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Violin maestro, L. Subramaniam, a gifted and talented musician, is
completely dedicated to this music. His concerts in Indian and abroad
win him standing ovations form the audience.
It is a cool, winter
moming in a far flung Delhi city college, it is a Sunday and yet the
place is humming with activity. Soon a hush descends, a young man
with anunruly mop of hair clad in a simple kurta pyjama ensemble,
with a shawl carelessly flung across one shoulder, is ushered in. He
climbs the makeshift rostrum and folds his hands in a namaste. The
students greet him with an applause. Violin maestro, Dr. L.
Subramaiam, is no stranger to Spic Macay and to young music lovers.
In fact no matter what his commitments are, in whichever part of the
world, he always makes it a point to come India to participate in
the Spic Macay’s long drawn series of concerts and lecture
demonstrations which covers the better part of the winter season each
year.
Subramaniam, it would
seem, is blessed with three hands. While one wields the bow and the
other strums the strings, the third is firmly place don the pulse of
the audience. The rapport is built up from the very first note. As he
goes from once number to another he gains in momentum and
appreciation. Soon, there is no standing space in the spacious greens
of the institutions. Subramaniam introduces each one of the items in
his repertoire, the crowd is mesmerized, the violin has them in a
total trance.
If this be the artist’s
standing in India, in other parts of the world it is no less so. I
recall a meeting with a few Indophiles at San Francisco in the summer
of 1990 where, while I was keen to hold forth on a recent Broad-way
production of ‘Cats’ that I had seen in Washington, they
were even more ecstatic over an L. Sumbramaniam concern they were
shortly going to hear.
“It is just that I
have a base in LA”, said Subramaniam, when I last met him, “and
my family lives there. As for me, I am traveling ten months in the
year, quite a few of which are spent in India, I have a flat in
Madras which is kept locked up if my mother-in-law nis not in
residence.
Subramaniam was born to
music, to the strains of his father, V. Lakshminarayana’s violin
and his mother’s lullabies. Soon his three elder three sisters
were singing, accompanied by their father and his elder brother,
Vaidyanathan also joined the family orchestra with his bow.
“We were in Sri
Lanka then, where my father was a music teacher. He wanted to train
me as a vocalist but fate willed it otherwise in the form of a
diptheria attach after which, fearing damage to my vocal chords, I
was trained in mridangam, harmonium and of course, the violin. My
father wanted a complete repertoire in the family!” Recalled the
artiste with a chuckle.
That was in the late
fifties, when titans like Chembai Vaidyanathan-Bhagavathar,
Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, the Alathur Brothers, Madura Mani Iyer,
D.K. pattamal and others set podiums quaking by the sheer force of
their vocal prowess. The mridangam and the violin were, at best,
accompanying instruments and an artiste’s status was judged by
the giant singer he got to accompany. Even a virtuouso like Chowdiah
was content playing ‘second fiddle’ and it was only on very
rare occasions that people had solo treats form him
“My father always
made me play solos on the violin. Even when I was considered too
young to accompany musicians, he got me to play alone. In ’58
when the massacre of Tamilians started in Sri Lanka we left
everything behind, save what we had at home, and escaped by ship to
India. Back in Madras my father once again began to teach music and
the three of us, Vaidyanathan, Shankar and I were introduced to the
Madras stage as the ‘Violin Trio’. This was unique as there
were a few duos but no one had so far seen three violinists playing
at once.”
Having secured excellent
grades in school, Subramaniam decided to take a degree in medicine
and his father insisted he get admitted to a medical college in the
city itself so that he could keep up with his music. “So I did.
Of all the stalwarts of the time it was Palghat Mani and Chembai who
gave me most encouraement. In fact Chembai kept saying I should
forget medicine and concentrate on music for I was destined to be a
soloist. But I persisted with my medical degree and became the first
doctor in the family. In the meantime, I was accompanying the
reigning vocalists of the day. I took part in every competition
there was in town, won awards and the governor of Madras conferred
on me the title ‘Violin Chakravarty’. I wanted to then
acquire a degree in music so I applied to the Madras University, only
to realize that my years of playing was of no consideration and I
would have to go through the entire course and that it would take me
six years to get a degree. As an alternative, I applied to Los
Angeles for a course in western classical music and was given a
scholarship right away.”
In Los Angeles, at the
university founded by Walt Disney, Subramaniam’s ascent into
international music and acclaim bega. He taught Carnatic music at the
varsity and worked towards establishing Indian classical music in the
USA; for Indian music there, all this while, had been seen as
synonymous with folk music.
