Odanju Odanju

Vaikom Vijayalakshmi is a Kerala playback singer, India. She is an expert on a rare musical instrument called Gayatriveena. Young Vijayalakshmi grew up listening to Tamil movie songs including Ilayaraja and M.S.Viswanathan. She was spotted with the talent of capturing a melody at the first hearing and reproducing it with all its subtle nuances.

In the first 10 years, Viji performed at more than 400 stages in all major 'sabhas' in Chennai, Tanjore, Madurai, Coimbatore and other major cities in India. Meanwhile, her mastery over a single-stringed instrument was another significant achievement. Viji has been playing at the Chembai Sangeetotsavam in Guruvayoor since 1995. She appeared at the prestigious Soorya Festival in 2001. As temple appearances are hardly financially lucrative, Viji had to sing and play movie tunes to keep her going. Lately, she has a repertoire of almost 300 ragas and doubles the number of compositions.

Special Mention - Kerala State Film Award - 2012

Best Singer - Jaycey Film Awards - 2014

Honorary doctorate - International Tamil University United States - 2017

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