Dr l Subramaniam spoke fondly about his parents, who were accomplished musicians themselves, acquiring an MBBS degree, essential techniques a solo violinist should be familiar with and taking the legacy forward by working on his father's dream of spreading Indian music worldwide, Kritika Dua listens in
Violin virtuoso, composer, conductor Dr l Subramaniam is adept in both, Carnatic classical as well as the Western classical music. The Padma Bhushan awardee musician is famous for the technically complex violin techniques he churns out that he plays effortlessly and the splendid compositions in his orchestral fusion are a sheer treat for the audience every time he comes on stage.
What are the techniques you imbibed being born in the family of musicians, your father V lakshminarayana Iyer being a great violinist and your mother Seethalakshmi, being skilled at playing veena and harmoniumIJ
We were either listening to our parents (especially my father) practicing or teaching my elder siblings or other students. We used to spend most of the time listening to music.
In addition to this, when I started learning, my father would wait for me post lunch every day after which I used to happily practice the notes to grasp a strong hold over it, regular classes used to happen and my father was really disciplined.Riyaaz became an inevitable part of the routine and a second nature to me.
My mother was quite supportive, she used to pray and sing every evening. We all sat around her and it was a beautiful and peaceful environment, my father used to play the violin while my mother sang, and it was a routine life.
Why did your mother insist on pursuing a degree in medicineIJ
My mother persisted me on having a medical degree due to two reasons. Firstly, an artist’s life is very difficult, especially with a solo instrument and secondly violin was mainly an accompanying instrument. It’s always good to have a degree as a backup; I was good in Science and got a medical scholarship to pursue it.
When I was in the second year of MBBS at Madras Medical College, my father took me to a concert where a man from Germany was performing. The next day, the man offered to take me to Germany and coach me in Western music. However, I couldn’t go as my mother insisted that I finish the medicine course first. I wanted to grab the opportunity but she was adamant. I am grateful to her as when I went abroad to pursue a master’s degree in Western music, it was a prerequisite to have a graduation degree. Subsequently, when I did PhD in music they asked for a master’s degree, so it all fell into place.
Your father's dream was to make violin a solo instrument instead of an accompanying instrument. How did you take that legacy forwardIJ
It was my father's vision to make violin more than an accompanying instrument. What used to happen was that the main artist used to invite you and if in one concert you get a little more appreciation than the main artist than you will be dropped in the next concert, such was the scene. Thus, my father dreamed of making it reach new heights, we as a troupe performed in all the major concert halls like Western violinists used to do.
He was of the belief that we have the potential and should create enough techniques so that we are on par with any other soloists in the West.
We lacked the technical know-how as violin was introduced in the British era and its status was more of the accompanying instrument which was in stark contrast to the solo style of playing. My father struggled a lot to raise its stature, we were in Sri lanka and this journey of becoming soloists began from there.
We took the baby steps, tiptoeing along the way with the intention to survive as soloists and fortunately we did. He was the leader of the orchestra for a Colombo FM radio channel. Then in 1958, when the riots took place we escaped and came to Chennai. Here it was another struggle for a big family to survive as artists but we managed to as soloists.
My dream was just to become a violinist but it was my father who worked with prolonged dedication, developed the solo techniques, he made Indian violin what it is today. He was of the vision that we should create technically complex melodies so that others can’t replicate easily and don’t think that we are merely playing ethnic folk music sitting on the floor. Thus he introduced veena technique, multiple plucking technique, and many others. I followed my father’s guidance and developed those techniques further.
My father was against the idea of playing at house concerts as the audience is less serious, so I listened to him and played with symphony orchestras and at professional arenas. Soon, I was getting invitations from various orchestras around the world, recording contracts with major labels and 95 per cent of my performance was based on Indian classical. I performed at The Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Bolshoi Theatre, and Moscow et al.
What are the essential techniques that a solo violinist must know according to youIJ
They should be familiar with the clarity of the tone, right-hand bow technique which is quite complex in West also, left-hand technique, playing speed with clarity and there are different levels of it.
When one goes to a Western music institute they focus on various aspects of violin playing — the pressure of the right hand, bow pressure, left-hand pressure, and the way one holds the hand, speed, and clarity. In Indian music, in addition to it, we think about the raga, Indian slides and play them with virtuosity.
How have you seen lakshminarayana Global Music Festival grow with timeIJ
I am the founder of the lakshminarayana Global Music Festival (lGMF) in my father’s memory which is in its 25th edition. I couldn’t play the violin for a while after my father passed away as he was not only my guru but my father too. I was really attached to him; he was my hero, my mentor. So, I thought that instead of stop playing I should pay a tribute to him by giving form to this festival as he wanted Indian music to reach across the globe and my father wouldn’t be happy to know that I have stopped playing.
lGMF has featured some of the world's greatest musical icons since its inception, including MS Subbulakshmi, Bismillah Khan, and Pandit Jasraj, among others. lGMF has been held in over 55 countries so far and will take place in the UK and Germany for the first time this year.
The performances range from solo, ensemble, with orchestras and in September we have invited a symphony orchestra to perform at this festival.
Tell us about the UK premiere of your Bharat Symphony compositionIJ
I recently wrote a piece called Bharat symphony which has received a phenomenal response. The piece was commissioned by the city of Chicago. They (the city government) asked me to write it celebrating 70 years of India's independence. It has Kavita Krishnamurthy’s voice with the choir and the london Symphony Orchestra.
Young Indian artists now days are exposed to diverse expressions of music and thoughts. Would you like to talk about the pros of being exposed to global musicIJ
It is good to know what is around you, especially when you want to perform outside of your village or city as no artist wants to stay limited in terms of performance to his city or the country. But one has to form the base by performing in his city then widen their reach by performing in various parts of the country and if the artist is successful in doing so than probably internationally as well. The ultimate dream is to play in all the major halls across the globe as soloists.
Thus, the young artists should be aware of what is happening around the world in terms of music, be familiar with the works of the internationally acclaimed artists in order to prepare better and thus the younger generation definitely has an edge in this aspect.
I would advise the young artists to learn from a great guru who not only teaches them the art form but also someone who would provide them with a strong foundation and interpretation of the music so that you don’t just play notes but play music. And hopefully can take their music to other countries.
With an abundance of instruments on offer, how many youngsters according to you are making violin their instrument of choiceIJ
I think the maximum amount of instrumentalist in the world are violinists. In Canada, US, Europe and in many other countries they have an orchestra and in which there are bound to be violinists, in a 60-piece orchestra if there are almost 20 violinists which form one-third of the orchestra.
The string instruments constitute the majority portion of the orchestra. So, its presence is huge as Violin is also used in jazz, rock, pop, Indian classical and Western classical (many great compositions in Western classical have paved a way to increase this instrument’s popularity).
Has exposure to global fusion music widened your understanding of the craft and also brought some changes in your music as a composerIJ
When you play Indian classical music, you play traditional Indian classical music- when I play raag todi, I play that only and can’t say I am playing any other note when I am playing raag todi. So there are quite strict boundaries, especially in Carnatic music-rhythmic structure, complicated rhythmic patterns one has to be familiar with, the structure of a raga, you can’t add or delete a note.
As a composer, I learned the art of compositions in my masters degree. While writing for the orchestra, I should know what should be the best range and how different notes should sound and knowledge in Western music helps me to compose better. Thus I learned African music, Indonesian music, and various other forms to have the right ingredients in the composition.
