Dr. M. LALITHA and M. NANDINI have been widely acclaimed as `VIOLIN VIRTUOSOS and QUEEN'S OF INDIAN MUSIC' of the present generation. They are applauded as the only violin duo sisters to perform the Indian Classical, World music, Fusion, and Western Classical music in ASIA. They have performed extensively in Major Music Festivals in India and in other countries including USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Norway, Australia, Europe, Nepal, United Kingdom etc.

LALITHA and NANDINI belong to the fourth generation of a family of musicians.
They were awarded the Maduram Narayanan Memorial Award for the BEST SENIOR VIOLINIST from the Madras Music Academy, 2004-2005 and also the BEST SENIOR VIOLINIST AWARD from the Indian Fine Arts Society Chennai, 2004-2005.

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Q: I understand that you are from a family of great musicians and you are the 4th generation. Could you please tell us more about your family background

As you mentioned, yes, we do belong to a family of musicians. Our grandfather Shri V. Lakshminarayana who was professor of Music in Jaffna College was a very great musician and musicologist of vocalists. He was our first Guru and we also learned from our mother Mrs Subbalakshmi Muthuswamy. She is also a great vocalist and a violinist. Sri L Vaidyanathan, Dr. L Subramaniam and Dr L Shanker are our 3 uncles. Of course, apart from that our aunt Ganam and others are also great musicians and composers in the family. We are the fourth generation now and we happen to be the first female duo performers from our family.
We would also like to mention that our Guru Shishya parampara i.e. student – master - disciple tradition goes back to the trinity of Thyagarajah, Muthuswamy Dikshithar and Shyama Shastri. It is something very rare because generally it just goes to one of the trinity, but in our case we have been very blessed and fortunate that it goes to all the three.

Q: At what age did you start learning music and violin?

Both of us started when we were only 3. Our grandfather Shri Lakshminarayana started to teach music for us. We were very interested in music because we always used to hear music in our family. In fact, even when our mother was carrying us she used to learn, attend a lot of concerts and perform herself. Also at the same time , she had the opportunity to learn a lot of kritis from Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.. From a very young age we were listening to the music from our grandfather as well as our parents, so we naturally developed interest in music. We always used to create music with whatever we could lay our hands on. We started of with a very small (quarter size) violin at the age of 3. Simultaneouly we learnt vocal also.

Lali: For carnatic music, vocal is very essential. Although we are playing only an instrument, we need to know the words and the concept of the music so that we can bring out the expression by sound accordingly. The performance should touch the listener's heart.

Nan: Also to bring the bhava and bhakthi content of every composition, I think, it is very essential for any instrumentalist to know vocal music. Only when you produce it vocally, the bhava also will be brought out in the instrument effectively. Any instrumentalist has to know the vocal part because carnatic music is essentially vocal based.

Tell me about your academic education and also the music qualifications.

Lalit: I hold a Ph.d in music, I worked on the topic comparative study of violin techniques in western and south Indian classical music. My thesis was released and published as a book and in this respect, I am the first Indian to do on western classical music. Usually it is the Westerners who write more on the carnatic subject and they told me that I was the first Indian to work on this subject.

Nan: One thing I would like to mention, that my sister Lalitha was recently awarded a Fulbright fellowship in performing arts from USA. She was in the University of Pittsburgh and working on world music.

Lali: It was one of the highest awards in performing arts. Nandini was also awarded the Charles Wallace Fellowships from the UK Govt. for performing arts. . It is a coincidence that both of us received two highest awards from different countries.

Nan: So, that is the reason I am here and doing my Masters in Ethnomusicology from SOAS Univ of London. Besides I also have two other Masters degrees. One in Information Science (MSc) and other in Indian Music Diploma. This is my 3rd Masters degree.

Lali: We were awarded the highest title of Kalaimamani by the TamilNadu Govt and in fact we were the youngest violinists to receive this award from the State Govt of Tamil Nadu.

We have received numerous other awards. Bhuvana Sangeetha Pravahini by Skandashramam is our latest award.

Q: Who is your favourite composer?

Lali: We like all the composers as such because each composition has its own beauty. If you take Thyagarajah kritis, the simple kritis are beautiful.Apart from that you have the major kritis with a lot of sangathis . Muthuswamy Dikshithar, is a highly intellectual composer. We like him. Shyama Shastri of course for his different varieties of compositions in Misra Chapu and Viloma chapu. We also like other composers like Swati Thirunaal for his compositions which are very scholarly and then Purandara Dasa's Devar Namas and Annamacharya and lots of Tamil composers like Mari Mutha Pillai, Muthu Thandavar , Papanasham Shivan. Each of them have their own beauty in Sahithya and melody.

