Viji Subramaniam Biography 
Viji Subramaniam (maiden name Viji Shankar) was a famous vocalist and thamburu player. She was married to renowned violinist and composer L. Subramaniam. She inherited music as her tradition and belongs to the third generation of artists of Ravi Shankar’s family. Her mother Lakshmi Shankar, a famous Hindustani vocalist was married to Rajendra Shankar, brother of legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar and contemporary dancer Uday Shankar. Thus she is related to a great art family. Her daughter Gingger Shankar is an international musician and singer associated with Hollywood. Her children Bindu Subramaniam and Ambi Subramaniam have also gained fame in the world of music. She died of cancer in 1995 at a young age fighting with cancer.
She was born in Chennai in 1952 into a family with deep roots in music and dance forms. She was born to Lakshmi Shankar and Rajendra Shankar, the elder brother of renowned artists Uday Shankar and Ravi Shankar. Thus she is the niece of famous artists like Amala Shankar, Annapurna Devi also. Her cousins too are related to artistic world, and include a long list of artists like Ananda Shankar, Norah Jones, Anoushka Shankar etc. Viji was brought up in Mumbai.
She started accompanying her mother for Hindustani concerts at a younger age. She played thamburu. As a singer she gained recognition and won many competitions also. She won the All India Radio "President of India" medal in 1972. She has also performed tamburu for a few performances for her uncle Ravi Shankar. She completed Master’s degree in music from California Institute of the Arts. She met violinist L. Subramaniam in London in 1974 and tied the knot two years later. The couple had four children. The couple developed the idea of Global Music, and performed across the globe. After the birth of her children she got busy with her family life and got settled in California. She died in 1995 aged 42. Later her husband remarried Kavitha Krishnamurthy, a leading playback singer of Bollywood.
Published: N/A
Updated: July 09, 2016
