Homage

Truly the nightingale of India

NEW DELHI: The Vice-President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat; the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh; the Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee; the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and other top leaders of the country today mourned the passing away of the music icon, M.S. Subbulakshmi, in Chennai on Saturday....more

Parliament homage to M.S.

NEW DELHI: Parliament began its proceedings today with an obituary reference to the renowned Carnatic music exponent, Bharat Ratna M.S. Subbulakshmi, who died in Chennai on Saturday. A minute's silence was observed in both Houses after the presiding officers read out the obituary references....more

The Hindu Editorial - Once in an Epoch

NEW DELHI: HERE ARE RELATIVELY few creative people about whom it can be said, without exaggeration, that their achievement is likely to have a following a hundred years from now. In India, we can say it about a major poet like Rabindranath Tagore or Subramania Bharati, a beloved short story writer such....more

Times of India Editorial - Meera Lives On in Voice of Bhakti

Indian art has one overriding purpose: to achieve communion with the Divine for salvation. Whatever the art form, it is an offering to the Almighty. The artist takes great pains to practise and make perfect her offering....more

Forever in MS blue

MUMBAI: Vandyke Brown, Titian Red, MS Blue... one of the unexpected achievements of MS Subbulakshmi, the great Carnatic singer, who passed away on Saturday in Chennai, was in being one of the few people to have a colour named after her, and certainly, the only singer....more

The M S Phenomenon by Gowri Ramnarayan

"WE walked 30 miles to hear you today but arrived only at the very end. We waited in the hope of offering our respects to you before returning to our village." ...more

எம்.எஸ். இனி இல்லையா...?

அவருக்கும் மரணம் உண்டா? காலத்தின் ஓட்டமும், இறப்பும் எவ்வளவு துயரமானது என்பதை இவரைப் போன்ற பாரத ரத்தினத்தை இழக்கும் போது அல்லவா உணர்ந்து தவிக்கிறோம்....more

எம்.எஸ். இசை மகுடத்தில் ஓர் ரத்தினம்

இந்தியா இந்த தலைமுறையில் ஓர் மாபெரும் கலைஞரை உருவாக்கியிருக்கிறது என்பதில் நீங்கள் பெருமிதம் கொள்ளலாம் என்று புகழ்பெற்ற கர்நாடக சங்கீத மேதை எம்.எஸ்.சுப்புலட்சுமியைப் பற்றி சரோஜினி நாயுடு ஒருமுறை கூறினார்....more

எம்.எஸ். சுப்புலட்சுமி ஒரு சகாப்தத்தின் முடிவு

'பரணியில் பிறந்தவர் தரணி ஆள்வார்' என்று சொல்வார்கள். பரணியில் பிறந்த இசையரசி எம்.எஸ்.சுப்புலட்சுமி இசைத் தரணியை ஆளத்தான் செய்தார்....more

A voice that enchanted

CHENNAI: "Child, you carry the veena in your throat," said veena maestro Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer. "Suswaralakshmi, Subhalakshmi," (goddess of perfect tone and auspiciousness) pronounced Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Yehudi Menuhin was enraptured by the golden voice....more

Epitome of bhakti

CHENNAI: "I dwell not in Vaikuntha, not in the hearts of Yogins or in the sun, where my bhaktas sing, there be I, Narada," said the Lord....more

Letters to the Editor

Sir, — T.R. Srinivasan, a music teacher, narrated to me the following incident about M.S. The Karnataka Government had organised the 400th Purandara Jayanti at the Purandara Mantap on the banks of the Tungabhadra in Hampi. M.S. was to inaugurate the concert in the evening....more

The melody wafts...

Listening to her voice and watching her endearing care of us... My camera would, normally, jump out of the bag on occasions like this. But it did not this time....more

When MS lifted her hands in prayer by Radha Padmanabhan

I can't pretend to have known MS well, but she came to stay with us on, three occasions in the early seventies, I lived in Calicut (Kozhikode) in those days. It was a small town then, but it was visited by MS and her husband Sadasivam because it was on the itinerary for her concert tours....more

"You sing like an angel"

CHENNAI: RUNNING HER hands over her singing throat, the blind and deaf Helen Keller exclaimed: "You sing like an angel!" Over seven decades, three generations of listeners have known the same exaltation in Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi's vocal magic. They see M.S. as a saint, even goddess incarnate....more

Hindu Critic SVK on MS

THE BEAUTY of music is beyond logical comprehension. So was the invisible charm of M. S. Subbulakshmi's sangita. To her expression was the periphery, contemplative experience the core of Carnatic music. She had several dimensions - melody, patantara purity, reverential rendering of songs of great vaggeyakaras....more

M.S.SUBBULAKSHMI - A DIVINE MAESTRO

Few gestures of the Central Government have been received with such universal acclaim as the conferment of the much coveted Award of Bharat Ratna on Sangitha Kalanidhi M.S. Subbulakshmi (MSS). Her life is a seventy-year long saga of dedication to the muse of music as well as great charitable causes....more

