The city pays tribute to a music legend by doing what it does best: through software.
The works of violinist Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, whose second death anniversary will be observed on April 22, will be accessible with the click of a button as an audio-book is being released on Twaang, a mobile app developed by a Bengaluru-based company.
“The violinist had an intrinsic bond with the city from the time he first played at Sree Ramaseva Mandali concert as a 17-year-old. We wanted to talk to senior musicians and his students to bring out a multiple-track audio-file as a curated package for the app,” says Madhuri Vaidyeswar, co-founder of Twang.
The file features an endearing “melodic recall” from the violinist’s children, Lalgudi Vijayalaksmi and G.J.R. Krishnan, who talk about Jayaraman’s photographic memory, his insatiable thirst behind his own musical compositions and creativity, the revolutionary changes he brought about in his bowing techniques, and his schooling and improvisations that supported every other style of play.
“Violinist T. Chowdiah, Jayaraman’s close associate, has spun a lyrical descriptive to sum-up the personality of the musician,” says Mr. Krishnan.
But the idea of including special audio files started when Carnatic vocalist Aruna Sairam spoke of the interesting history of the devotional poetry form Abhang, popular in Maharashtra, during the release of her album ‘Rang-Abhang’ on the app platform, Ms. Vaidyeswar says. “We were excited to include her talk explaining that apart from musicians, Abhangs were frequently hummed by porters at railway stations or sung at get-togethers in villages,” she says.
Twaang, started in 2012, has expanded its content base from Indian classical music to include folk, fusion and contemporary music. It now has nearly 1.25 lakh subscribers. Along with performances of classical musicians such as R.K. Srikantan, M.S., M.L.V., and Malladi Brothers, ‘world music’ from Raghu Dixit, Jyotsna Srikanth, and Agam Band is part of Twaang’s offering of 80,000 tracks.
“Our dream is to pull in youngsters to be associated with music as our offer is on digital platform,” says Ms. Vaidyeswar.
