L Subramaniam

L. Subramaniam (born July 23, 1947 at Chennai, Tamilnadu) is the violin icon of India with such epithets as ‘the God of Indian Violin’ and ‘The Paganini of Indian Classical music’. He lived his early years in Jaffna in Sri Lanka where he took up music studies before he was five. His training in violin began with his father Professor V. Lakshminarayanan. He studied medicine and graduated at Madras Medical College and registered as a General Practitioner.

Later he decided to pursue music full-time. His brothers, L. Shankar (alias. Shenkar), and L. Vaidyanathan, were also well known musicians and violinists with whom Subramanian recorded music. His wife Viji Subramanian died on February 9, 1995. He married Kavita Krishnamoorthy, an Indian playback singer in November 1999 with whom he has given several concerts. He performs and recorded several pieces with his daughter Seetaa Subramaniam and played violin duets with Ambi Subramaniam, his son. Subramaniam has performed, produced, collaborated, released and conducted more than 150 recordings.

Introduction to music

As a childhood prodigy, he came into contact with great musicians. He is the only musician to have performed or recorded Karnatic Classical Music, Western Classical Music, both Orchestral and non-Orchestral, and collaborated with some of the greatest musicians playing different genres of music including occidental, classical, jazz, global fusion, and jugalbandis with North Indian musicians.

Education and Musical Career

He took a Masters degree in Western Classical Music from the California Institute of the Arts. His more than 150 recordings since 1973 include several solo albums and recordings in collaboration with musicians including Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci Stéphane Grappelli, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Steven Seagal, Herbie Hancock, Ruggiero Ricci, Jean-Luc Ponty and Joe Sample.

He accompanied famous vocalists in Carnatic music including Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, M. D. Ramanathan and Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna. He performed many concerts with the renowned Palghat Mani Iyer on the Mridangam and collaborated with a number of musicians in other music systems, particularly North Indian Hindustani music.

Subramaniam has written books on music such as Euphony. He has written works for ballets, orchestras, and Hollywood film scores, and composed Carnatic pieces and symphonies. In September 2007, he premiered and played ‘The Freedom Symphony’ with Warrenton Chorale, the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and Carnatic percussionists followed by an encore piece titled ‘Flight of the Humble Bee’.

Important works

Subramanian’s 1983 composition ‘Double Concerto for violin and flute’ combined western scales with micro intervals. His ‘Spring – Rhapsody’ was in homage to Bach and Baroque music. His creations with orchestras include “Fantasy on Vedic Chant” with the New York Philharmonic (conducted by Zubin Mehta), ‘The Concert of Two Violins’ with the Oslo Philharmonic, ‘Turbulence’ with the The Swiss Romande Orchestra, and ‘Global Symphony’ with the Berlin State Opera (which was broadcast live to 28 nations) besides others. He performed a concert tour of China along with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in Beijing.

Contribution in the Film Industry

His film scores for the films include Salaam Bombay (1988) and Mississippi Masala (1991, directed by Mira Nair). He featured as a violin soloist in ‘Little Buddha’ (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1993) and Cotton Mary (Merchant-Ivory productions, 1991).
Leading dance companies such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the San Jose Ballet company have used his compositions in stage presentations. He also composed ‘Shanti Priya’, a piece for the Mariinsky Ballet.

His albums such as ‘Global Fusion’ in 1999 became world famous. He started and directs the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival in India. He did a world tour in 2004. he performed with the Oslo Camerata, violin maestro Arve Tellefsen, jazz legends Stanle Clarke, Al Jarreau, George Duke, Ravi Coltrane and Earl Klugh at the January 2005 festival.

Other Renowned Works

His works include Garland (1978 featuring Svend Asmussen), Fantasy without Limits (1980), Spanish Wave (1983 and 1991, Milestone), Indian Classical Masters: Three Ragas for Solo Violin (1991 and 1992, Nimbus Records), Kalyani (1996, Water Lily Acoustics), Raga Hemavathi (Nimbus Records), Distant Visions, Pacific Rendezvous (1996, Manu), Indian Express / Mani & Co. (1999, Milestone), Global Fusion (1999, Elektra / Wea), and Electric Modes Volumes 1 & 2 (Water Lily Acoustics).

His collaborations with other artists include Conversations (1992, Milestone with Stéphane Grappelli, L. Subramaniam and Yehudi Menhuin in New York, From the Ashes (1999, Water Lily Acoustics with Larry Coryell), Duet (1996, Delos Records (with Ali Akbar Khan), All the Worlds Violins (1993 with Yehudi Menhuin and Stéphane Grappelli) and Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival (Double CD) (Sony Music)
His live albums include L. Subramaniam: Live in Moscow (1988 and 2000, BMG / Viji Records), L. Subramaniam en Concert (1995, Ocora), L. Subramaniam: Live in France and L. Subramaniam: Live in Geneva.

In ‘Salaam Bombay!’ (1988) he was the composer, music arranger, and violinist; and composed and played violin, violin synthesizers, percussions in ‘Mississippi Masala’ (1991). He was the solo violinist in ‘Little Buddha’ (1993), ‘Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love’ (1996) and Cotton Mary (1999). He composed and performed ‘Gypsy trail’ in Peace One Day (2004) and performed ‘Wandering Saint’ in Baraka (1992).
‘Violin From the Heart’ (1999) directed by Jean Henri Meunier which is on Subramaniam.

Awards / Achievement

Subramaniam received the title of ‘Violin Chakravarthy’ (emperor of the violin) at a very early age. He received Honorary Doctorate from Madras University (2004) and Bangalore University (2003).

The awards he received include the Presidents Award-Best Violinist All India Radio (1963); Best Western Instrumentalist-IIT Madras (1972); Orpheus of the East Kala Samarpana (Nov. 24, 1972 Received the title from Stephen Charras, Alliance Francaise, Chennai); Violin Chakravarthy (1972); Grammy Nomination (1981); Sangeeta Sagaram (Cultural Centre of Performing Arts, 1984); Award for outstanding contribution to Indo-American goodwill, understanding and friendship (Indo-American Society, 1988); Padma Shri (Government of India, 1988); Creative Music Award (Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1990); Onida Pinnacle Award for Surabhi (Best title track Composer, 1993); Nada Chakravarthy SGS Swamiji, Trinidad (1993); World Music Festival at Madison Square Gardens (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, NY, 1995); T. Chowdaiah Memorial National Award (1996); Sangeeta Ratna Mysore; Best Composer Award/Commission NRK P2, Norway (1996); Special Medal of Honour HH King Birendra of Nepal (1997); Lotus Festival Award (City of Los Angeles, 1998); Manaviyam (Millennium) Award (Government of Kerala, 2001); Padma Bhushan (Government of India, 2001); Sangeetha Kalaratna (Bangalore Gayana Samaja, 2004); Viswa Kala Bharathi (Bharat Kalachar, Chennai 2004); and Sangeetha Kalaa Shiromani (Percussive Arts Centre, Bangalore, 2004).