among young music lovers. He set up an academy and invited the best mandolin players from across India to perform in Bengaluru.

Mysore Ananthaswamy’s bhavageete concerts, in which he sang contemporary Kannada poems by such renowned poets such as Kuvempu, Bendre, K S Narasimha Swamy, G P Rajaratnam, and K S Nissar Ahmed, invariably featured Prasad’s mandolin interludes.

Prasad also toured extensively with C Aswath. In concerts across Karnataka, Prasad accompanied the composer-singer as he sang non-film songs, as also the philosophical songs of the 18th century mystic Shishunala Sharif.

Besides being an accompanist, Prasad was also a composer in his own right. He was particularly proud of an album titled Geetharatna that he recorded with Rathnamala Prakash.

In an era when cassettes ruled the music market, Prasad and his brother N S Murali on the flute became an inseparable pair, recording back to back—they were often busy for weeks without a break.

The Prasad-Murali sound was everywhere. If you bought a Kannada bhavageete cassette from that era, chances are you have heard them. The mandolin and flute together became the signature of that recording boom.

He played with Vijay Raghav Rao, the flautist who brought a classical and folksy flavour to his compositions for countless Films Division documentaries.

Prasad learnt the mandolin from Sathyanarayana (Ratan) in Mysuru. He also took leasons in Hindustani music from Pandit Rajiv Taranath.

Prasad worked with Ravindra Katoti, the well-known Hindustani harmonium player, on a fusion project. Katoti spoke of Prasad’s ability to "follow a raga and a poem at the same time."

Other collaborations included work with Raju Ananthaswamy, Archana Udupa, M D Pallavi and a host of other singers. He covered Kannada and Hindi film songs on two albums, and played for film sessions for many composers, including Hamsalekha.

Prasad arranged the music for close to four decades and his work for Chinnari Mutha and Kotreshi Kanasu won wide acclaim. He collaborated with keyboardlist Praveen Dutt Stephen and percussionist Bali on some projects. He was the first assistant for Ashwath when he scored for Mysore Mallige, Nagamandala, Shishunala Sharief, Singaravva Mattu Aramane and other films.

Prasad worked with such classical luminaries as M S Gopalakrishnan, Vishwamohan Bhatt, Kadri Gopalnath and Ronu Mazumdar.

Prasad’s daughter Ragashree is a singer and classically trained dancer. Ragashree Music Academy, established in 2006 and run from his house in Banashankari, Bengaluru, (+91 94482 70533) conducts classes and workshops for instrumentalists, vocalists and Bharatanatyam dancers.