https://www.thestatesman.com/entertainment/these-chart-topping-tracks-redefining-music-trends-in-2023-1503249926.htmlenowned singer Kavita Krishnamurti and international phenomenon L Subramaniam are truly a match made in heaven, with their bond being both eternal and divine. In a candid conversation with ANI, they discussed their relationship and how it all began.
Krishnamurti tied the knot with L Subramaniam in November 1999. However, not everything is meticulously planned when it comes to relationships, and this holds true for these two exceptional artists. The accomplished singer reminisced that marriage wasn’t on her mind at all.
She told ANI, “I was a confirmed bachelor and not young at all. It’s a very late marriage for me.”
Subramaniam recalled their first encounter, saying, “I was working on a project and was in search of a singer. I asked a friend to send me cassettes of different singers. I got a whole bunch of cassettes from all the top singers at that time. I listened to them one by one and picked this voice, thinking it would be more suitable and had that extra something I was looking for. I told my friend, ‘This particular singer, find out the details.'”
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Continuing, he said, “In one of the projects, she sang, and I was working on an album for Warner Brothers, the Global Fusion album. I was in Bombay (now Mumbai) doing some basic recordings. She was performing at Shanmugananda Hall that day. My friend suggested I should go and listen to her. So from the studio, I gave a break to the musicians and drove for an hour to reach there. By the time I arrived, there was a break. I couldn’t make everyone wait, so I decided to go back. However, my friend insisted, ‘No, sir, you should at least meet her.'”
An amusing incident unfolded during their first meeting. Subramaniam shared, “He took me there, and immediately, a guy taking lots of pictures approached me, saying, ‘Sir, sir, please come and sit here.’ I thought he was a musician and expected him to call her. But he didn’t call her for a while, and I was just sitting there. Later on, he told me, ‘Sir, I’ll send the picture of your daughter to your house.'”
Thinking that Subramaniam was Krishnamurti’s father, he recalled, “He thought I was waiting for the pictures or something. I said, okay. Then I didn’t meet her and came back. Later on, I met her in a studio. Before that, we did a project for 1000 children. That was after this. We went for the recording, and she came.”
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However, their relationship evolved over time, and they eventually fell in love. For Subramaniam, Kavita’s voice was one of the main reasons that brought them closer.
He added, “Because of her voice and singing. Strangely, long time back, I think Sri Sathya Sai Baba told her.”
The ‘Hawa Hawaii’ singer added, “Baba always used to say, every time I sang in Puttaparthi, ‘Krishnamurti, father’s name, husband’s name.’ One day, I said, ‘Baba, you know, it’s my father’s name. I’m not married, and I don’t want to get married.’ Then he said something in Telugu to his person, and the person translated, ‘You will meet somebody because of your music, and you will get married. There’s no question.'”
While music served as a binding force, Subramaniam emphasized that he also admired her down-to-earth nature and simplicity.
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As he mentioned, “I met a lot of people, even in the Western field, some of them are totally down-to-earth and simple, even success doesn’t take over. But she’s very, very simple and down-to-earth. At the time, wherever I went, the children were with me. I couldn’t leave them anywhere. They were very small. My daughter was around 11, 12, and she was very young. And son was eight, and the other son was about three. So all are very young. Wherever I went for recording, I used to take them everywhere.”
Facing challenges as a single parent after the death of his first wife Viji Subramaniam, who used to travel due to his concerts, she supported him.
He added, “She immediately gelled, and she used to play with the children. She was very happy with the children running around. And with my own career running around all the time. About eight to ten months, I used to travel, not in one place. Fortunately, we had an aunt, Kaveri Amma, my mother’s sister. She was there after I shifted to India. She was there all along. Unfortunately, she died. So that was the time we met, recorded, and started working. Then we started doing some projects exclusively for her, like writing. Before that, I used to do a lot of instrumental work. Then we started writing.”
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The two remain busy, working together on various concerts. The couple founded the Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts in Bengaluru and organize the yearly Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival.
L Subramaniam, born to Prof V Lakshminarayana Iyer and Seethalakshmi on July 23, 1947, has composed several musical compositions for ballet performances for well-known dance companies such as the San Jose Ballet Company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and the Mariinsky Ballet.
He also composed music for films, including ‘Salaam Bombay,’ ‘Mississippi Masala,’ ‘Little Buddha,’ and ‘Cotton Mary.’ (ANI)