L Subramaniam really is a fantastic violinist. Wonderful flowing lines in his improvisations, with lots of "how does he do that?" moments.
I did once see him play years ago at, of all places, Newcastle upon Tyne Civic Centre. Not in a theatre or lecture space but just in a normal room. This caused problems as Indian musicians almost always perform sitting on the floor, so if you weren't near the front you couldn't see anything. Luck for me I could see, and it was one of the most impressive instrumental performances I've ever seen.
I did meet him after the concert, a tiny man, and got his autograph.
It was years after I'd first heard him that I discovered that he is actually the brother of L Shankar the violinist famous for playing with John McLaughlin in Shakti & later working with everyone from Peter Gabriel to Talking Heads to Echo & The Bunnymen. Shankar, as he later became known and now Shenkar, seems to have given up on the classical Indian violin (not forgetting his amazing twin necked violin), or even his fusion stuff which he recorded with the likes of Jan Garbarek, and wants to be a pop/rock singer. Something he's been trying to do for years now.
It seems a waste.
L Subramaniam continues to perform traditional, as well as fusion musics of his own, on his trusty violin. And he is the better violinist of the two.
My absolute favourite CDs of his are a couple of releases he recorded for the Radio France Ocora series. Unbelievable!
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