INTRO

“If music is life, then the violin is it’s soul”
This is the quote that best suits Dr. Lakshmi Jayan.

Despite being professionally qualified with Ph.D in Chemistry and worked as Head Of Department in Chemistry, Dr. Lakshmi Jayan has a great passion in Carnatic Music. She has been playing violin for more than 7 decades. With music in her genes and music all around her, she started playing violin at the age of 9. At the age of 83, She is teaching violin to kids through her school Lalgudi School of Music established in 1994 in London. She is the disciple of Great Legend, God of Violin, Dr. Lalgudi Jeyaraman. During this Pandemic, she started conducting online classes for violin.

Dr.Lakshmi Jayan has performed extensively in the UK. Apart from solo concerts, she has also accompanied well known artists. To mention a few, she has accompanied Sudha Raghunathan, Nithyashree Mahadevan and Maharajapuram Ramachandran. She has received numerous awards including an award in NewCastle in recognition of her contribution to violin. She has also given lectures and demonstrations about Carnatic music in schools and universities including Cambridge. Her students have performed in various concerts in and around UK and many have had their arangetram. They have bagged prizes in prestigious Watford Festival, Croydon Festival and more.

Through the music school, Dr.Lakshmi Jayan conducted events for Carnatic music lovers. This includes Muthuswamy Deekshadar day and Thyagaraja Day which happens every year where kids and adults from various music schools gather together to perform. She has conducted many workshops in UK for Carnatic music and has invited great musicians to the workshop.

Her mastery over the instrument and her ability to bring it’s richness in Lalgudi’s style (Lalgudi Bani) has made her one of the best violinists in UK. She is passing on the intricacies of Lalgudi Bani to the next generation while teaching. Her contribution to Carnatic music in the UK is enormous and I definitely feel Dr. Lakshmi Jayan is one of the “Unsung Heroines.”