He was an icon of Light music and played an important role in popularizing the genre of Sugama Sangeetha in Kannada.
Nadavirada Baduke by Nissar Ahmed, Brundavanake Haalanu Maaralu by Kuvempu and Shubha Nudiye Shakunada Hakki by D. R. Bendre are some of his well-known numbers.
[3] Influenced by his father, who was a musician himself, Narayana developed interest in music early in his life and started learning Violin at a young age of six.
Parthasarathy who worked as the Assistant Producer of Light Music at AIR, Bangalore is supposed to have played a key role in imparting the art of composing the melody and the background score to HKN.
He has sung for as many as 150 audio cassettes with noted classical musician Rajkumar Bharathi for Ramanamaharshi Gitagayana.
His excellence in music composition reflects in the song Shubha nudiye shakunada hakki which creates a perfect ambience while still reinforcing the meaning.
When the phrase Googeyondu Gukkenuthiththa is rendered he cleverly deviates from the scale introducing an odd note, which blends aptly with the meaning and the mood of the song.
[2] To compel the listener to concentrate on the lyric HKN often introduced a slight delay of the voice delivery with respect to the beat pattern in his compositions making room for emphasis on the meaning.
[3] H K Narayana sings a Da Ra Bendre Poem Shubha Nudiye Shakunada Hakki