M S Subbulakshmi Birth Anniversary - 16th September

[Deepak Kiran]

Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi, popularly known as M.S Subbulakshmi, was a renowned Carnatic vocalist. The serenity on her face also reflected through her singing. The first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor, Subbulakshmi was also the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award.

She made her way to people’s hearts through her classical and semi-classical songs in the Carnatic tradition. She took every listener on a pilgrimage to their higher goals and sentiments with just her singing. On her birth anniversary, PBNS pays tribute to the maestro who continues to inspire generations of singers.

Early steps

On September 16, 1916, India was honored with a musical gem with the birth of M.S. Subbulakshmi in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai.

It is said that one’s names have an impact on one’s character. In the case of Subbulakshmi, her place of birth, Madhurapuri influenced the life she was going to make for her. Madhurapuri, meaning the city of sweet nectar resonates with the singer’s sweet nectar-like voice that continued to mesmerize the world for ages.

She diligently devoted hours to music practices. It is said she practiced her ragas even between household chores. Subbulakshmi was five when she began her formal training in music, and at age eight, she delivered her first stage performed.

Affectionately called MS Amma, she mostly sang in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Meera Bhajans in Hindi. She was not just the face of Carnatic music, but also a great actor donning the roles of Meera and Sakunthala on the silver screen.

To her, music meant connecting to God

Amma connected with God through music. In turn, she let several thousand connect to Govindam through her music. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had once said, a ‘Bhajagovindam’ or a ‘Bhavayami’ elevated the listener to a higher plane of emotion or bhakti. Her ‘Suprabhatam’ woke us up to a deeply spiritual reality. The bhava and rasa which her music inspired, overwhelmed the Rasikas and often left them in tears.

In the words of VP M. Venkaiah Naidu, Dr. M.S. Subbulakshi with her divine and enchanting voice brought a huge transformation on the cultural canvas of this country. She traveled all over the world enthralling audiences with her music. The UN General Assembly invited her (the first Indian musician) to perform where she left the audience spellbound. Amma opened a vibrant dialogue between the north and the south and the west and the east. She was humble, graceful, simple, and spiritual grandeur.

Subbulakshmi’s heart and soul entwined when she sang. Her rendition captivated all with enduring charm that is sweet, memorable, absorbing, and magical. Be it the pronunciations, or alapana, kriti or swara, or the bhajans or patriotic ones, or songs of the eminent composers or of the lighter variety, the maestro gave it her all.

The veteran was acknowledged for the clarity of her pronunciation, precision in the placement of her sruthi, her ability to sustain notes. She could easily control her breath. Balance and proportion was the mantra behind her singing.

Amma also made a huge contribution to popularizing Annanmacharya Kritis. She undertook more than 200 charity concerts and donated the royalties she had earned on devotional albums to the Tirumala temple.

Honors & Recognition

“Her music is a gift of the Gods which she plays at the service of the nation” – Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

M.S. Subbulakshmi’s music was an instrument of motivation for people, especially during the freedom movement. The great Sarojini Naidu surrendered her title ‘Nightingale of India’ after listening to M. S Subbulakshmi sing. She even left Gandhiji surprised with her rendition of ‘Vaishnava Janatho’. She also recorded Gandhiji’s favorite Meera bhajan ‘Hari Tum Haro’ overnight and sent it to him on his birthday in 1947.

She has been called “Tapaswini” by Lata Mangeshkar, “Suswaralakshmi Subbulakshmi” by Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.

She performed at the Edinburg International festival and for Queen Elizabeth-II at the Royal Albert Hall, London. She received all possible honors of the nation, from SangitaKalanidhi to Bharat Ratna. Sri Shanmukhananda Bharat Ratna Dr. M.S. Subbulakshmi Fellowship is awarded to music students in her honor.

Prasar Bharati Archives

Amma left the world on 11 December 2004, but she continues to be one of the brightest stars of Carnatic music. Tune in to these Prasar Bharati archives to experience the magic of the phenomenal M. S. Subbulakshmi.

