She gave her first concert at the age of 12. Now, even after nearly four decades in the field, Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam approaches Carnatic music with the same passion and dedication she had in the early days. She travels with her music across the world, imparts knowledge about the richness of Carnatic music at lectures and workshops, gives concerts and finds time for herself. In fact, on her website, she has posted: ‘I love life, I love doing the Sudoku and Crossword puzzle daily, I love exotic food, I love good clothes and perfumes, I love dressing up and going out…I love fooling around with my students…’ With a hearty laugh, she says: “I have been like this…It comes naturally”.
Born into a family rooted in music, it was quite natural for her to take up music. A doctorate holder in music, she was awarded the Fulbright Visiting Lecturer Fellowship in 2010 as part of which she taught at the Duke University, North Carolina, United States. She has documented rare kritis, has launched a thematic concert series on the temples in India and has been performing for the underprivileged. MetroPlus catches up with her prior to her performance in the city today. Excerpts:
Not just a performer
I want to share whatever I know about Carnatic music with the entire world. People should understand and appreciate it. It’s like there is no point in going on saying that ‘my child is the best’. Other people should also say the same thing, right? We have a treasure here, the laya in our music is fantastic. The world should know about it and therefore I focussed on educating people too. It should make both the knowledgeable and the uninitiated happy. When I go abroad, I often get audiences who don’t understand English. But they enjoy the music, which as we all know, is beyond any language.
Carnatic music today
A lot of change has come over. We get to listen to new compositions, new ragas and styles. I also find that most of the classical musicians of the present generation are well-educated. They are engineers, doctorate holders or have a regular job, but also have a great passion for music. Whereas, most of the musical greats of the past weren’t like that. However, compared to the older generation, the present lot is up against many challenges. With lots of options available, it isn’t necessary that you get an audience for your concerts. Since they are tied up with so many things, music lovers prefer listening to a musician on the television, the computer and the like. But earlier, when you want to listen to a Semmangudi or any other musician, you had to be at the venue.
Kshethra Sangeetham series
It was one of my students who suggested that we can do a concert series on our temples. The series, organised by Narada Gana Sabha (a cultural organisation in Chennai), comprises a presentation about various aspects of a particular temple, that is, its uniqueness, composers who’ve sung about the temple and other musical aspects related to it. It is then followed by a concert on the temple town. It commenced in January 2010 and we have covered 19 of them so far.
Documenting rare kritis
I love working on rare compositions. In 2007, I brought out ‘Apoorva Kriti Manjari’, a collection of 20 rare compositions of the Carnatic music Trinity with audio recording and notations. Now I am working on its second part and hope to bring it out next year.
As a teacher
I always tell my students that it is important to learn well so that they would evolve as good musicians naturally.
Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam presents compositions on Sree Krishna at the Brehath Sangeethotsavam today. The event is at Abhedasram, East Fort, at 6.30 p.m.
