CHENNAI: It takes a village, they say. Turns out, that’s the best way to honour the memory of a man who was a teacher, violinist, accompanist and composer and Padma Bhushan recipient put together. Ahead of Lalgudi Jayaraman’s 90th birth anniversary, his children — Carnatic violinists Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi — under the banner of Lalgudi Trust, will jointly celebrate the occasion with a comprehensive list of cultural events, on a virtual platform, owing to the pandemic.
A team effort
Over the last month, braving the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 crisis, the Lalgudi siblings have taken up the arduous task of bringing together many disciples of the legend from across the globe. They have already begun the celebrations by editing and premiering 25 musical tribute videos on the YouTube channel ‘Lalgudi Jayaraman - God of Violin’ maintained by Kalakendra, and on their official Facebook pages and that of the Lalgudi Trust.
“These tributes have featured varnams, thillanas and rare compositions of Lalgudi Jayaraman. They have been respectfully performed by the disciples who trained under the direct guidance and tutelage of the maestro. The videos are laced with anecdotes of the many memories the disciples shared with their guru.
This musical tribute series culminated on September 15,” shares Vijayalakshmi. On September 17, the birth anniversary of the legend, there will be a lec-dem on the life and contributions of Lalgudi Jayaraman by vocalist Sriram Parashuram, televised virtually by Shaale.com, a popular Bengaluru-based online portal for culture and fine arts. Also, a video medley of Lalgudi varnams, put together by Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi, will be featured.
Many tributes
The grand virtual programme, which will be held on September 20, promises three hours of musical bliss, with an exquisite garland of compositions woven together, featuring highly accomplished Indian classical dancers and musicians offering their tributes to the legend.
It will be hosted on the YouTube channel, Lalgudi Jayaraman - God of Violin by the Lalgudi Trust and Shreya Nagarajan Singh Arts Development Consultancy. “Apart from the main event, which we have planned for September 20, there’s a lot that’s been happening on social media.
Organisations from Singapore and Australia are conducting their sets of events. We even gave a lecture on thillana to them over Zoom.
Our father has touched so many hearts, and each one feels he’s their own. We are immensely grateful to all the artistes and disciples who are a part of this,” says Krishnan. This programme has been supported by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and the South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur.
The Lalgudi siblings have partnered with Kalakendra for this production. Lalgudi Shrimati Brahmanandam, an accomplished violinist and sister of the maestro who has extensively co-performed with her brother, will light the lamp on September 20. Speaking about the line-up of events for the big day, Vijayalakshmi reveals, “The invocation, Thithikkum Kanivagaiyum is a nottu swara composition by our grandfather and the first guru of our father, VR Gopala Iyer.
It will be performed by the Sargam Choir, a brainchild of vocalist Sudha Raja. Following the invocation, there will be a presentation of a video montage covering precious footage from our personal archives and clips from his 80th birthday event we celebrated at Madras Music Academy.” Felicitations from highly esteemed classical dancers and musicians from the Carnatic and Hindustani genres will follow the keynote address by instrumentalist Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. Sharada Ramanathan, director of the movie Sringaram (2007) will relive her experiences working with the maestro during the production, and a folk song from the movie will be featured as well.
Remembering the legend
“Dancers Rama Vaidyanathan, Sheejith Krishna and Mythili Prakash will be presenting their re-imagination of the famous Mallari track composed by Lalgudi Jayaraman for Sringaram that won three national awards. There will be a formal release of a unique thematic concert by the maestro, entirely featuring Thodi in every composition presented. The release will be presided over by the veteran percussionists Umayalpuram Sivaraman and Vikku Vinayakram.
The concert will be available for purchase on the Swati Sanskriti website and via Amazon,” she shares. The Lalgudi violin cousins — featuring Krishnan, Anuradha Sridhar, Vijayalakshmi and her son Arjun Srinivasan on the violin, and Shriram Brahmanandam and his son Arun Shriram on the mridangam — will also be performing. A biographical discourse in English by Harikatha exponent Vishakha Hari, titled Lalgudi Jayaraman - God of Violin is yet another highlight of this live celebration. “Shri Saptarishishwarar temple in Lalgudi is where our father first gave his arangetram in 1942 and he accompanied our grandfather VR Gopala Iyer.
Vishaka, with the accompanists, went there and performed this Harikatha,” details Krishnan. The programmes will be interspersed with rare glimpses from the life of Lalgudi Jayaraman. Esteemed danseuse Guru Rhadha will speak about the magnum opus operatic ballet Jaya Jaya Devi, the music for which was entirely conceived and composed by the musician. The mangalam for this event will be from this production, vocally rendered by Sikkil Gurucharan, Gayathri Girish, Sriranjani Santanagopalan and Aishwarya Vi dya Raghunath.
“For the first time in history, in honour of the contributions of a south Indian musician, a highly distinguished league of artistes from the Carnatic and Hindustani genres of music are coming together in the dream production, The Thillana by Milapfest UK. The Thillana featured will be a surprise revelation. I wish our father was alive to witness all this,” says Vijayalakshmi.