 

[Deepak Kiran]

‘Swara raga sudharasa yuta bhakti svargapavargamu ra...’ says Tyagaraja in his Sankarabharanam kriti . He says that bhakti in unison with the nectar of swara and raga bestows salvation. In another composition, ‘Nadaloludai’, in raga Kalyanavasantam, he says, ‘Attain supreme bliss by revelling in nada, which comprises the seven swaras and several ragas’. M.S. Subbulakshmi’s musicwas testimony to this blissful experience of nada.

MS amma, as she was fondly called, touched scores of hearts with her music and her presence. Her art, characterised by dignity, purityand humility, transcended the barriers of caste, language, region, and religion.

The world of Carnatic music has witnessed numerous doyens, but it was M.S. Subbulakshmi who brought universal acclaim to Carnatic music. Hers was an inspiring story of musical wisdom and motivating life lessons.

Endowed with a superb voice, she made diligent efforts to keep it in good shape. Her intimate relationship with her two tamburas was well-known; she would refer to them as Lakshmi and Saraswati since they had the images of the goddesses carved on them. Her daily routine included singing the varisais in the ragas Mayamalavagowla and Sankarabharanam. This assiduous practice made her voice traverse any kind of gamaka contour with finesse and ease. Be it shuddha swaras, long-drawn karvais, slivers of ravais, glides of jarus or lightening-like brigas, she could render them all effortlessly, allowing her to handle any type of composition with fidelity and grace.

Soaked in the grand tones of the nagaswaram in her early years in Madurai, MS amma had a natural flair and an intuitive comprehension of raga structures. It reflected in her alapanas too, and her rendition was a combination of precision, punctuation, proportion and poise.

Her concert repertoire included different types of compositions by illustrious vaggeyakaras and famed poets. She paid utmost attention to the enunciation of the sahitya. Her songbooks contain the swara notations for songs and, more importantly, the meaning of every single word in the song.

MS amma would consult experts in the language to fine-tune her pronunciation and understand the meaning and import of the words. It is such intense involvement with lyric and language that enabled her to sing in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and even a few couplets in English, Japanese and Arabic.

The most notable feature of her renditions was the artistry of internalisation. She sang every composition that she learnt a number of times, with complete cognition of its spirit and emotion, before presenting it in concert. The LP record of the Vishnu Sahasranamam is an excellent example of such single-minded dedication. The perfection with which she and Radha have rendered the Sanskrit verses, not missing a single akshara, singing in unison, maintaining sruti and kalapramana, are ample proof of their year-long practice.

M.S. receiving Doctor of Letters in 1971 from Dr. D. Jagannatha Reddy, former Vice Chancellor of Sri Venkateswara University​

Her kriti rendition was marked by her integrity to patanthara. She respected and preserved all that she learnt from her mentors. Her kritis were a delectable amalgam of both discipline and decoration. An invisible yet tangible streak of bhava and bhakti pervaded her renditions, with no compromise, either in content, intent, or flavour. It is no wonder that certain ragas and compositions are synonymous with her. Whether kriti, padam or bhajan, it would be sung true to its form. Likewise, her internalisation of the Hindustani idiom was upheld in the exquisite compositions of those traditions.

A wonderful teacher as well, her patience was enormous and she would never tire of repeating every nuance until it was grasped. Be it a simple pause or an intricate sangati, she would explain its relevance at length. While she insisted on the right proportion of gamaka, she avoided excessive oscillation of notes. Right articulation was important for her. She stressed upon the usage of the perfect akara while rendering an alapana as well as the concept of light and shade — vallinam and mellinam — the thick and thin production of sound impelled by the context of the raga or the composition.

She got recognition, awards and titles galore, but she remained simple and humble, inspiring several generations with her art and personality.

 

[Deepak Kiran]

 

[URum]

She was gifted, some of her classical rendition still resonates inside u when u are alone. A favorite that my late wife loved n would always be playing in our house