A Conversation with L Subramaniam (Excerpt)

It is no exaggeration to say that Dr L Subramaniam is one of Indian music’s most important figures worldwide. He began playing Indian classical music, primarily from the Carnatic tradition, when he was just a boy, and with his brothers became a violin icon in India. But he never sat still, playing with Ravi Shankar, George Harrison, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, and performing at some of the most prestigious concert halls globally as he established himself as an instrumentalist to be reckoned with. At the same time, he was never frightened of working outside of the music he grew up with, making an influential album with Danish musician Svend Asmussen in 1978 and defining his vision for uniting musics from around the world in 1999’s Global Fusion. Back in India, he founded the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival, bringing international artists to his home country, as well as the Lakshminarayana Global Centre of Excellence to train the next generation of musicians. This year, he published a book, Raga Harmony, which brought together his research and innovations that have allowed him to bring the Indian violin into major orchestral works based on the Western classical system. He remains a force.

This October, Subramaniam will be performing at London’s Darbar Festival across two performances, with his son Ambi Subramaniam (also a Carnatic violinist), sarod player Amaan Ali Bangash and others on October 26 and he will also be giving a talk (and audience Q&A) on October 27 to discuss his groundbreaking work and ideas related to the fusion of Eastern and Western music. You can find our more details of Darbar Festival at darbar.org.

The following is an excerpt from a much longer conversation with L Subramaniam that will be published in Songlines#204.

When did you start playing violin? Is it right that you played your first concert when you were only six years old?

I started learning music when I was very young. My elder sisters remember my repeating phrases that my father would sing to teach them. I was always very keen to learn the violin, since that was the instrument my father played, and he was my hero. My father wanted me to be a singer. When I was two years of age, I contracted diphtheria, which meant that I might lose my voice. At that point my parents decided that I could learn to play an instrument instead, and I tried a few before finally settling on the violin. My first concert was when I was 6 years old – it was at the large open air event at a temple in Sri Lanka. My sisters were performing, and my father wanted me to play my first solo then, but the concert organisers did not agree. He put me on stage anyways, and when the audience was very appreciative, the concert organiser said it had been his plan all along to have me play.

What music did you grow up with?

Growing up I was surrounded by Carnatic music. My father was a Carnatic musician and that is what I was initially trained in. However, my father was a very open-minded man. At a time when listening to a style other than Carnatic was considered damaging, he sent me to learn Western classical music too. I think his open-mindedness really created a foundation upon which I was able to build, learn about different styles of music and create my own.

What was the relationship like with your father and brothers? Were you always playing, always rehearsing?

My father was my hero. I wanted to be like him. Music was central to all of our lives. We also had many struggles early on – we weren’t financially well off, and we even had to flee Sri Lanka as refugees in 1958 (after my father had moved the family from India to Sri Lanka because he got a job there). Music is what kept us all going. I used to love how my elder brother Vaidyanathan would play. We started playing duets, and then my father created the Violin Trio, which had me and both my brothers playing the violin. That was a very novel idea at the time because the violin was an accompanying instrument in our tradition, and this was three violin soloists. I don’t remember a rivalry as much as an excitement to play and get better.

It’s 50 years since Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India toured Europe and North America. What are your memories of those tours?

The Ravi Shankar Family and Friends tour with George Harrison was one of the most memorable touring experiences I’ve had. It was early in my career and a milestone experience, not only because of the legendary Indian artists that were there like Ravi Shankar ji and Ustad Alla Rakha but also because of the western Emil Richards, Tom Scott, Billy Preston, and of course George Harrison himself. I had an opportunity to perform in some of the greatest concert halls in the world and study the audience response to Carnatic music. Through that tour and afterwards, I worked hard to make Carnatic music accessible to all audiences globally. In my personal life also, that was the tour I met my wife Viji, who played tambura for some of the concerts. We married in 1976, and she passed away in 1995.

You have always been very faithful to Carnatic music, while also creating fusions. Was there ever any resistance from your family or from people in India to the fusion music that you were making?

My father was always very supportive of my experiments and attempts to broaden the scope of music. I was, however, concerned when I made my first fusion albums that people in India would think that I wasn’t a classical musician anymore. So I originally didn’t release them in India, but I needn’t have worried because when I finally did release them in India, they received great critical acclaim and were very popular with audiences. I think it’s important to remember that classical music is a living tradition and ever-evolving. Sometimes the purists forget that.

Finally, you will soon be performing in London with your son Ambi. Can you tell us what it’s like to be performing this music with your son? Do you think that your son’s generation are bringing a different approach to Carnatic music?

I’m really looking forward to performing at the Barbican again for the fantastic Darbar Festival organised by Sandeep Virdee ji. Performing with Ambi is something I always enjoy, and I see how he interprets classical music and how he wants to take it forward as a very positive thing. My daughter Bindu is a singer, and my granddaughter Mahati also sings and plays the violin and piano. Having the next generation in music is exciting because it keeps music innovative.

+ For more details on Dr L Subramaniam's and other performances at Darbar Festival, visit darbar.org