among most of the musical styles.
We have 72 parent scales and
millions of scales derived from it.
I started incorporating south Indian
ragas and rhythmic concepts into
western music. My compositions
incorporated raga harmony concept
which I developed and did my PhD.
I also wrote different symphonic
compositions like Mahatma Symphony
and Bharat Symphony for 70th year
of India’s Independence bringing in
the history of India (in four stages:
Vedic Period, Mughal Period, British
Period and Post Independence) as a
musical journey. Then the Mahatma
Symphony which was composed to
celebrate his 150th birth anniversary,
is basically deals with later part of
his life after leaving South Africa
and coming back to India to get
freedom for India through non
violence and civil disobedience.
Depending on the composition, I
use different themes and emotions.
When I wrote Bharat Symphony
to celebrate 70 years of India, we
started with the Vedic period using
chants, then moved to the Mughal
period with the introduction of
Tabla. The third movement had a
strong British orchestral element.
The fourth movement, post-
independence had global elements.
I have been working and creating
a contemporary classical global
compositional concept based
on Raga harmony and the other
classical systems of music.
Ambi
Subramaniam
Tell us how you decided to pick up
the Violin as an instrument
Growing up, we were very fortunate
to listen to a lot of music at home. I
used to have a tiny violin that I played
with my dad. As I grew older, my
father started training me to become
a violinist. That’s how I started out.
strict as a guru. He doesn’t allow
even a little bit of slacking off; that’s
how he learnt and that’s what made
him the artist that he is. The first
thing I learnt from him is that there
are no excuses. As artists, doing
one thing right doesn’t give us the
right to do another thing badly.
I remember when I was in school,
I had to play at a concert and was
out of practice; at the performance,
I sounded just about okay. At
the end of the concert, my father
asked me why I messed up. When
I said it was because of exams, his
immediate reaction was “are you
going to say this to the audience?”
As I grew up, these dynamics evolved.
Now, when we work together, it’s
nice for me to pitch ideas to him.
Sometimes, the fact that we have
differing ideas is great, because it
means I am able to contribute more.
How do you plan to build on
your father’s vision?
My dad’s vision is something that
is continuously evolving. When
he started off, the focus was on
composition and to take the Indian
violin to where it is now. Over the last
ten to fifteen years, the idea has been
to create something that would last –
which is why my sister Bindu and I
took over the Subramaniam Academy
of Performing Arts (SaPa) and my
father started the Lakshminarayana
Global Music Festival (LGMF). We
want to make sure that India has
a hub for global music. When an
artist reaches a certain level, it is
important that the art is not lost and
is passed on to the next generation.
To us, music education is as important
as performance. It makes an impact
on every student and takes the music
to a new level. This is something my
father has always taught me, and I am
passionate about teaching as well.
What’s on your plate at the moment?
What dynamics do you share with
your father as Guru-Shishya? Quite a lot, actually! Musically
speaking, for me, the Carnatic violin
is the number one priority – that
is where my primary skill lies as
an artist. I’m always exploring
ways to grow and build on what
I have, and that translates to the
different projects I’m working on.
I think it has changed a lot over time.
Growing up, my father has always
been relaxed as a parent but very I play in a band called SubraMania
with my sister – Bindu Subramaniam
– and we have a few releases in the
In addition to the violin, I can also
sing and play a little bit of the piano.
The
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