Lalgudi Jayaraman 'Bani' will be heard no more

Legendary violin maestro and one of the most prolific composers of modern times, Lalgudi Jayaraman, who died here today, strode like a colossus in the field of Carnatic music giving a new dimension to solo performance of the string instrument. Born in lineage of an illustrious disciple of the great saint-composer Thyagaraja on September 17, 1930, in Lalgudi near Tiruchirappalli, Jayaraman began his music oddysey at the age of 12 under the tutelage of his father V R Gopala Iyer, also a violinist and composer. [caption id=“attachment_719666” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Collage of Lalgudi Jayaraman. Image Courtesy: Official website. [/caption] A creative performer, innovator and teacher, his hard work and strong urge to give original expression to musical ideas helped him emerge as a solo violinist and a succesful composer. In his early days, Jayaraman accompanied vocal virtuosos such as Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyenger, Chembbai Vaidyanatha Bagavathar, Semmangudi Srinivas Iyer, G N Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, M Balamurali Krishna and T N Sesha Gopalan. He, along with his contemporaries M S Gopalakrishnan and T N Krishnan, was known as the violin trinity. Jayaraman, a revered teacher, is also credited with inventing a new technique of playing the violin, which came to be known as ‘Lalgudi Bani (style)’ that best suited the needs of Indian classical music. Though it was original and unique, it, however, wasn’t too apart from the traditional style and thus was liked and appreciated by one and all. Jayaraman had compsed numerous ‘kritis’, ’tillanas’ and ‘varnams’ and prominent among them are ‘Calamu Seyanela’ in Valaj raga, ‘Parama Karuna’ in Garudadhvani and ‘Vallabai Nayaka" in Mohana Kalyani raga. PTI