Conventional is a relative word, and if you belong to the family of celebrated violinist L. Subramaniam, it can mean striking your own path. His children Ambi and Bindu have done that and were recently in the Capital to perform at Natya Tarangini’s Parampara Festival where they presented themselves as SubraMania — a band whose name reminds us they are Subramaniam’s progeny with a mind of their own. Besides Ambi on the violin and Bindu the vocalist, the band has six members.
Carnatic music, particularly the violin, is a legacy handed down through their grandfather, V. Lakshminarayana, their father L. Subramaniam and their uncles, L. Sankar and L. Vaidyanathan.
“I’m basically a Carnatic violinist,” says Ambi who tours regularly with his father.
“We wanted to do a new genre where we’re both equally comfortable. So we’ve tried to make our band with an international theme.”
Singer-songwriter Bindu too began her musical training with Carnatic music. “My roots are Carnatic music. I think everything stems from that. I learnt Western classical music as a child. Then I started learning pop,” says Bindu. “Indian music, I learnt from my parents. And in Western music, I had a few different teachers. I did a Masters in song writing and music business from Berklee (College of Music, Boston).”
The band is about two years old.
“The lyrics are in English, and even though the compositions are raga-based, it’s [also] based on a very solid harmonic structure. We’ve tried to do something that is not foreign to an Indian ear but also not to a western ear,” explains Ambi, who has also trained in Western classical music.
Music, says Bindu referring to their eclectic upbringing, is “in general an expression of your identity, of yourself…My identity is not something I can put into a box.”
Being able to fuse different styles helps reach out to a newer audience. However, Ambi points out, “A lot of people think classical music is old and you can’t appreciate it. But I think it’s up to the musicians. My dad’s generation were able to take the same structures and make it completely different.”
Freshness then, lies largely in the heart. Also in the hearth, like when the family — including L.S., his wife Kavita Krishnamurthy and Bindu and Ambi — take the stage together, as they will soon in Norway.
