Lakshminarayana Vaidyanathan (Tamil: லக்ஷ்மிநாராயண வைத்தியநாதன்; Kannada: ಎಲ್.ವೈದ್ಯನಾಥನ್) April 9th , 1942 – May 19th, 2007 was an acclaimed musicologist, music director and composer trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition. Vaidyanathan was born to V.Lakshminarayana Iyer and Seethalakshmi, both accomplished musicians. He was also the elder brother of widely known violinist duo L. Shankar and L. Subramaniam. All three brothers received their musical training from their father.
Vaidyanathan started his career as an Assistant music director to G. K. Venkatesh and composed music for over 160 films in multiple languages including Tamil and Kannada.
Vaidyanathan’s notable works includes Pesum Padam (Pushpaka Vimanam in Telugu), a silent movie in which the background score played an important role and many others like Ezhavathu Manithan, Dasaratham and Marupakkam in Tamil and Aparichita, Ondu Mutthina Kathe in Kannada. He was one of the best music arrangers in the country and was known for his use of simple and rare souds while subtly mixing sounds from the mandolin, flute and violin with various folk percussion instruments before the advent of present day technological advances in sound mixing.
TV viewers will remember him best for the folksy title music of Shankar Nag’s Malgudi Days based on the late R K Narayan’s short stories.
Vaidyanathan collaborated with C.Ashwath and composed music for many Kannada movies in the name Ashwath-Vaidi.
In 2003, the Government of Tamil Nadu awarded Vaidyanathan with the Kalaimamani for his contributions to music and Cinema.
The Kannada version of the movie Pushpaka Vimana got him the Karnataka state award for best music director
L.Vaidyanathan died here on 19th May 2007 Saturday morning following a heart attack at age 65. He is survived by his wife Chenjulakshmi and two sons L.V. Ganesan and L.V. Muthukumarasamy.
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