VVS Foundation and the disciples of violin vidwan V.V. Ravi celebrated 51 years of his musical journey recently. Besides family members and rasikas, a galaxy of senior Carnatic musicians such as P.S. Narayanaswamy, M. Chandrasekharan, Bombay Sisters, T.N. Seshagopalan and Srimushnam Raja Rao attended the event, presided over by mridangam maestro T.V. Gopalakrishnan.
Accompanying stalwarts
V.V. Ravi has accompanied many stalwarts such as Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M.S. Subbulakshmi, D.K. Pattammal, M.L. Vasanthakumari, Balamuralikrishna, M.D. Ramanathan, T.M. Thiagarajan, Saroja-Lalitha and T.N. Seshagopalan among others. He began his career as an accompanist to the legendary Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar.
“His virtuosity and attitude have won him the respect and admiration of both the musicians and rasikas,” said chief guest N. Murali, president, the Music Academy.
TVG in his address described Ravi as a model accompanist, while the violin exponent’s brother V.V. Subrahmanyam recalled his unquestioning learning spirit.
The programme began with a short film on the violinist’s journey. The film showed him accompanying several legendary vocalists, particularly M.S. Known for his stellar work at AIR, Ravi has also worked with veteran film music composer Ilaiyaraja. Several senior musicians and young disciples have spoken about the ace violinist in the film.
Ravi had his initial training under his father. Brother V.V. Subrahmanyam, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and P.S.Narayanaswamy were among his other gurus. “My mother used to play the violin,” said Ravi at the programme, which was organised by family members and disciples, mainly violinist VVS Murari, who performed at the event. He was accompanied by Srimushnam V. Raja Rao (mridangam) and S.V. Ramani (ghatam).
Beginning with ‘Gurulekha’ in Gowrimanohari, Murari essayed a Thodi alapana and the kriti ‘Karthikeya’ at a solid pace ending it with swara patterns.
