Vijayalakshmi Lalgudi

The Lalgudi siblings are the torchbearers of their eponymous violin gharana, named for their late father Lalgudi G Jayaraman - one of Carnatic music’s ‘violin trinity’. The family claim a direct lineage back to Thyagaraja, an 18th century saint-musician revered by Carnatic aficionados, with a style marked by superb lyrical expression and divine melodic ornamentations.

After a childhood of training under their father and grandfather Lalgudi Gopala Iyer, they embarked on intertwining but distinct careers (her brother Krishnan thankfully abandoning a career in cost accounting to focus on music full-time). Today Vijayalakshmi is known as a violinist, vocalist, and composer, commanding respect for duets and individual performances alike.

"There was always music everywhere - my aunts, my cousins, by brother, my father…"

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