Viji Subramaniam (15 August 1952 – 10 February 1995) was an Indian composer. She was proficient in world, Indian classical and film score styles of music. He is the son of veteran Indian musician and violinist Dr. L. Known for being the first wife of Subramaniam.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Viji Subramaniam was born as Vijayashree Shankar on Friday, 15 August 1952 (age 46 at the time of death) in Madras, India. His zodiac sign was Cancer. Immediately after graduation, she joined the California Institute of the Arts to pursue a master’s degree in music. Her mother and uncle were versed in Indian classical music, and she started giving musical training to Vijayashree Shankar when she was very young. He was brought up in Bombay.
Viji Subramaniam with his mother (singing)
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
His father’s name is Rajendra Shankar and he was the elder brother of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar. His mother’s name is Lakshmi Shankar and she was a Hindustani singer.
Vijay Shankar’s parents
husband and children
In 1976, Vijay Shankar married Dr. L. Subramaniam, an Indian musician.
Viji Subramaniam with her husband L Subramaniam
According to some media sources, in 1974, Viji Subramaniam and Dr. L Subramaniam participated in the music festival organized in London on behalf of India. It was during this event that they met each other for the first time. After two years, they got married in Bombay. The couple have four children. His sons Dr. Narayana Subramaniam and Ambi Subramaniam are musicians.
Narayan Subramaniam
Ambi Subramaniam
His daughters Ginger Shankar and Bindu Subramaniam are popular Indian musicians.
Bindu Subramaniam
Caste
She belonged to the Brahmin community.
livelihood
music program
At a very young age, Viji Subramaniam started participating in almost every musical program with her mother. During these concerts, his mother would sing while Viji would play the tambura. Apart from being a versatile tambura player, Viji was also an accomplished singer. In the 1970s, he began participating in international live concerts. She often accompanied sitar maestro Shankar and Ustad Alla Rakha to public performances and played tambura with them.
Old picture of Viji Subramaniam performing with Ustad Allah Rakha
In 1974, Viji Subramaniam, along with her aunt, Kamala Chakraborty, and mother, Lakshmi Shankar, attended Shankar’s Music Festival from India, which was organized in collaboration with the English composer and singer-songwriter, George Harrison.
Viji Subramaniam playing tambura and his mother singing
She began lending her voice to concerts in India in 1976 when she sang for its studio album, which was produced by Harrison. In late 1974, the album was recorded at the Friar Park mansion in England.
Viji Subramaniam singing in Los Angeles
movies
In 1988, Viji Subramaniam lent his voice to many songs in the film Salaam Bombay. The same year the film was awarded the Cannes Film Festival Audience Award and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1991, she lent her voice to various popular songs in the film Mississippi Masala, starring Indian actors Sarita Choudhary and Denzel Washington in the lead roles.
Co-founder of Laxminarayan Global Music Festival (LGMF)
Viji Subramaniam, along with her husband L Subramaniam, founded the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival (LGMF) in 1992 in memory of her father-in-law for his great contribution to Indian classical music. The main objective behind starting this music festival was to unite famous Indian and international artists on a single stage. The festival includes multiple concerts organized in various cities across the world including India, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, United States, China, Japan, Cuba, Senegal, Iran and Balochistan. Many global artists and instrumentalists are associated with the festival for regular concerts around the world. These artists include Yehudi Menuhin, Bismillah Khan, Allah Rakha, Kishan Maharaj, Arve Tellefsen, Malvika Sarukkai and Christian Eggen.
Poster of Ravi Shankar’s concert from India. Viji Subramaniam and his mother (fourth and fifth from left)
award
In 1972, Viji Subramaniam earned the All India Radio “President of India” Medal for excellence in singing on Indian radio and television.
Viji Subramaniam singing on All India Radio
Death
On 10 February 1995, he died of cancer in Los Angeles, United States.
Facts/General Knowledge
- She is also known by the name Viji.
- In 1997, the famous Indian musician Ravi Shankar wrote in his autobiography that Viji Subramaniam had a sweet and lovely voice.
- Reportedly, Viji Subramaniam’s favorite hobby was cooking South Indian food for his family. She used to cook Parmigiana for her husband who likes to eat it often. It was stated in several media sources that she was skilled in preparing Mexican, Chinese and Italian cuisine. The report states,
Sometimes she turns to other cuisines – Mexican, Chinese and Italian, for example. Eggplant Parmigiana is one of her husband’s favorite dishes. And she makes enchiladas filled with cheese, olives and mushrooms.
- Soon after her marriage to L Subramaniam, she stood by him to propagate the concept of global music all over the world. According to him, this would reduce the dominance of Western music and allow all other forms of music to flourish around the world, including Irish, Swedish, Danish, Chinese, African, Japanese and Iranian.
- She moved to Los Angeles from India in the early 1990s and gave up her career in music for the sake of her husband and four children. He died in February 1995 after suffering from cancer.
- In 2006, her vocal performance was featured in a documentary film ‘Violin from the Heart’, based on the life of L Subramaniam. This short film was made by French director Jean-Henri Meunier.
- His daughter, Ginger Shankar, is recognized worldwide as one of the most influential Los Angeles-based violinists and composers. According to Ginger Shankar, she has received diverse musical training from her mother. Once, in an interview with a media house, Ginger Shankar recalled her childhood days and said that when she was a child, Ginger used to go to various classical music concerts with her mother and used to play rock together at home. Used to listen to music. Ginger Shankar said,
We used to go to classical concerts and listen to rock music while coming back home. She was a very open-minded person and because of her I was able to learn so much.”
Ginger Shankar’s childhood picture with her mother
- Her two other children, Bindu Subramaniam and Ambi Subramaniam, were seen performing a live music show at the 22nd staging of the LGMF between December 2013 and January 2014. The event was a part of a six-city Indian tour.
- L Subramaniam’s second wife Kavita Krishnamurthy had once revealed while talking to the media that she had attended a wedding ceremony of Viji Subramaniam and L Subramaniam. Kavita said,
I was in St. Xavier’s and she was a year senior to me in Elphinstone College. We shared our passion for music. We met because of a common friend. My friend was invited to Viji’s wedding and I also went along for the Haldi ceremony and the reception afterwards. All I knew was that Viji was marrying a South Indian musician. Later, I heard that she was going to live in America.
Viji Subramaniam on her wedding day
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn