Lalgudi Gopala Iyer Jayaraman (17 September 1930 – 22 April 2013) was an Indian Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer. He is commonly grouped with M.S. Gopalakrishnan and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin trinity of Carnatic music. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the

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in 2001. His disciples included his two children Lalgudi G. J. R. Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi; his sister Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam; former composer-conductor of All India Radio's ''Vadya Vrinda'' National Orchestra P. Purnachander Rao; the musician S P Ramh (grandson of Shri. G.N. Dandapani Iyer); Harikatha exponent Vishaka Hari; Carnatic vocalist Saketharaman; Vittal Ramamurthy; Dr. N. Shashidhar; film music composer Girishh G; Padma Shankar; Kanchan Chandran; Raghuram Hosahalli; London violinist Shri A.G.A.Gnanasundaram; Srinivasamurthy; Pakkala Ramdas; Sankari Krishnan; Yamini Ramesh; Mumbai Shilpa; Shreya Devnath; Krithika Natarajan; Salem Sisters; Vainika Srikanth Chary; and Bombay Jayashri Ramnath.

Early life and background

Born in the lineage of a disciple of the musical

trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

( Musthuswamy Dikshitar, Sri Shyama Shastri, and St. Thyagaraja), Lalgudi Jayaraman inherited the essence of

Carnatic music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...

from his father, V. R. Gopala Iyer, who trained him. Gopala Iyer, a martinet, enforced traits of intense focus and discipline in the young Jayaraman through rigorous lessons. Though a harsh father and guru, Gopala Iyer would not allow the young Jayaraman to even sharpen pencils, believing that his tender fingers were too precious.

Career

At the age of 12, he started his musical career as an accompanying violinist to Carnatic musicians before rising as a prominent soloist. He expanded the style of violin playing by inventing a new technique that is designed to suit the needs of

Indian Classical Music Indian classical music is the art music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is generally described using terms like ''Shastriya Sangeet'' and ''Marg Sangeet''. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as ...

and establishing a unique style that came to be known as ''Lalgudi Bani''. Jayaraman composed several '

kriti Kriti may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kriti (music), a format of musical composition typical to Carnatic music * ''Kriti'' (film), a 2016 Indian Hindi-language short film * Kriti TV, Greek TV station People with the name * Kriti Bhar ...

s', ' tillanas' and '

varnam Varṇam is a type of composition in the Carnatic music system that encapsulates the key features of a raga, and considered as a foundational element in the learning path. Varnams capture the essence of the ragam in terms of typical swara patt ...

s' and dance compositions, which are a blend of

raga A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...

, bhava, rhythm and lyrical beauty. Lalgudi's instrumental talent comes to the fore in the form of lyrical excellence. He brought vocal style into violin, and his renditions exhibit knowledge of lyrical content of the compositions. Lalgudi actively and scientifically learned to self-critique his performances and dutifully wrote detailed reviews after each concert, a habit encouraged by his father and guru. He was loath to experiment on stage in his solo concerts and almost always planned to the last detail, leading a certain critic to tout them as being intellectual rather than emotional in spirit, but Lalgudi's spontaneity and innate musical genius were often seen when he accompanied leading vocalists. He was always in great demand for accompanying vocalists, and has accompanied vocal virtuosos including Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, M. D. Ramanathan, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G. N. Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Alathur brothers, Voleti Venkateswarulu,

Nedunuri Krishnamurthy Nedunuri Krishnamurthy ( Telugu: నేదునూరి కృష్ణమూర్తి;10 October 1927 – 8 December 2014) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist.

, K. V. Narayanaswamy, Maharajapuram Santhanam, D. K. Jayaraman, M.Balamuralikrishna, T. V. Sankaranarayanan, T. N. Seshagopalan and flute maestro N. Ramani. He was forbidden from accompanying female artistes by his father, a promise that he kept. He has given concerts extensively in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

as well as abroad. The

sent him to Russia as a member of the Indian Cultural Delegation. 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 veena in 1966. After inviting him to play the

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in 1965,

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

, the renowned violinist, impressed by Lalgudi's technique and performance, presented him with his Italian violin. Lalgudi presented Menuhin with an ivory dancing Nataraja when Menuhin visited India. He has also performed in Singapore,

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

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and East European countries. His recordings submitted to the International Music Council,

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, 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

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and France. The

chose him to represent

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

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, UAE,

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and

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, which was highly successful. He composed the lyrics and music for the operatic ballet ''Jaya Jaya Devi'', which premiered in 1994 at

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, Ohio (US) and was staged in many other cities in the United States. In October 1999, Lalgudi performed in the UK under the auspices of Sruthi Laya Sangham (Institute of fine arts). After the concert, a dance drama ''Pancheswaram'', composed by Lalgudi, was staged. His biography, ''An Incurable Romantic'', by Lakshmi Devnath, was released posthumously in 2013. It contains a foreword by sitarist Ravi Shankar, and charts his 70 years in the music industry.

Awards

Jayaraman earned several titles, such as 'Nada Vidya Tilaka' by Music Lovers’ Association of Lalgudi in 1963, ' Padma Shri' by the

in 1972, 'Nada Vidya Rathnakara' by East West Exchange in New York, 'Vadya Sangeetha Kalaratna' by Bharathi Society, New York; ' Sangeetha Choodamani' by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai in 1971; State Vidwan of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

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 Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. He also received honorary citizenship of

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, US in 1994 and the Padma Bhushan by the

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 Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English language, English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture (India) ...

Personal life

Lalgudi Jayaraman was married to Smt Rajalakshmi and had two children, son G.J.R.Krishnan and daughter Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi. Both follow the footsteps of their father and are famous in their own right. Jayaraman had three sisters Padmavathy, a vainika, Rajalakshmi and Srimathi, both violinists. Srimathi learned violin from him as well. The renowned veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh is his sister Smt Rajalakshmi's daughter. Jayaraman died on 22 April 2013 after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Compositions

Most famous for his thillanas and

s, Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman is considered one of the most prolific composers of modern times. His compositions span four languages ( Tamil, Telugu,

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

), as well as a whole range of

s not conventionally used for varnams or thillanas. Characteristic of his style, the melody of his compositions camouflages subtle rhythmic intricacies. His compositions are very popular with Bharathanatyam dancers, even as they have become a standard highlight of every leading

ian's repertoire. His compositions include:

Varnams

Pada Varnams

Thillanas

Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman also tuned the Swathi Thirunal thillana 'Gitu Dhunika Taka Dhim' in Raga Dhanashree and set the compositions in its current form, which then went on to become hugely popular

Krithis

Apart from these compositions, Sri Lalgudi jayaraman has composed jathiswarams and swarajathis as well. The jathiswaram in Rasikapriya raga is popular among Bharatanatyam dancers. He has also composed a unique swarajathi which demonstrates the concept of Grahabhedam, using ragas Sindhu Bhairavi, Chenchurutti, Mohanakalyani, Behag and Tilang. He was a much sought after tunesmith who set tunes to numerous songs and compositions including several krithis of Ambujam Krishna.

References

External links

Official site of Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jayaraman, Lalgudi 1930 births 2013 deaths Carnatic violinists Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship Tamil musicians Carnatic composers Tamil film score composers Best Music Direction National Film Award winners People from Tiruchirappalli district 20th-century Indian violinists