Akkarai Subhalakshmi

Carnatic Violin

Akkarai Subhalakshmi

3 minute read

Akkarai Subhalakshmi is a leading Carnatic violinist. Her grandmother R Sornambal was an expert in harikatha (devotional musical storytelling), and she grew up in the music school founded by her father Akkarai S Swamynathan. She sought to replicate the styles of her Carnatic heroes – GN Balasubramaniam, MS Gopalakrishnan, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, TN Krishnan, and Lalgudi Jayaraman (who she describes as ‘God’).

Today she performs solo as well as in acclaimed duets with either TM Krishna or her sister Akkarai S Sornalatha. She speaks out bravely on issues of gender inequality in Carnatic classical:

“As female musicians we lose out because of our gender. There are artistes I would love to play for who, I know, would never have a female accompanist”.

Akkarai Subhalakshmi performs at Darbar Festival 2014, alongside VV Ramanamurthy (mridangam), G Guruprasanna (kanjira) and Kiruthika Nadarajah (tanpura).

“Ultimately what binds us are the seven swaras of music. It is what makes music universal even when we cannot speak each other’s languages.”

Akkarai Subhalakshmi’s performance at the Darbar Festival 2014 was a standout display of her virtuosity and emotional depth in classical music. Performing alongside renowned artists such as Abhishek Raghuram, Shashank Subramanyam, VV Ramanamurthy, and Manorama Prasad, Subhalakshmi brought a unique vibrancy to the stage with her soulful violin playing. Her collaboration with these esteemed musicians created an atmosphere of musical harmony and innovation, blending intricate rhythms and melodies that resonated deeply with the audience, highlighting her mastery in the art form.

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Ganesh & Kumaresh | Carnatic Violin | Magical Ragamalika

Recorded at Darbar on 4 Apr 2009, at London’s Southbank Centre Musicians: - Ganesh Rajagopalan (violin) - Kumaresh Rajagopalan (violin) - Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam) - RN Prakash (ghatam) ‘Ragamalika’ translates to ‘garland of ragas’. Let South India’s finest violin brothers lead you through a variety of moods, sampling many different musical colours. Learn more about the music: Ganesh & Kumaresh Rajagopalan are Carnatic music’s foremost violin brothers, having performed together for over four decades. Their insurance broker father was also a talented violinist, and started teaching them at the ages of three and two respectively. They received acclaim as prodigies, and performed over 100 times before Kumaresh (the younger) had turned ten. By their early teens they were playing to acclaim at major festivals, with a maturity of style that belied their years. All India Radio even lowered their minimum age to become a highly graded artist in response. They play classical music with colourful modern flourishes, and visit out-and-out fusion territory too, working with jazz and electronic musicians. An open-minded style is no surprise - the Uttar Pradesh family home they grew up in often played host to concerts from visiting musicians from both the North and South. Carnatic legends such as MS Gopalakrishnan hail them as the best violinists of their generation, and they continue to experiment today. Ragamalika, literally meaning ‘garland of ragas’, refers to a musical form which blends different ragas into one piece. Popular in Carnatic music for centuries, it allows for more freedom and more concise emotional contrasts than traditional raga structures. Musicians seek to avoid abrupt jumps in mood or scale, but the points of change should still be apparent. Similarly, a ‘talamalika’ is a blend of different rhythm cycles into one composition. The two can be combined into a ‘ragatalamalika’. The 18th century composer Ramaswami Dikshitar (father of Muthuswami) is often considered to be the king of these mixed forms, using hundreds of them over his lifetime. He even wrote a vast Telugu composition known as Ashtottara Shata which blends 108 ragas and 108 talas - one combination for each line, and one line for each name of Devi, the supreme goddess. Unfortunately only part of the work survives today. Subscribe to the Darbar Player to access the full, uncut performance.