Lalgudi Jayaraman
Award-winning Indian Carnatic violinist, singer and composer Lalgudi Jayaraman was born in Chennai on 17 September 1930 and trained in the Carnatic tradition by his father, V R Gopala Iyer. He began working as a violin accompanist at the age of twelve. Quick to learn and adapt, he accompanied the leading exponents of Carnatic music and soon became an accomplished vioiin soloist. He went on to invent his own technique designed for Indian classical music, establishing the expressive Lalgudi Bani style.
He travelled extensively in Asia and Eastern Europe, the USA, UK and Germany, and also passed on his music to his two children, Lalgudi G J R Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi, and to singer and composer Bombay Jayashri Ramnath.
Lalgudi Jayaraman died from a cardiac arrest on 22 April 2013 in Chennai, aged eighty-two.