L. Vaidyanathan

Lakshminarayana Vaidyanathan was born into the musical household of Prof. V. Lakshminarayana and V. Seethalakshmi. His father trained all three sons, Vaidyanathan, L. Subramaniam, and L. Shankar, in vocal music and violin playing.

The Lakshminarayana family years in Jaffna shaped Vaidyanathan's early music. A Sruti birth-centenary tribute to his father records that Lakshminarayana arranged a concert for his eldest son Vaidyanathan with tavil maestro Yazhpanam Dakshinamurthy when Vaidyanathan was only eight.

With his brothers, Vaidyanathan belonged to the violin trio that performed solo, duo, and trio concerts and carried the family technique into wider concert and recording contexts. The brothers were known for proficiency as accompanists and soloists, and for work that extended into direction, conducting, production, and composition.

Vaidyanathan later became a noted music director and composer, especially in Tamil and Kannada films. He composed for Ezhavathu Manithan and many other projects, and is remembered by many listeners for the music of Malgudi Days.

He died in Chennai on May 19, 2007. News reports at the time described him as an eminent violinist and music director, and as the eldest of the famed trio that included L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar.