Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi

Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi is a highly accomplished Carnatic violinist and a torch bearer of the Lalgudi bani. Vijayalakshmi is best known for her scintillating solos and duets with her brother Lalgudi Krishnan. She has accompanied numerous leading vocalists, enhancing and embellishing the concerts with her sensitive playing. She is also an accomplished vocalist, composer and teacher, and has collaborated with numerous leading Hindustani artistes. As a composer, besides musical compositions such as thillanas, varnams and krithis, she has composed both lyrics and music for full length dance dramas, and set to tune works of great poets. A fifth-generation musician of the illustrious Lalgudi bani, Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi, daughter and disciple of legendary musician Lalgudi G Jayaraman, is thus an artiste who engages both deeply and variedly with her music. With a sparkling four-decade-long journey in music, Vijayalakshmi has been recognized for her music through a slew of awards and accolades, including the most prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi by The Music Academy, Chennai. Vijayalakshmi has established and runs Krutagnya (Sanskrit for gratitude), a trust dedicated to creating awareness about the varied aspects of music and providing a stage for budding violinists from different schools to showcase their talent.  Compositions and Creations Vijayalakshmi has • Composed thillanas, varnams, kritis which are performed by leading musicians and dancers. • Composed (with her brother Lalgudi Krishnan) lyrics and music for full length dance dramas “Sambhavami Yuge Yuge”, “Veda Bharathi”, “Oozh – The Divine Destiny”. • Tuned many compositions including Adi Sankara’s slokas, Mahakavi Bharathiar’s poems and her own poems. • Released album ‘Shuddha Swaroopam’, featuring poems of Kaviyogi Shuddhananda Bharathi, tuned by her, sung by eminent vocalists. • Composed thematic presentation ‘Pancha Bhootham’, trained and performed in USA with 50 high school children. • Written 100+ poems in English and Tamil. Collaborations Vijayalakshmi has collaborated with musicians from across classical genres and has dabbled in the world of fusion too. These collaborations include jugalbandis with leading Hindustani musicians like • Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan (Sitar) • Debasish Bhattacharya (Slide Guitar) • Kala Ramnath (Violin) • Murad Ali (Sarangi) • Pravin Godkhindi (Flute) • Debasmita Bhattacharya (Sarod) Krutagnya Trust Established in 2014 by Vijayalakshmi, the trust aims at making music more accessible to the less privileged through lecture demonstrations and workshops. The trust also provides a platform for young violinists from schools to exhibit their talent.