-Ranjani Govind

 Violinist L Subramaniam’s unique bow laps up Carnatic and Western flourishes with ease and his annual edition of the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival will resonate with the premiering of ‘Navagraha Symphony’ on January 25 at Muddenahalli near Bengaluru

The Lakshminarayana Global music Festival (LGMF) that ace violinist L Subramaniam started in memory of his violinist father’s contributions has entered its 35^th year. “I cherish my father’s endeavor in seeing the violin take centrestage instead of remaining less significant as an accompanying instrument. My late wife Viji insisted we hold on to his principles with a fest dedicated to violin, so adaptable to all genres. His dream to bring the violin to the world platform was realised as the LGMF grew year on year with musicians participating on global platforms,” says Dr. L Subramaniam in a tele-interview, as the ongoing five-Indian-city show concludes at Shri Sathya Sai Grama at Muddenahalli, near Chikkaballapura, 56, kms from Bengaluru, on June 25.

Although Subramaniam felt an unfathomable void after losing his father Prof. V. Lakshminarayana Iyer and hadn’t touched the violin for a year, he cherishes his childhood when his father, and vainika mother L Seethalakshmi who had nurtured and bequeathed a musical legacy that formed a strong foundation to all siblings, including his legendary violinist brothers L Shankar and L Vaidyanathan. “That the fest has today grown so tall to see a symphony orchestra, choir and ballet come together from different countries for the first time this year is gratifying,” adds Subramaniam.   

Lakshminarayana’s dream

What exactly did Prof Lakshminarayana visualise for the violin? “In India violin was a foreign instrument more adapted to the classical side as an accompanying instrument about a century ago. My father envisioned Indian violin being played as a solo instrument as the Western Soloists were playing. In order to do that, he had to develop innovative bowing and fingering  techniques more suitable for solo performances. LGMF that flagged off in Chennai had MS Subbulakshmi singing the prayer song, the festival steadily growing to have shows in five continents, 30 countries and more than 75 cities, with my wife and playback singer Kavita as its Festival Director now,” says Subramaniam.

Prof. Lakshminarayana who came from a humble background saw himself struggling to survive and support the family. His passion saw his children immersed in music in one form or the other as a lifeline to survive! Lakshminarayana went to Sri Lanka to teach as a visiting professor in Jaffna College in 1930s, since he was struggling in India as a musician. “Subsequently we had to leave and return to India in 1958, when there were big riots and lots of Tamil families had to escape mass killings. My father restarted his life after losing everything he had earned. That was the turning point for him to resolve seeing the violin as a solo instrument. Subsequently, he tutored many who went on to become celebrities including  musicians like Ilaiyaraja. In Los Angeles when I was with him during the later part of his life I would see him everyday diligently writing compositions, practising violin or teaching children music. He believed in constant practice!” recalls Subramaniam.

Symphony trail

Tracing the journey of his self-composed Symphonies making waves across genres globally, Subramaniam says his writing for Symphony Orchestras started accidentally in 1981 when he was asked to write a composition for one such presentation. Armed with a Masters in Western music and composing that added to his firm foundation along with a grip on Indian classical music, the true delight was when maestro Zubin Mehta asked him to write a full symphonic piece and be the soloist for the New York Philarmonic for the India festival in the US. “That happened in 1985, the composition was ‘Fantasy on Vedic chants’ and since then I have done nearly 40 compositions for the Orchestra and played in all the five continents,” says Subramaniam.

The Subramaniams not just look back at three generations of melody makers in the family tree, but his own family at present has three generations of inherited performers including his 14-year-old grandchild Mahati. This assumes great importance in the history of Indian music as Subramaniam’s father, late Lakshminarayana’s lineage brought about a huge bunch of musicians akin to the rare and legendary Bach family of Germany known for over 50 musicians and notable composers.

The performances

Included in this festival are the Astana Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra led by conductor and composer Abzal Mukhitdin whose group has performed more than a thousand concert programmes in 25 years; and the Shantipriya Dance Ballet by Gakku Ensemble taking up a composition performed in 1987 in India. This is being taken up by Kazakhstan Ballet who has choreographed the same with the symphony orchestra taking up a ballet version of Shantipriya.

Subramaniam has done more than 300 Symphonic performances which have been published by Schott, including the Navagraha Symphony premiering at the LGMF. “It’s a special composition written for the Navagrahas, the planets, based on nine ancient Sanskrit Shlokas. It is a complex 50 minutes piece and one of the longest orchestral compositions that is close to  50 minutes done for a full choir Symphony Orchestra. This ongoing festival in five cities has this piece with Kavita leading the vocals with my children Bindu and Ambi alongside grand-daughter Mahati, ” he says.