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 The first part of the Lakshminarayana Global Music Fest will be held in Chennai at the Music Academy on January 2, 2004. The performig artistes are Dr L Subramaniam, Ustad Sultan Khan, Sarangi nawaz and vocalist, Pandit Anindo Chaterjee, famous tabla player, and Trichur R Moha on the mridangam, Subash Chandran on the ghatam and Satya Sai on moorsing. This is a free concert, said Dr Subramaniam in
Chennai.
Dr. L. Subramaniam and the late Viji Subramaniam as a tribute to Dr. Subramaniam's father and guru, Professor
V Lakshminarayana, launched the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival in 1992. Professor V. Lakshminarayana belonged to the Guru-Shishya Parampara (Master-Disciple Tradition) of Sri Baluswamy Dikshitar, who is believed to have introduced the violin to the Indian tradition.
The Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival is unique because it is the only festival where eminent artists from around the globe perform on the same stage. Different cultural traditions blend harmoniously to spread the message of peace. The Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival has been held in India, the United States, Germany in conjunction with the Berlin Festival, Sri Lanka and Norway. It has featured musicians musicians from countries including Baluchistan, China, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Iran, Ivory Coast, Japan, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Sweden, Senegal, the UK and the US. Artistes who have participated in the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival include: Steven Seagal, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Allah Rakha, Pandit Kishan Maharaj, Arve Tellefsen, Pandit Ram Narayan, Jean Luc Ponty, Bil1y Cobham, Ghulam Ali, Malavika Sarukai, Roar Engelberg, Iver Klieve and Christian
Eggen.
In 2004, the Lakshminarayana will be presented in two formats. Certain cities will witness a special combination of classical music with Sangeet Markhand Pandit Jasraj and Dr. L. Subramaniam, performing their own music and collaborating together for a completely unique experience.
The second part of the Lakshminaraya Global Music Festival 2004 wili feature Dr. L. Subramaniam, his wife and popular singer Kavita Krishnamurti Subramaniam, Stanley Clarke, Billy Cobham, Miya Masaoka, Chris Rhyne, Seetaa Subramaniam and others. This will be a first of its kind special concert by musicians from different parts of the world, paying tribute through their music. There will also be special compositions performed by all the artistes as a joint tribute to India.
Dr. Subramaniam has just completed a Carnatic classical concert tour in France and Switzerland playing to extremely receptive audiences and packed auditoriums. He has been able to reach across cultural lines to reach diverse audiences from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and nationalities.
He also recently performed again for Prince Charles during the latter's visit to India. The concert was a grand success. Besides the Prince, many foreign delegates and Indian dignitaries were also present. A CD of the live performance is to be released soon.
The last three months has been a flurry of activity for Dr. Subramaniam and his wife Kavita Krishnamurti Subramaniam with them giving performances together and separately around the globe. Apart from a long tour of France and Switzerland, and a short flying trip to the US, Dr. Subramaniam has been roped into the Tiranga series of concerts with Pandit Jasraj and other classical musicians.
Dr. Subramaniam is the only musician who has performed/recorded Camatic classical music, Western classical music, both orchestral and non-orchestral, and also composed for and conducted major orchestras, collaborated with a wide range of some of the greatest musicians, from different genres of music including jazz, occidental, jugalbandis with North Indian musicians, world music and global fusion. He has established himself as a force that is strongly Indian, but universal in nature and approach.
Today, he is the founder/director of the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival, the biggest global music festival in India, in which this spirit of encounter, which he has always enjoyed, is strongly expressed. The Festival has brought some of the greatest artistes from around the globe together on one stage. It is held annually, primarily in India, but has also been held in different parts of the world.
His compositions have also been used in various stage presentations by leading ballet companies, including the Cleveland San Jose Ballet Company and the Alvin Ailey Company.
To commemorate 100 years of the Nobel Peace Prize, an album has been released bringing together the best from music and excerpts from speeches of Nobel laureates. For this project featuring artistes from all around the world, Dr. Subramaniam and Kavita Krishnamurti Subramaniam were chosen to represent the Asian continent. Their composition, Transcendental Peace features Dr. Subramaniam on the violin, Kavita Subramaniam singing and the words of Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela. This historical compact disc also features the music ofKris Kristofferson, Sinead O'Conner and the words of Matrin Luther King Jr., Iffi The Dalai Lama, Kofi Annan, Yitzhak Rabin and Yaseer Arafat among others.
His latest compositions are based on the Global Fusion concept, which he has created based on music from different continents. His album titled 'Global Fusion' features one of the most popular and successful singers in the film industry, Kavita Krishnamurti (whom Dr. L Subramaniam married in November 1999), Jorge Struntz, and his talented and versatile daughter Seetaa
Subramaniam.
Dr Subramaniam is currently putting the finishing touches on his new global fusion album, tentatively titled "Beyond Borders", featuring Stephane Grappelli, Kavita Krishnamurti Subramaniam, Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Jean Luc Ponty, Stanley Clarke, Larry Corryel, Billy Cobham, Corky Seagal, Seetaa Subramaniam and others.
He performed for the opening series of concerts of Esplanade, the largest concert hall in Asia, located in Singapore.
In August 2003, Dr. L. Subramaniam and Kavita Subramaniam collaborated with renowned danseuse Sonal Mansingh on Asmita, a celebration of Indian Identity. The opening performance was on the 12th of August and attended by the Prime Minister. The next night, the Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and other dignitaries attended the concert. The ballet was a glorious success.
 "Global Fusion is a Musical journey that lets us travel to distant lands and absorb the sounds which is the reflection of different cultures. This helps in bringing global harmony to create World Unity, " says the father of Global Fusion Music.
Dr.Subramaniam reinvented the violin by widening its technical and expressive capacities, taking them to new heights of emotion; he did it by relying on tradition. This secret of a successful marriage between modernity and tradition appeals directly to our hearts.
This living legend's concerts are landmarks. He has been honored for outstanding contribution to the world of music. His names appears in internationally acclaimed reference volumes like the "International Who's who in music", "Men of achievement (UK)", "Community Leaders and Noteworthy Americans" and "Book of Honour" to name a few. He has been recently conferred with an Honorary Doctorate (D.LIT) by Bangalore University.
"Music is a vast ocean and no one can claim to know it all. The more you know, the more you realise how little you know. It is an eternal quest." That is what Dr Subramaniam firmly believes.
RR
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