A real delight of this world is the way the violin is played by South Indian musicians. It is as if it is a truly Indian instrument, not imported. Tonight I share a live recording of the fabled Lalgudi Jayaram made in Bombay in the 1970s.
Lalgudi
Jayarama Iyer (born
September 17, 1930, India)
is a well-known Carnatic
violinist, vocalist and
composer.
Born in the
lineage of a disciple of the saint musician Thyagaraja, Sri Lalgudi
Jayaraman inherited the essence of Carnatic music from his
versatile father, late V R Gopala Iyer, who trained him meticulously.
At the age of
12, he started his musical career as an accompanying violinist.
Having an
active imagination, quick grasp and an ability to adapt easily to the
individual styles of the leading maestros in Carnatic music, while
accompanying them in their concerts, he reached the forefront in rapid strides.
With the concert experience he thus gained, coupled with sheer hard work and
perseverance and the strong urge to give original expression to his musical
ideas, he emerged as an accomplished solo violinist.
He expanded
the style of violin playing by inventing a whole new technique that is designed
to best suit the needs of Indian Classical
Music and establishing a unique style that came to be known as 'Lalgudi Bani'.
His flawless and fascinating style, graceful and original, yet not divorced from
traditional roots, gained him numerous fans. This multi-dimensional personality
has, to his credit, composed several 'kritis', 'tillanas' and 'varnams' and dance
compositions, which are a blend of raga,
bhava, rhythm and lyrical beauty.
A notable feature about Lalgudi is that his music is very expressive. Lalgudi's
instrumental talent comes to the fore in the form of lyrical excellence. He
brought the most-sought-after vocal style into violin, and his renditions
exhibit knowledge of lyrical content of the compositions.
He has been
in great demand for accompanying vocalists, and has accompanied such great
vocal virtuosos as Ariyakudi
Ramanuja Iyengar, Chembai
Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, Semmangudi
Srinivasa Iyer, G. N.
Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, K.V.Narayanaswamy, Maharajapuram
Santhanam, D. K. Jayaraman,
M.Balamuralikrishna,
T. V.
Sankaranarayanan, T. N. Seshagopalan and
flute maestros like N. Ramani,
etc. His accompanying wizardry and quick responses to the various challenges
posed by the main artistes remain unsurpassed. His accomplishments are numerous
but chief of them is the fact that he was the first to bring international
attention to the Carnatic
style of violin playing. He also
introduced a new concept of musical ensemble with violin, venu (flute) and vina in 1966, and gave several outstanding
concerts.
He has given
concerts extensively in India
as well as abroad. The Government of India
sent him to Russia
as a member of the Indian Cultural Delegation. At the Edinburgh festival in
1965, Yehudi Menuhin,
the renowned violinist,
impressed by Lalgudi's technique, presented him with his Italian violin. He has also
performed in Singapore,
Malaysia, Manila and East European
countries. His recordings submitted to the International
Music Council, Baghdad,
Asian Pacific
Music Rostrum and Iraq
Broadcasting Agency by AIR New Delhi have been adjudged as the best
and accorded the first position out of 77 entries received from the various
countries during 1979. He was invited to give concerts at Cologne, Belgium and France. The Government of India
chose him to represent India
at the Festival of India in USA, London
and he gave solo and 'Jugalbandi' concerts in London and also in Germany and
Italy that received rave reviews. Sri Lalgudi went on a tour in the year 1984
to Oman, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, which was highly
successful. He composed the lyrics and music for the operatic ballet Jaya Jaya
Devi, which premiered in 1994 at Cleveland, Ohio (U.S.) and was staged in
many other cities in the United States.
In October 1999, Lalgudi performed in the UK under the auspices of
Shruthi Laya Sangham (Institute of fine arts). The concert was a roaring
success. After the concert, a dance drama Pancheswaram, composed by
Lalgudi, was staged.
Jayaraman
earned several titles, such as 'Nada Vidya Tilaka' by Music Lovers’ Association
of Lalgudi in 1963, 'Padma Shri'
by the Government of
India in 1972, 'Nada Vidya Rathnakara' by East West Exchange in New York, 'Vadya Sangeetha
Kalaratna' by Bharathi Society, New York; 'Sangeetha Choodamani' by Federation
of Music Sabhas, Madras in 1971 and in 1972; State Vidwan of Tamil Nadu by the
Government of Tamil Nadu and Sangeetha Natak Academy award in 1979 etc. The
First Chowdaiah Memorial National-Level award was given to Sri Jayaraman by the
Chief Minister of Karnataka.
He also received honorary citizenship of Maryland, U.S. in 1994 and the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India
in 2001. He won the National Film
Award for Best Music Direction for the film Sringaram in 2006. In
2010, Jayaraman became a fellow of the Sangeet Natak
Akademi.
Lalgudi Jayaraman is
married to Smt Rajalakshmi and has two children: his son G.J.R.Krishnan and his
daughter Lalgudi
Vijayalakshmi. Both follow the footsteps of their father and are
famous in their own right. He has three sisters Padmavathy, a vainika,
Rajalakshmi and Srimathi, both violinists. The renowned veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh is Smt
Rajalakshmi's daughter. (Wikipedia)
Track Listing:
01 Welcome Address
02 Raga Nagaswaravali (Sri Shankara Guru Varam)
03 Raga Vachaspathi (Paraathpara)
04 Raga Dvijavanthi (Akhilandeshwari)
05 Raga Shankarabharanam (Sankaracharyam)
06 Raga Jaunpuri (Eppo Varuvaro)
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