Padma Vibhushan violinist-composer L Subramaniam was recently conferred Sri Lanka’s Highest State Tribute and the Violin Maestro Lakshminarayana Road was inaugurated in Jaffna in memory of his legendary father Vaidyanatha Lakshminarayana.
He tells HT City, “I’m so happy that my father’s legacy continues. It’s a recognition to not only him but also to the violin which he transformed from a just accompanying status to a major solo instrumentalist today. He lived in Sri Lanka in the ’30s to ’50 and all the transformation happened for him living there where he developed the techniques and subsequently, he taught us (siblings) when we lived there.”
To honour him, they named the street as Violin Maestro Lakshminarayana Road next to the Ramanathan College where he taught, and just across is culture centre North Ceylon Sangeetha Sabha in Jaffna. He inaugurated the road in presence of his wife and singer Kavita Krishnamurthy and Sri Lankan officials.
Subramaniam was also awarded the state honour by their culture minister in Colombo.
“It was a very nostalgic moment for me as it was at Nallur Kandaswamy Devasthanam temple in Jaffna I gave my first stage performance as a six-year-old. So, before the road’s inauguration, I went to perform at the temple and took blessings from Lord Murugan,” he says.
On his father’s connection with the island, he says, “In 1935 he went to teach at Ramanathan College in Jaffna. In 1953, Radio Ceylon in Colombo invited him to head the instrumental section and create a solid broadcasting system for classical music. He returned in 1958 when problems and unrest started on the island.”
He adds, “His vision was to transform it into a global solo instrument so the Indian violinists can also go and play in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Royal Albert Hall as a solo player, which never happened before he dreamt about it. He developed a lot of techniques sitting in Sri Lanka.”
“Later, I had collaborations with the Beatles, George Harrison, Pt Ravi Shankar (on sitar), Ali Akbar Khan (sarod), Bismillah Khan (shehnai) and so on. I performed in all these big centres around the world with violin as a solo instrument.”
The family organises the Lakshminarayana World Music Festival concert every year in the memory of V Lakshminarayana, who passed away in 1990. “Leading global musicians are performing in the festival. So, along with music education, big collaborations are happening. That is also our legacy of what my father wanted, and it continues,” he ends.