Q:You are right. It is very difficult to compare different compositions, as all of them are great in different ways and styles. Have you done any kind of research on Music Therapy?

Lali: Yes,different ragas and melodies can cure various illnesses and diseases. For instance, at the end of a concert, people from the audience come to us and say that the music soothes their minds and their mind has become very calm etc. Some people say that even when we have severe headache, after listening to soothing music it cures the headache. Yes, it does happen. We know that when Dikshithar sang Amritha Varshini raga, it started raining heavily and even for Thirunavukkarasar, the story says that the music cured his stomach pain. Lots of other instances are there. I think we have lots of proof.

Nan: Music is definitely therapeutic and even we can examine ourselves, if we play a particular composition of a great composer in a particular raga either Neelambari or Shankarabharanam, it gives a kind of calming effect on the mind and when you have headache, listening to the soothing music definitely cures it. Ananda Bhairavi raga can cure blood pressure problems.

Q:I understand that you have performed music all over the world. How do the foreigners welcome your music?

Lal: Apart from performing extensively throughout India and South Asia,we have been to Nepal, US, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Norway, Germany etc. Performing for foreign audience from the West, who are not exposed to carnatic music, is a different experience altogether. Since we have been trained in western classical music also, we generally explain about carnatic music to them in their own terms. So they are able to appreciate and understand better. We have also seen that at the end of our concert they approach us with lots of questions.. We find that they have got keen interest in knowing more about our music. It is a pleasurable experience for us.

Nan: In this connection, we would like to say that both of us have done western classical music from the Trinity College of Music in London and we are the only two female violin duo players to know many systems of music like world music, western classical, carnatic and jazz and the transglobal fusion

Q: Could you please tell me about the unforgettable moments in your life?

Nan: Yes, the most unforgettable moment in our lives was when we performed before His Holiness Shri Shanthananda Swamigal of Skandashramam. It was an exclusive concert just for Swamiji which we cherish. On the spot, he conferred the title of Bharatha Violin Vadya Thilakangal on us.

Lal: Shanthananda Swamigal is everything for us as a spiritual Guru. We received his blessings and it is something we cherish a lot.

Q:Would you like to mention any other occasion?

Lali/Nan: Yes, in year 2004, we performed in front of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba at Prashanthi Nilayam in Puttaparthi. It was a wonderful experience for both of us. Bhagawan kept on asking us to continue the concert and he stayed through the end of the concert.. He blessed and presented sarees to us. Our parents also received his blessings. We will never forget that, even from our young age, we are devotees of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Similarly we have been fortunate to perform before Paramacharya, Sri Jayendra, Vijayendra of Kanchi Mutt, Sri Shantanand Swamiji of Temple of Fine Arts, Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda swamiji of Datta Peetam and Sri Vishwesa thirtar of Pejavar and Dayananda Swamigal.

Q:What are your future ambition and plans?

Lal: Actually, the violin in India is considered as a pakkavadyam (accompaniment) but Nandini and myself want to elevate it to solo status because in the western classical arena the violin is known as the King of Instruments and it is given a pride of place. So we want the same thing for south Indian carnatic violin. So we both perform only as a solo or duo artists and we don't accompany anyone. We wanted to take it up further and give violin a celebrated status all over the world. That is our cherished goal which we would like to achieve by the grace of God.

Q:What kind of advice would you like to give to the young artists here in UK?

In India, the students have a facility to learn by Gurukulam tradition, but here, they are able to dedicate only 1 hour per week with their Guru. They have to wait for a whole week for the next session. Therefore they are finding it very difficult to maintain the continuity in their learning process.

Lal: I am so happy to see the children here, in London and also in Europe,even though they have very little time, they are spending it worthwhile. I mean they are trying to have a link with our culture by learning music. We would only advise them to continue their path of allocating time for carnatic music, dance and our culture to keep the tradition alive and also get into Guru Bhakthi, the reverence for their Guru and a kind of reverence for our art,music and dedication which will take them to great heights.Children should do a lot of practice and also listen to lots of concerts of different artists. Nowadays CDs, VCDs, DVDs and audio/video cassettes are available. One way of developing the singing skills is to listen to the music of different musicians.

Q:What kind of bhajans do you like to play?

Nan: We play bhajans of Meera, Surdas etc. Apart from those other compositions like Kurai Onrum Illai and Bho Shambo composed by Dayananda Saraswathi. We like to play lots of bhajans.

It was a pleasure meeting these young ladies full of passion for music.

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