“For too long the
violin had been an accompanying instrument in India, it s full
potential had never been explored like it had been in the West. There
are so many technicalities to the instrument, like right arm, left
arm, control, bow pressure and so on. I started working out my own
techniques and this was met with a lot of criticism in Indian but
there were also a lot of people encouraging me and I would come down
each year during the music season to play and accompany the great
singers.”
Contrary to his earlier
plans to acquire a degree and return to India, he got involved in too
much out there in USA and had to set up a base. He started playing
at some of the most coveted centers like the Bolshoi Theatre, The
Lincoln Centre, Royal Albert Hall and the Champs Elysees Theatre, he
collaborated with celebrities ;like Yehudi Menuhin at the United
Nations in New York and later did a recording with him. His albums,
‘Fantasy Without Limits’, ‘Blossom’ and
‘East-West Fusion’ were regarded as world-wise best
sellers. All the while his main passion remained Carnatic and western
classical music. He got into Jazz and Rock when John Laughton of the
‘Shakti’ group asked him to make a guest appearance. His
brother L. Sankar had been a part of the ‘Shakti’ group and
was already a big name on the international scene.
With great reluctance
Subramaniam agree, “will I be accepted in India after this?”
he thought to himself; but there was no looking back as various
collaborations with Jazz artistes followed including Stephane
Grapelli, Arve Telefson and Zubin Mehta.
While on a George
Harrison, Ravi Shankar tour of India, Subramaniam met Viji who was
accompanying her mother, the well-known singer Lakshmi Shankar on the
same tour. By the end of the tour the two were drawn close to each
other. “Why don’t you get married right away” asked
Palghat Mani. But I wanted to wait a year till I finished all my
commitments. A year later we were married?”
“This was in 1976…
wait a minute, was it 1977? I am never good at years and dates, my
wife is going to be very upset over this…..”True to his
promise mridangist, Palghat Mani performed at the concert to
celebrate Subramaniam’s wedding; he accompanied the late,
celebrated singer, Alathur Srinivasa Iyer. “Mani Iyer also
wanted one of my brothers, either Vaithi or Shankar to play. Since
Vaithi preferred to be actively involved in the wedding arrangements,
Shankar played the violin.”
Having played extensively
both in India and all over the world, has the experience been
different for the 43-year-old violinist?
“In India when you
are on stage and you see people like M.S. Subbulakshmi, Chembai,
Semmangudi and T.N. Krishnan sitting before you, there is an
indescribable thrill; in the West there is so much discipline to
everything, even the VVIPs are on time, they give you a big ovation
as you enter and another when you are done, no one interrupts in
between…. But then, when you start playing you forget
everything…even where you are.”
There has been of late a
lot of criticism on the used of electronic devices by Indian
musicians with a western orientation. Indian instrumentalists have
condemned the recourse as ‘gimmicky’ and as catering to
popular, juvenile demands. How does Subramaniam justify his use of
the devices?
“I have a violin
which is a gift from Barcus Berry,” ( a company that honours
musicians with instruments and then advertises the fact). He
explains, “this has an electronic pick up. The violin, you
must understand is not equipped for large halls and a big audience,
at best it can be used without an amplifier in chamber music, but
playing solo I need more power. Everyone uses amplifiers, don’t
vocalists use mikes? Even contact mikes are greatly resorted to. The
electronic pickup is so sensitive that even an accidental touch with
the thumb will get amplified, so one has to be far more careful.
Moreover, I need a constant feed back as I play to really get
emotionally involved, I must feel the vibration of the string. All
this is only possible if the sound of the violin stands above that of
the percussion. I do not blast music, I only boost it.”
Does he compose regularly
for films in the US or was ‘Salaam Bombay’ the highly
acclaimed, Mira Nair film, as exception?
“No, I do not usually compose
music for films. When Mira Nair sent me the film script and the video
tape to compose music, the film appealed to me, the music composition
could be tight as there were no songs. Of course none of us at the
time expected the film to be such a great commercial and critical
success.”
To the present generation
of aspiring musicians Subramaniam has this to say: “Master your
technique, it is only people with imperfect techniques who take
refuge in the so-called ‘sampradaya’ (tradition). Any
innovation or improvisation, they dismiss as ‘no sampradaya’.
With the violin remaining a back-up instrument for ages, it has been
languishing with ‘sampradaya’ as a colossal excuse. Take
people like Purandaradasa, Thyagaraja, Sama Shastri, had they not
been innovative, we would be still stuck with singing mere kirtanas.”
After fulfilling all his
engagements’ for the next two years the violin master plans to
return to India to set up an institution to train talented young
people. The return of this gifted native is certainly awaited by the
young and old alike.
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