Kaatrinile Varum Geetam…

Bharat Ratna, Ramon Magsaysay award, A live concert at UN, honorary awards from numerous universities, being regarded as the “Queen of Music” by Nehru… all this in a journey that started on this day (September 11th) 93 years back. She was not just a singer, but one of those phenomenons that rarely happens in the human history…

MS.Subbalakshmi, popularly called as M.S was born on September, 11th, 1916 in the temple town of Madurai. Being born to a Veena Vidwan (her mother), music came to her naturally to her. At the age of 10, Kunjamma, as she was called then, was called by her mother to sing the impossibly high-pitched Khamboji in "Marakatavadivu". Many would not have believed that this young girl would go on to become the “Nightingale of India”. She gave her first solo public performance at the tender age of 16. She learned both forms of Indian Classical Music, Carnatic and Hindustani. Her stature as a musician was growing exponentially in years to follow.

She had a small stint in the film industry. She acted and sung in the movie Savitri to raise funds to launch Kalki, a tamil weekly. Her title role in the movie based on the life of “Meera”, was released in Hindi and took her to national prominence.

Her music spread to the entire globe with her international performance in Carnegie Hall, New York; the UN General Assembly on UN day in 1966; the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1982; and at the Festival of India in Moscow in 1987. Some of the awards that were bstowed to her were Padma Bhushan in 1954, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1956, Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1968, Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974, the Padma Vibhushan in 1975, the Kalidas Samman in 1988, the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 1990, and the Bharat Ratna in 1998.

In her life, she was able to collect a lot of prize money & royaly which she mostly donated to charity. Mahatma Gandhi once remarked her music to be the direct appeal to god.

What MS means to me

When ever I hear the word “WOMEN”, first thing that comes to my mind is the her image this photo of hers (Below) dressed in green saree lighting the lamp in house.

To me, she personifies womanhood in flesh and blood. She was the in a very lateral sense a leader in the women’s emancipation movement in India. Her parents lived separately and she was brought up by her mother. The ‘S’ in M.S initials represents her mother’s name Shanmugavadivu and not her father Subramania Iyer!

With the backing of her spouse (T.Sadasivam), she made inroads into the male bastion of classical music. Unlike, some of her contemprories, she was never dressed in flashy sarees. She would always be dressed in simple sarees, with a string of Jasmine on her hair. To me, being dressed in dignified manner is a inherent feature of womanhood. (Some call this view of mine to be very conservative). She brought a lot of humility along with her. She never gave any interviews in her life and let her music talk for her. Inspite of this she received unprecedented press coverage. I can not think of meeting any person in recent times, who never sought publicity and let their work do the publicity.

The drench of her music that cooled the earth ceased couple of years back. But her music that still floats in the breeze for an eternal time!