Vaikom Vijayalakshmi Biography 
Kamal has been a unique director in Malayalam who has always promoted new talents in playback singing as well as music. The latest sensation is of course, Vaikom Vijayalakshmi. Through a single song, Katte katte of Kamal’s National award winning movie, Celluloid she became a known face everywhere. Katte katte is the top song of Malayalam in the year 2013 till now and this single song won her Kerala State Film Awards - Special Jury mention. She was born blind in Vaikom on October 7, 1981. She is an expert in a rare musical instrument called Gayatriveena also.
Vijayalakshmi was born blind in Vaikom, Kerala on October 7, 1981 and later she moved to Chennai. Though she was deprived of vision, she possesses the unique talent of singing as well as a musician in Gayatriveena. She is the only daughter of Muraleedharan and Vimala. When her parents accepted the truth that they can’t bring light to her eyes, they left to Chennai. She listened music from younger age and was a huge fan of Ilayaraja and M S Viswanathan. She was spotted with the talent of catching a tune at the first hearing and reproducing it exactly in all its subtle nuances. Noting her talents, her parents brought her a few cassettes sung by Yesudas, consisting of classical music. Within 1 year she learnt 100 ragas without any help or formal training and she composed a few as well. Her effortless raga `alapana' and `swara' delineation even surprised many great vocalists.
Her `arangettam' was conducted at the Chathamkudi temple in Vaikom. In 1987 she got the opportunity to meet Yesudas and he too was amazed seeing his ‘disciple’s’ singing talent. She regards this great singer as her guru in classical music. In 1988 she performed live at prestigious Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai. After that she has done more than 400 stage shows till now. She regularly performs at Chembai Sangeetotsavam at Guruvayoor and once at Soorya festival, Thiruvananthapuram. The `gayatri tampuru', presented to her by a connoisseur, was electrified and modified by her father Muraleedharan.
Published: N/A
Updated: October 08, 2013
