Vijay krishnan

Prof.K.G.Vijayakrishnan started learning the veena from his mother Srimati Karpagavalli Gopalakrishnan, who was a disciple of the musicologist, late Sri R.Rangaramanuja Ayyangar of ‘Kritimanimalai’ fame, at the tender age of six and has been perfecting the art for the last forty six years. As R.R.Ayyangar himself was a disciple of the grand old lady of veena playing, Veena Dhanammal, Vijayakrishnan’s musical ancestry can be traced to the Veena Dhanammal style of veena playing which is a unique ‘singing’ style noted for its delicacy of instrumental technique and attention to details. The style is also famous for blending the voice with the instrument.

K.G.Vijayakrishnan gave his maiden performance at the age of nine in New Delhi and has been giving recitals since then in India and abroad. He has played for noted organizations like the Madras Music Academy (1975 and again in 2002 when he was adjudged the best player in the sub-senior category),Sri Krishnan Gana Sabha, Chennai, The Indian Fine Arts Society (in 1999 when he was adjudged the best instrumentalist), Sri Swati Tirunal Sangeetha Sabha, Tiruvanantapuram, Kalasagaram, Secunderabad (several times) to name a few. He has also given recitals in New York, Los Angeles, Lincoln, Nebraska (where his was the inaugural recital of the SPICMACAY chapter), New Jersey in the US while on a Fulbright fellowship in 1993, and in Geneva, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris in Europe which he has visited several times.

He is a full time professor of linguistics. His book 'The Grammar of Carnatic Music' applying the principles of modern linguistics to our system of music is going to be published by Mouton de Gruyter, Germany. He has taken upon himself to be a non-professional musician devoting his life to spreading the values of his school of music and, specially, his technique of veena playing.

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