Global violin icon Dr L. Subramaniam, is the world's leading authority of South Indian classical music and violin, having performed for more than sixty-five years now. A childhood prodigy, he was honoured with the title 'Violin Chakravarti' at the age of twenty-five. In his long and illustrious career since, Dr Subramaniam has collaborated with the greatest musicians of his time. He is the only musician who has performed/recorded Carnatic classical music, Western classical music, both orchestral and non-orchestral, and composed for, conducted and performed as a soloist with many major orchestras, scored for films and ballets, collaborated with some of the greatest musicians of his time (including George Harrison, Stevie Wonder, Yehudi Menuhin, and many others), from different genres of music including jazz, occidental, jugalbandhis with North Indian musicians and world music. He created the global fusion concept in the mid-1970s.
He has mastered various techniques and genres, explored new avenues (he was a musical advisor to Peter Brook about the sound concepts for his 'Mahabharata'), even composed music for a select few films (Salaam Bombay and Mississippi Masala, among others, and was featured as a soloist in Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha and Cotton Mary of Merchant-Ivory Productions). Yet, his technical mastery finds its truest experience in the service of Carnatic music, the tradition he has inherited from his father and guru, Professor V Lakshminarayana.
He has received several awards and honours, including the coveted Padma Bhushan in 2001 and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 'The Most Creative Artist' in 1990 from the President of India. In recognition of his contribution to the World of Music, he has been conferred with Honorary Doctorates by Bangalore University (2003), University of Madras (2004), Sheffield University (2008), Rabindra Bharathi University (2016), ITM University (2016) and National Institute for Education and Research (2016).
My father and guru Prof. V Lakshminarayana wanted the Indian violin to reach the international stage. It was his dream to present the violin as a solo instrument in the Carnatic classical tradition and take it to audiences around the world. My father's ambition motivated me to perform not just Carnatic classical music but also present the core idea of our music-the raga-in different forms. I created the global fusion idiom and also composed several cross-over orchestral pieces that were played by some of the leading orchestras in prestigious venues. In some sense, it was the heart of Indian classical music being showcased globally.
In order to accomplish this, I had to develop a system that was different from the traditional Western harmony concept. My system had to be based on the melodic concept of raga and using the notes of the ragas to create combinations that would give rise to harmonies that are rich in tonality and pleasing to the ears.
As a student of Western classical composition in CalArts, I began developing a system that could integrate the melodic ideas of Indian classical music with the harmonic structure of Western classical music. This manifested initially in my fusion compositions of the late 1970s, and then starting from Double Concerto (1983), I composed several orchestral pieces. In Fantasy on Vedic Chants (1985), for example, starting with the simple tri-tonal chant of the Vedic mantras, the first movement slowly enters Raga Chakravakam. The second movement is based on Kiravani, and the third starts with Hamsadhvani and ends with a ragamalika. While this was an orchestral composition, it had a strong Indian flavour. A listener from India can relate to the mood of the raga while a listener from the West, who may not know anything about the raga, can connect with the rich harmony played by the symphony orchestra.
Indian music is one of the oldest and most sophisticated types of music. In a way, it is also the most complete. It has been developed from the Vedas, which are more than 5,000 years old. Historically, Vedic hymns were chanted by male priests in temples and they formed the basis of Indian music. A scientific, intellectual and intuitive approach developed this further.
The concept of melakarta (parent scale) was greatly expanded on by the musician-musicologist Venkatamakhi, who came up with the system of the seventy-two parent scales. From these seventy-two parent scales, millions of scales can be derived. When it comes to rhythm, Carnatic music has a system of seven basic talas that are further expanded into 175 talas and chapu talas.
The three most important composers, Tyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri, collectively known as the Trinity of Carnatic music, based their compositions on the melodic and rhythmic concepts of the melakarta system and on the system of the seven basic talas and chapu talas. Other composers developed additional compositions on the same lines. Their compositions were written as vocal compositions, with a strong spiritual base. When the ensemble performed, the other melodic accompanists duplicated the melody of the soloist in unison, and no distinct instrumental music was written.
This is possibly the reason why, instead of going in the harmonic direction, Carnatic music followed a more horizontal, microtonal (sruti) approach to music with ornamentations (gamakas). Subsequently, different musical ensembles, both vocal and instrumental, took these compositions and individual performers started improvising around them. This led to raga improvisation and swara kalpana (melodic improvisation set to a tala cycle). Improvisation became a major vehicle of expression for musicians, and through this expression, they created their own banis or identities. In addition to the distinct styles of the three composers, the same compositions were adapted to different banis by individual performers. This resulted in the growth of a different melodic approach, using more ornamentation or gamakas, and creating different styles or identities.
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