Violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman dead

Chennai, April 22 (IANS) Legendary violin maestro Lalgudi Gopala Iyer Jayaraman passed away in a private hospital here Monday evening, a student of his said. He was 82.

"He was admitted in the hospital this morning for chest congestion. At around 6.30 p.m. he breathed his last," Shreya Devnath, Jayaraman's student told IANS.

He is survived by his wife Rajalakshmi, daughter Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi and son Lalgudi G.J.R.Krishnan, said Devnath.

Born into a musican's family, the violin maestro popularly known as Lalgudi Jayaraman, was a child prodigy and had begun performances from the age of 12.

He went on to invent a whole new style designed to suit the needs of Indian classical music popularly known as "Lalgudi Bani" or Lalgudi style.

"For a very large number of music lovers across the world, Lalguid Jayaraman was the musician of the century and not merely a violinist of the century. He was great composer giving beautiful shape to a large number of old kirtanas, thereby embellishing the beauty of ragas in which they were known," R. Thyagarajan, founder chairman, Shriram Group said in a statement.

"He is a genious of a musician and a towering personalities in Carnatic music world. A very rare musician. He could be counted as the one of the top five Carnatic musicians of the century," music critic M. Ramesh told IANS.

Jayaraman, a recipient of several awards, was also conferred the Padma Bhushan. He was also awarded the title "Sangeeta Kalanidhi" by the Music Academy here, the centre for Carnatic music in Tamil Nadu.

Jayaraman also composed music for Tamil film "Shringaram" which won him a national award in 2006.

In her condolence message, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said the demise of Jayaraman is a great loss to Carnatic music and nobody can fill his place.