‘Everyone is aware of Bollywood’
L Subramaniam on collaborating with Stevie Wonder, and being the only non-american artiste at the United Nations anniversary in New York
Stevie Wonder is an extremely creative person.
—L Subramaniam, violinist and composer
Composer-violinist L Subramaniam is renowned for blending Carnatic and
western classical music with tremendous proficiency. The musician who
has, in the past, composed for films such as Salaam Bombay (1988) and
Mississippi Masala (1991), and performed in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little
Buddha (1993) and Merchant Ivory Productions’s Cotton Mary (1999), has
now collaborated with singersongwriter Stevie Wonder on the tracks ‘My
cherie amour’ and ‘Higher ground’ at the 67th anniversary of the United
Nations in New York. How did the collaboration with Stevie Wonder come
about? I performed as part of Stevie’s Message of Peace concert at the
UN General Assembly, New York, on UN Day, October 24. The show was
produced by Paxton Baker, whom I’ve worked with in the past. It was
Paxton who called me to be part of the show.
—L Subramaniam, violinist and composer
Stevie Wonder and L Subramaniam in concert
What was it like? Stevie Wonder is a legend. I’ve been familiar
with his work for decades, and it was wonderful to be invited to work
with him. He is a creative person. On the stage, there was wonderful
energy. We had a couple of practice sessions with the entire band before
the performance. It was friendly and a lot of fun. Is he familiar with
Indian or Bollywood music? I think everyone in the universe is aware of
Indian music and Bollywood! He may come to India in the future to
perform. Are you likely to collaborate again with Stevie Wonder or other
international musicians? I’m always open to interesting collaborations.
There are a few projects in the offing, but I don’t want to talk about
them until they are ready. Did you meet other international artistes at
the UN event? There were a number of great artistes, like Sting and
Wyclef Jean. These are names I’ve heard from my children. I was
pleasantly surprised to know that they are familiar with my work. You
have performed at the UN in the past. This was the third time I was
invited to perform at the UN. The first was in 1987, when I was asked to
play with Yehudi Menuhin (the late American violinist) to celebrate the
40th year of Indian Independence. The second time was in March, 2011,
when my son Ambi and I were invited to perform a Carnatic concert.
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