How Ambi Subramaniam Fuses Carnatic And Western Classical Violin To Redefine Indian Music

Violinist Ambi Subramaniam had an extremely special moment at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, when he won the BraVo award for best musician from a partner country. “These are the biggest music awards in Russia and besides best album and best producer, they recognise talent from other countries. It was great they gave a special place to India this time,” he says.

The violinist describes the experience as memorable, not only because he won the award, but also because he got a chance to play at the grand Bolshoi Theatre with the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra. He chose Flight Of The Humble Bee, a composition of his father, famed violinist and composer Dr L Subramaniam. “Most of the programme that evening had purely western classical or pop renditions of classical tunes. My father’s piece incorporated both Carnatic and western elements, and the orchestra was comfortable with it. I also added some Indian elements,” says Ambi.

At 33, Ambi is enjoying his career, maintaining a balance between touring, recording and teaching. Along with his sister Bindu Subramaniam, he is actively involved with the in-schools programme Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SaPa). “We teach about 45,000 children in schools across India, using methods that will make learning fun for them. Now, I am particularly looking forward to releasing this piece we co-wrote with Sangeetha Ramanuj, one of our students who started learning with us when she was six and is now in college. We’ve also worked on creating a Carnatic violin ensemble, with six or seven kids where all of them are equal,” he says.

Ambi was born in Los Angeles, and moved to Bengaluru after his mother Viji passed away. L Subramaniam married singer Kavita Krishnamurthy in 1999, and she played an important role in the young boy’s musical upbringing. Surrounded by music since childhood, Ambi says his decision to take up the violin came organically. He recalls, “As children, my brother, sister and I would learn singing, violin and piano. Somewhere, I decided to focus more on the violin. Bindu focused on singing and my brother Narayana was more interested in medicine. There was no real compulsion. Things just happened.”

Accompanying his father on tour through his teens, Ambi picked up many things from experience. He says, “There were two types of learning – off-stage and on-stage. In the former, I practised ragas and compositions for hours. But off-stage, I learnt how to adapt from my dad. One day we would play at a traditional sabha, and the next day, we would be at an informal fusion setting. So the approach had to be different.”

Ambi remembers attending a world music festival in South Africa when he was 15. He reminisces, “Before our performance, there was this amazing high-energy Brazilian guitarist who had everyone dancing. I wondered what we would do after that with our Carnatic setting. But dad continued from where the guitarist left off, without compromising on the Carnatic element. For me, it was a huge learning.”

The regular tours also helped Ambi interact with various international musicians, specially at the annual Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival organised by L Subramaniam. He says, “Normally one is enamoured by what they play in concert, but I got to see these legendary musicians up-close off-stage. Some of those experiences showed me what kind of dedication goes behind greatness.”

Ambi talks of the time he was to play in a set that included saxophonist Ernie Watts. He recalls, “Our sound check was over at 4 pm, and the concert was at 7. I thought of going out and eating something as I was hungry. Now Ernie had already won the Grammy and was a renowned musician. But he said he would just have some peanuts from his bag and practise some scales so he could be in perfect shape for the show. That’s the focus such people have.”

Besides his father, Ambi takes a lot of guidance from his mother Kavita, often receiving interesting feedback. He says, “One requires a different approach. With dad, there is this idea and we think about how to convert that into a long ragam-tanam-pallavi. With my mother, it’s about how to express an idea in a five-minute song. I’ve played with my dad in Italian towns where half the people are violin-makers but weren’t familiar with Carnatic music. And I’ve played with my mother in interior Bihar or Uttar Pradesh where many people tell me they’re seeing a violin for the first time. In both cases, my focus is on giving them a positive experience which will make them want to hear more.”

Ambi is also looking forward to his next activities with the groups SubraMania, with Bindu, and the Thayir Sadam Project, with Bindu and Mahesh Raghvan, who plays Carnatic music on the iPad. This is besides a collaboration with Spanish musicians. “I take things as they come. At times, if I feel I am devoting less time to teaching or recording, I try and compensate. Luckily, things happen at the right time,” he concludes, before beginning his next activity.