In a village of silence, her violin continues to sing for 80 years

The eerie silence of the slender Madathu Theru (road) in Mathirimangalam, within the #Mayiladuthurai district, is out of the blue damaged by the fragile strains of a violin. Ninety-one-year-old Meenakshi Subramanian is fine-tuning her instrument. She briefly launches into an alapana in #Kedaram or Shankarabharanam or Khamas or Begada or Pantuvarali, earlier than enjoying her favorite keerthanas.

Born in 1934, Meenakshi Subramanian might be one of many final musicians of her era from the composite #Thanjavur district to have remained confined to her village — extra exactly, inside the 4 partitions of her dwelling — while others migrated to #Chennai. She too might need carved out an area for herself and the Mayavaram Govindaraja Pillai fashion of violin enjoying on the planet of #Carnatic music in #Chennai. However, that chance was denied to her as polio stricken her legs on the age of 4.

.“I began studying the violin from Kuttalam Vaithilingam Pillai, a pupil of Mayavaram Govindaraja Pillai, on the age of ten. The classes continued for 5 years. Subsequently, I learnt an incredible deal from listening to musicians reminiscent of G.N. Balasubramanian, M.S. Subbulakshmi, D.Okay. Pattammal, Lalgudi Jayaraman, and Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar,” says Ms Subramanian, whose wonderful listening to colleges, even at this age, nonetheless enable her to hearken to music with readability.

Her father, Okay. Ramachandra Iyer, was a schoolteacher who organized dwelling tuition for her as much as the eighth commonplace. A music lover, he additionally determined to show his daughter the violin. Vaithilingam Pillai commonly visited their spacious, previous Thanjavur-style home — nonetheless preserved by her household — to offer her classes. On the wall of the home hangs {a photograph} of a curious four-year-old Meenakshi. The musical ambiance in her dwelling — as her aunts and 4 sisters would sing — labored in her favour, and he or she rapidly picked up the violin. Music appears to have sustained her all through her life.

However, she not often had the chance to attend dwell live shows or carry out. “I attended solely two live shows — one by D.Okay. Pattammal and one other by Chembai — organised in reference to the annual celebrations on the college the place my father labored,” she mentioned.

She was married to Subramanian, who moved to Mathirimangalam to be together with her. “He was additionally all in favour of music as a result of he was a relative of the vocalist and musicologist Dr. S. Ramanathan,” she mentioned.

She went on to play a couple of of her late husband’s favorite songs, which included Brocheva in Khamas, Sakalakalavaniye in #Kedaram, Ennaga Rama Bhajana in Pantuvarali, and Bharathiyar’s Chinnanchiru Kiliye. She nonetheless retains the violin with which she first began enjoying — it’s now 80 years previous.

“Once, throughout a bout of rain, it was broken, and my brother repaired it in #Chennai. She used to play an incredible deal — now hardly an hour a day due to her age,” mentioned M.S. Ganesan, her son. He added that his elder brother, Jaganmohan, now residing in #Chennai, is well-versed within the nuances of #Carnatic music.

“She commonly watches #Carnatic music programmes on Sankara TV. She wakes up very early within the morning and begins watching. She could be very sharp and rapidly learns new keerthanas,” mentioned Sankarai, her daughter-in-law.