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Surya Sundararajan and Bharath Ramesh (left). Photo: Krish Velmurugan, Carnatic violin, 2018
Holliston, Massachusetts
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Surya Sundararajan plays the Lalgudi style of South Indian Carnatic music. This style is named after violinist Lalgudi Jayaram who invented a whole new technique that facilitated reproducing vocal subtleties, microtonal pitch precision, and gamakas (the subtle variations on how one approaches single notes by sliding).
Surya's initial training was under Sri P Dhanapahy in Chennai, followed by a year with N.V. Subramaniam. Over the last 10 years, Surya has been pursuing advanced training from Sri Vittal Ramaurthy, disiple of the legendary Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman. In addition to teaching, Surya plays in numerous Carnatic concerts and Bharatanatyam dance performances throughout New England.
Apprentice Bharath Ramesh studied western style violin prior to learning the Carnatic style and has come to prefer the role of improvisation in the latter. After seven years of working with Surya, Bharath has accompanied a few Carnatic music recitals and performances, as well as for students at Westford Public School.
The apprenticeship will focus on improving Bharath's competence in performing Manodharma (improvisation for embellishing melodic patterns), Kalpanaswarams (various rhythmic patterns), Neravals (interpreting lyrics), and mastering some of Lalgudi's long form compositions. In addition to working toward being a solo artist, Bharath will learn the art of accompaniment which requires a deep ability to listen and support the main artist's music and dance performance during live performance.
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