Our Interview for the Chennai Times

WEDDED TO MUSIC

Chennai Times talks to violin virtuosos M Lalitha and M Nandini

SINDHU VIJAYAKUMAR 

Described as the queens of Indian music, M Lalitha and M Nandini may probably be the only violin duo sisters to perform Indian classical, western classical, world music and fusion. 

MUSICAL LEGACY 

Lalitha: We belong to the fourth generation of a family of musicians. Our grandfather V Lakshminaryana, a great musician, was our first guru. Our mother Subbalakshmi Muthuswamy is also a great vocalist and violinist. Our uncles — L Vaidyanathan, L Subramaniam and L Shanker — are world famous violinists. However, we are the first female violin performers from our family. 

VOCAL VS VIOLIN 

Lalitha: As children, we used to attend a lot of concerts along with our mother. We also had the opportunity to learn a lot of kritis from Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. We started off with a very small (quarter size) violin when we were three. We learnt vocal simultaneously. Nandini: Learning vocals helps to bring out the appropriate expressions — bhava and laya — of every composition. 

VIOLIN, THE KING OF INSTRUMENTS 

Lalitha: In India, the violin is considered as a pakkavadyam (accompaniment) but our guru wanted to elevate it to solo status. In the western classical arena, the violin is known as the King of instruments and occupies a pride of place. Violin has a close tonal quality as that of human voice. We both perform only as solo or duo artists and we don’t accompany anyone. We want the violin to get a celebrated status all over the world. 

EXPANDING HORIZONS 

Nandini: We are the first Indian women conductors from south India to have conducted the Boschbela string orchestra in South Africa. Recently, I presented a jugalbandi with sitarist Shahid Parvez Khan. For fusion concerts, we compose our own compositions. Lalitha plays African drums and has done shows. We also play the Chinese instrument Erhu. 

TWO TO TANGO 

Lalitha: We play pure Carnatic compositions when we present concert in sabhas. Our padantharam is very wide and we are known for the soulful playing of Deekshithar’s krithis. We also play a lot of rare compositions. While performing together, we create space for each other and explore the different facets of music. Nandini: The presence of my sister on stage is truly inspiring. As we live in different continents, we miss each other quite a lot and concerts are a chance to catch up with each other. 

TRACK RECORD 

Nandini: We are the pioneers to introduce and perform Carnatic Music in the University of London. Lalitha has received the coveted International Fellowships of Fulbright from USA and I got the Charles Wallace Fellowships from United Kingdom in performing arts. 

CHILLING OUT 

Lalitha:Every form of art inspires us. I do a lot of Tanjore paintings and write poetry. I am proficient in French and German. Besides this, reiki, yoga, photography and blogging are our favourite pastimes. 

(This is our interview for the Chennai Times. For the original article click here.)