MS and Sadasivam - They shared a special bond

Taking care of M.S. and Sadasivam was the top priority for K.R.Athmanathan, who shares his thoughts on the occasion of M.S.'s 90th birth anniversary....more

Tribute from Artists

The guru on his sishya

THOUGH M.S. Subbulakshmi assimilated her vast repertoire from many sources, she always acknowledged the late Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer as her guru. He infused depth and grandeur to Subbulakshmi's music, strengthened her alapana, niraval, and swara, and taught her majestic compositions....more

DKP on MS

Her voice breaks and tears stream down her eyes even before she starts speaking. Of all her contemporaries, nobody could have understood the milieu in which M S Subbulakshmi lived as does D K Pattammal. Seventy years ago these two women had breached a rigid male bastion and now, only the 85-year-old Pattammal....more

MLV on MS

The world need not learn about M.S. Subbulakshmi from me. Today her music is relished by people all over the world. National and international acclaim from informed and lay listeners, success on many venues abroad, and the recent announcement of an honorary doctorate, all testify to the special quality of her music....more

The Music of MS

The following is by musician, scholar and critic SULOCHANA PATTABHI RAMAN as told to S. JANAK!.
Music was second nature to M.S. Subbulakshmi. It was not even a way of life, not even a religion, but a penance that enveloped her being and soul....more

Karaikudi Mani and VVS on MS

Karaikudi Mani, the mridangam maestro who had accompanied MS for long, recalled it was while performing in a D K Pattammal concert in the 70s that Sadasivam had sent word, wondering whether he could play for MS too and he gladly did. The association lasted seven years....more

A Grand Daughter-in-law Remembers

It was a pleasant evening on December 11th 1985 when my betrothal ceremony with Chandrasekhar took place. Until then I never realised that I would become MSS's grand daughter-in- law. Once in 1982, I had the good fortune of being blessed by her when I received the first prize for flute in an AIR music competition....more

நினைவலைகள் - காற்றினிலே கலந்த கீதம்!

வானம்கூட அழுது, அஞ்சலி செலுத்திய கறுப்பு தினம்!...more

What made MS special?

What made MS special? Was it her aura? Her appearance? Her humble nature ? or was she just lucky? Interesting, isn’t it ?, that all the above questions do not have anything to do with her music. MS was MS, because of her music and everything else came later. Many a time in the carnatic music world....more

இசையுலகின் இரு சிகரங்கள்

''நீங்கள் பாடகர் ஆனது எப்படி?'' என்று லதா மங்கேஷ்கரை ஒருமுறை கேட்டார்கள். ''எனக்குப் பேசத் தெரியாது; அதனால் பாடுகிறேன்'' என்றார் லதா. ஆனால், அண்மையில் தமக்கு மிக அழகாகப் பேசவும் தெரியும் என்பதை நிரூபித்தார் லதா மங்கேஷ்கர்....more

ஒவ்வொரு கச்சேரியும் அஞ்சலிதான்

என் தந்தை ராமநாதன் எம்.எஸ். அம்மாவின் குடும்பத்துக்கு நெருங்கிய நண்பர் என்பதால் எனக்கு எம்.எஸ்ஸைச் சந்திக்கும் பாக்கியம் கிடைத்தது. அவர்கள் வீட்டில் எனக்குப் பல ஆச்சரியங்கள் காத்திருந்தன....more

Musicians on MS

It was a sorrowful weekend for music lovers. The passing away of M S Subbulakshmi came as a jolt to many musicians as well, who treated her immortalised many songs, including Vaishnavo Janatho, a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi, Meera Bhajans, Annamacharya Kritis and others....more

MSS; one and only

There is not a tinge of doubt that M S Subbulakshmi was one of the most beautiful artistes to ever adorn the world music scene. Beautiful in all senses of the term…...more

Dancers on MS

Danseuse Padma Subrahmanyan recalled her father (whose 100th anniversary fell this year) had introduced her in the film "Sevasadan." Her family had been closely associated with the M.S. family. It was more than a personal loss, she said....more

Homage to MS by M F Husain

HOMAGE TO M.S.: M.F. Husain's 6'x 4' portrait of M.S. Subbulakshmi, acrylic on canvas, was unveiledat the opening of "Husain" Edition Limited, his major exhibition of graphics, in Chennai on Wednesday. The artist, a long-time admirer of the great singer, did the painting in Dubai on Tuesday....more

M S Amma – a redefinition of baani?

I have wondered for long, what is the baani of MS Amma…Any student, practitioner or a listener of Carnatic Music would be obsessed with this magical word, “baani” from the day of his or her initiation into this art-form. Carnatic music by itself has several specific sets of guidelines on the notes...more

A Tribute by Kiranavali

Hundreds of people have written about M S Subbulakshmi or simply MS, who would easily rank as the most well documented Carnatic musician ever. Mere mention of her name makes every Carnatic musician or music lover burst with pride for she has not only touched so many lives and hearts but also elevated ...more