L. Subramaniam

L. Subramaniam & Ambi Subramaniam (violin)
Mahesh Krishnamurthy (mridangam)
Ganesh Kumar (kanjira)
At the Lincoln Center NY.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• carnatic
• south
• indian
• classical
• music
• violin
• subramaniam
• raga
• raag
• krithi
• ragam
• tanam
• pallavi

[dittybitty]

please go to the nearest musicworld or planet M and buy yourself a CD of L Subramanim and Bismillah Khan Live in Geneva and Mahalingam and L Subramaniam....listen to them once before making such foolish asinine comments.... the problem with people like you is you cant appreciate different kinds of music....

[dewdrops12345]

Have you heard of Yehudi Menuhin? Perhaps the greatest violinist of the West at his times. Do you know what was one of his last wishes, when he was asked on an interview? it was "I would love to perform together with Mani (l.subrahmaniam) once more" . I guess you will not argue that Yehudi Menuhin didnt know how to rate a violinist. And I dont know whether Menuhin said anything at all about s. harikumar.

[MrNymoron]

cheers!

[flashrules]

Criticism IMO is a little over-stated in Carnatic music. People need to use an appropriate medium to convey their thoughts to the artist as opposed to just commenting on a public forum like youtube.

[ShootMyMonkey]

I would add that what you mention of things being relative is sort of correct. If we had no reference point for other performers, or even LSub himself in earlier years being able to uphold merits wrt facets of music such as ragabhavam, vinyasam, etc, in addition to technique, maybe there wouldn't be any criticism.

My defense of shanky was not his points, but that he explained clearly and rationally why he felt as he did. All the responses, including yours, reek of emotional knee-jerk reactions

[ShootMyMonkey]

No one is more anti-tradition than I am. I can't speak for shanky, but I'm also a carnatic violinist myself, and I was quite vilified by traditionalists because of my atheism. Still, knowledgeable people among Carnatic listeners is quite common, and so it's not rare to expect commentary. I'm quite simply a pure meritocrat. Things should stand on their merits alone, and those things with merits should continue to stand so long as they're not superceded. It's really that simple.

[flashrules]

Ok..wat qualifications do u and shanky have to comment on LS. It has ofcourse become a fashion to criticize all great musicians in the name of tradition,purists etc. Everything is relative, as long as its pleasing to your ears, it doesn't matter..IMO,those ppl are hypocrites.

[arjunpriyanka]

extraordinary...

[ShootMyMonkey]

I don't mean to harp on MSG. I could say similar things about Chowdiah, LGJ, MC, VVS, MysoreBros, etc. Moving the art forward to me would involve all facets being improved in ways previously not done(or at least nothing lost for some partial gain).

LSub, in my mind, is doing what I'd call a shift in gears. Clean-bowing, sruthi-suddham, intricate rhythm, but utterly destroyed bhavam. This is what separates good/skilled/excellent/etc from "great" in the sense that legends are considered great.

[ShootMyMonkey]

Sure, you can swoon over his technique and all, but ultimately, he's favoring one facet of musicianship at the cost of another. That's not what I'd call moving the art "forward".

You look at people like MSG who changed the way gamakas are rendered, and did things with a violin that no one else has done, but didn't lose sight of bhavam, lakshanam, etc. Technique wasn't a focal point, but a platform to raise the level of phrase construction. Even when MSG does go fast, he still shapes every note.

[ShootMyMonkey]

I don't see anything wrong with shanky's comments as he does go on to explain his reasoning thoroughly. I happen to agree with him for the most part. There was a time when LSub was far more thoughtful in his exposition, and actually explored "raga-space", but it's become such a rarity now.

If you just hear the fast bits, it hardly rings of Hamsadwani. It just happens to have the scale, but a raga isn't just arohanam+avarohanam. The character of the raga didn't even appear until he slowed down.

[archanasridharb4u]

Awesome violin display by both dad and son.