Akkarai S. Subhalakshmi is a 21st-century violinist in the field of

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

. She is the daughter of violinist Akkarai Swaminathan. She and her younger musician sister Sornalatha are often referred to as Akkarai sisters in music circles.

Life and career

Akkarai S Subhalakshmi is a South Indian classical (Carnatic) violinist and vocalist. Subhalakshmi hails from a musical family. Her grandfather Suchindram S P Sivasubramanian was a prolific musician and composer, and her grandmother R Sornambal a harikatha exponent and music teacher. Subhalakshmi is the disciple of her father, Akkarai S Swamynathan, a veteran violinist and founder of the Swara Raga Sudha school of music, and his intensive training enabled her to debut as a performing violinist and vocalist at the age of eight. She also trained under V Janakiraman, O V Subramanian and his daughter Padma Natesan of New Delhi, and later on, Padmabhushan P S Narayanaswamy and

Chitravina N Ravikiran Narasimhan Ravikiran (born 12 February 1967) is an Indian slide instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and orator, who created the concept of melharmony. He is the son of gottuvadhyam player Chitravina Narasimhan and the grandson of Narayan Iye ...

, who had her in many of his concerts and provided her with musical guidance and experience. As an accompanist, she has played for many legendary artists such as

M Balamuralikrishna M, or m, is the thirteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''em'' (pronounced ), plural ''ems''. History Th ...

T V Gopalakrishnan Tripunithura Viswanathan Gopalakrishnan (born 11 June 1932 in Tripunithura, Kerala), known as TVG, is a Carnatic and Hindustani musician from Cochin, Kerala, India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2014. Early ...

, N Ramani,

Shashank Subramanyam Shashank Subramanyam (born 14 October 1978) is a flutist from India and specializes in Indian classical music. The Govt. of France awarded the prestigious Knighthood / title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He is also the ...

T. M. Krishna Thodur Madabusi Krishna (born 22 January 1976) is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, writer, activist, author and Ramon Magsaysay awardee. As a vocalist, he has made a large number of innovations in both the style and substance of his concerts, the ...

and

R K Srikanthan Rudrapatna Krishnashastri Srikantan (14 January 1920 – 17 February 2014), known as R. K. Srikantan, was a vocalist of the Carnatic musical tradition of South Indian music. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in ...

. Subhalakshmi has performed in Japan, Singapore, U.S.A., Canada, Germany, Italy, U.K., South Korea, the Middle East, Australia, Sri Lanka, and other places. She played in the Indo-Russian cultural exchange programme at age thirteen, and has been featured in prestigious events like the

Théâtre de la Ville (meaning the City Theatre) is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement. Incl ...

Festival (Paris), the farewell concert for

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the fou ...

in Munich, the Mahatma Gandhi Institute Sangeet Utsav in Mauritius, and the Cleveland

Tyagaraja Aradhana Tyagaraja Aradhana is an annual ''aradhana'' (a Sanskrit term meaning act of glorifying God or a person) of Telugu saint composer Tyagaraja. The music festival is observed in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, primarily in Tiruvaiya ...

. Subhalakshmi has also played in

jugalbandi A jugalbandi or jugalbandhi is a performance in Indian classical music, especially in Hindustani classical music but also in Carnatic, that features a duet of two solo musicians. The word jugalbandi means, literally, "entwined twins." The duet ca ...

and fusion concerts with Chitravina Ravikiran, alongside artistes like

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, professionally known as V. M. Bhatt (born 27 July 1950), is an Hindustani classical music instrumentalist who plays the Mohan veena ( slide guitar). Personal life Bhatt lives in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, with his wife and ...

and

Ronu Majumdar Ronu Majumdar is an Indian flautist in the Hindustani classical music tradition. Awards, nominations, and music collaborations In 1981, Ronu Majumdar won the first prize at the All India Radio competition, and the President's Gold Medal. He h ...

. Subhalakshmi also performs many violin and vocal duets with her younger sister Akkarai S Sornalatha, and they are popularly known as ‘Akkarai Sisters’. She received the Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Puraskar award from the President of India at the age of thirteen, and has since earned a host of awards, including Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar award from the Sangeet Natak Akademy (2007), Vani Kala Nipuna (2012), the Kalki Krishnamurthy Memorial Award (2007), Yuva Kala Bharathi (2002), the Shanmukha Shiromani (awarded to the sisters together in 2009), the Music Academy Outstanding Young Violinist Award (1999, 2001, 2006, & 2007). She was identified as one of India's 50 emerging stars by The Week magazine's issue commemorating the Indian nation's 50th anniversary. She is an A-Grade Artiste of

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

. Subhalakshmi has released many albums, both violin and vocal, such as ‘Keeravani’ and ‘Varali’, and violin duet albums with her sister, such as ‘Inta Saukhyam’.

Awards and honours

* Kala Bhushan * Kala Shree * Sangeethavisharada * Rajiv-Gandhi Puraskar * Rajiv Gandhi Youth Award * Isai-Kuil * Delhi State First Award * Outstanding young violinist award from The Music Academy (1999 and 2001) * Inspiring Child Artist Award from Valayapatti Nadaayala (1999) * Critic K.S. Mahadevan Award from Narada Gana Sabha (2000) * The Best Performance Award from The Music Academy (2000) * The Best Violinist Award from The Indian Fine Arts Society (2001) * The Best Violinist of the year 2001 has been awarded by the writer Sujatha in Anandha Vikatan * The Youth Merit Award 2002 has been awarded by The Rotary Club of Madras Industrial City * The Yuva Kala Bharathi Award has been awarded by Bharat Kalachar (2002). * The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar award from the Sangeet Natak Akademy (2007) * Vani Kala Nipuna (2012) * The Kalki Krishnamurthy Memorial Award (2007) * The Shanmukha Shiromani Award * Kala Rathna from The Cleveland Aradhana Committee, 2013 *Kalaimamani Award to Akkarai Subhalakshmi & her younger sister Akkarai Sornalatha together from Tamil Nadu State Government (2019)

References

External links

Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Subhalakshmi, Akkarai Living people Carnatic violinists 21st-century violinists Year of birth missing (living people) Women violinists