The Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival 2023

The Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival 2023 kicked off in Bangalore, India on 26th January 2023 at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall. This was the first live concert in Bangalore presented by the festival post COVID. In 2022, the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival was celebrated as a tribute to India on the occasion of 75th year of India’s Independence – Azadi ka amrit mahotsav with a special composition Mahatma Symphony which was premiered in Houston, USA followed by performances in Italy, Spain, Kazakhstan and other places. The LGMF was also conducted in Cochin and Trivandrum in December 2022.

The festival, which is in its 32nd year, once again presented its unique style and concept of global musicians on one stage. The event began with a trailer of the beautiful journey of the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival followed by a short clipping from the ‘Don’t Leave Me’ composed by Dr. L. Subramaniam and performed by A.R. Rahman and Dr. L. Subramaniam with their children. Mrs. Sukanya Shankar, wife of Late Pt. Ravi Shankar was present at the event as a special guest and she also lit the lamp to inaugurate the festival.

The concert began with a very special flamenco dance performance by Nazare de la fuente who choreographed a song from Dr. L. Subramaniam’s Global Fusion album. This was followed by a melodious performance by Fassery Diabate who plays the Bellaphone and is visiting India for the first time. Another very graceful dance piece on Dr. L. Subramaniam’s orchestral composition ‘Shantipriya’ was choreographed and performed by Kuchipudi artist Prateeksha Kashi, Kathak exponent Meghranjani Medhi and in Bharatanatyam style by Nandini Jayakumar. The different classical dance forms represented the composition to depict the four seasons and the joy when nature is in harmony.

Later, SubraMania – Bindu and Ambi Subramaniam performed their compositions – Mani talks, Baby I am a fool, Let there be love and peace, Bhamma Bhamma which was followed by the festival’s director Kavita Krishnamurti Subramaniam’s performance featuring her grandchild Mahati Subramaniam. Towards the end Dr. L. Subramaniam took up the stage in his own style and performed his global fusion compositions featuring Indian and western artists. For the grand closing of the concert Dr. L. Subramaniam presented the ‘Percussion symphony’ which is a unique composition by him and it features different percussion sounds practiced in different parts of India. There is also a rich melodic and harmonic content with violin solos and other melodic instruments.

Bindu Subramaniam very beautifully hosted the show and also introduced the team of musicians Frijo Francis (Keyboard), Atul Raninga (Keyboard), Ramanamurthy VV (Mridangam), Prasad Kulkarni (Octopad and dholak), Latha Ramachar (Kanjira), Satya Sai G (Morsing) and Karthik Mani (Percussions). Dr. L. Subramaniam mentioned in the vote of thanks that he was very happy his children are carrying forward the legacy of his father and guru Prof. V. Lakshminarayana.