89th Birthday Tribute

This post is our belated tribute to one of the Kaarana Piravis' (Born for a purpose) of the 21st century, Smt M.S.S Subbulakshmi on the eve of her 89th Birth Day.

Let us take a tour of her glorious past.





Born to a brilliant Veena artist(Shanmugavadivu amma) in a tiny home close to the Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple in the temple town of the daughter of King Malayadhvaja, Madurai Shanmugavadivu Subbulakshmi (a.k.a Kunjamma) grew up literally surrounded by music. Her grandmother Akkammal had been a violinist. Young Kunjamma, started growing up listening and humming along with her mom when she played the Veena. She was blessed with a mellifluous voice that would melt the strongest of the diamonds.Possessing both shruthi shuddham(immaculate tone) and the Gnana of the nuances of the complex carnatic music padhathi , no wonder she left the listener spell bound.



Though M.S.S amma had her formal schooling only till 5th grade, she was always had popular vidwans to assist and train her to become what she is now.Her first Guru happend to be the vidwan Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar who passed away not long after her first lessons. Her home was frequently visited by popular vidwans of those days like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.

Her first concert was made possible when someone grabbed her and took her to Sethupathi High School (the school where the great tamil poet, Subramanya Bharathi studied) to sing in a concert while she was immersed in her child hood play of mud-pie making:) . Not long after that , when she was 10, she would cut her first disc . She once sang in a marriage of a Sourashtra friend for 2 hours holding the rapture of the attendees.

Her teen life was full of conerts where great Vidwans like Tiger Varadhachariar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagawathar nodded their approval of finding a new talent. In those like "getting a nod" was considered to be a great achievement especially among male artists who were dominating the carnatic music scene. Karaikudi Samabasiva Iyer once praised little M.S.S , "kuzhanthey (child) , Your are carrying a Veena in your throat" :)

After the eventful teen years , she would be eventually wedded to the freedom fighter and a senior member of the magazine Ananda Vikatan , Tyagaraja Sadasivam. This would be a turning point in her life. Tyagaraja brought in popular vidwans like Semmangudi Sreenivasa iyer and Musiri Subramanya Iyer to her. They were frequent visitors to their home. Being a freedom fighter , Sadasivam also associated MSS with great freedom fighers like Gandhiji, Rajaji and Nehruji and was constantly encouraging her to sing patriotic songs of subramanya baharthi and the like.

Not too later , her fame would start spreading beyond the walls of South India when when would star her first movie , Sevasadanam in 1931. She would they pair up with the yet another great vidwans of those day , G.N.Balasubramanian in the movie Shakuntala. She would later popularize the krithi ,"Broohi Mukundethi" in the movie Savithri starring as Sage Narada.

Perhaps the best of her achievements thru the movies was when she starred as "Meera" . She got accolades from all over India. Sarojini Naidu called her the "Nightingale of India"

Her fame would not be stopped from crossing the boundaries of India. Her international tours kicked off with the programme at Edinburgh Festival in 1963. She would later be invited to perfom in the magnificient General Assembly Hall of the United Nations by the Secrtary General, U. Thant. After that, she would render in the popular Carnegie Hall in New York, United States. One wouln't be surprised by applaud given by the local audience after her rendition of krithis like "Ika Nainanaa". She would become the divine voice that would let the message of Sri Chandasekarendra Swamigal of Kanchi mutt , "shreyo bhuyat sakala jananam" (let there be grace abounding for all manind) , the concluding verses of the famed "Maithreem Bhajatha", buzz the gigantic concert halls in UN and Carnegie.



No wonder she won so many laurels .She bacame the first women artist to be conferred the prestigious title "Sangeetha Kalanidhi of the Madras Music Academy. She received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (regarded as the Asian Noble prize) in 1974. She also received Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan , Kalidasa Sanman and what not?? Perhaps all her contributions to our society can be summed up when she got Bharat Ratna, the highest civil award in India.

Despite acquiring fame and wealth , the couple resorted to direct their earnings into charitable endowments. They formed the Kasthurba Memorial trust as early as 1944. Her benefit performances raised over 30 millions Rs. The Magsaysay award that she recieved was in fact in recognition of her charitable work.

All these achievements, without any doubt, stand for a truly remarkable personality and a musician. What quality in her music that made her different from other artists? Simply put, it is her faith in god (as she recalls " I would see the beautiful and the graceful face of the Meenalochani,Paasamochani , Meenakshi( The fish-eyed godess and the godess that breaks the bondage) when the flames of the Deeparadhanai are take closer to the godess and whenever I sing the verse I would just close my eyes and think of the graceful face of the meenakshi amman). Such was her devotion to god. One would also remember that Saint Tyagaraja also used to close his eyes and go in trance for Sri Rama whenever he sang a krithi as Ekaanantha Sevai ( Serving the lord in privacy). Eventhough she was gifted with an awesome voice , she didnt stop making efforts . This is clearly evident when one gets to hear her magnificiently rendering the mela ragamaalika by Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan, a string of 72 rare raagas.

What more should I say?? She lived a life without giving single interview , letting her music to speak for itself. That would clarify some of my messed up articulations..:)


Here are some of the least known facts known about M.S.S amma

1. Her father called her Rajathippa (princess darling). Mother called her Kunjamma

2. M.S was also a trained Bharatnatyam artist

3. She had once played the violin for Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer

4. Was a competed mridangam artist . She learnt from her brother Sakthivel

5. The great Vidwan Chembai had accompanied her on the violin

6. M.S was great lover of Chukku Coffee, French Perfume and Jasmine Flower (madurai malli:)

7. Her house was named Shivam-Shubam

8. Sakaraabharanam was her favorite raga, Blue was her favorite color

9. Never ate ice- creams, avoided cold drinks to protect her voice

10. MS stopped singing after her husbands death in 1997.

(Source : http://sun.science.wayne.edu/~vhari/ms/images/MSTribute.pps..don't forget 2 check out the presentation:)

Some of her popular renditions :

Vishnu Sahasranaamam, Ventakatesa Suprabhaatham, Kaamaakshi Suprabhaatam, Bhaja Govindam , Meera Bhajans, Hanuman Chaalisa, Madhuraashtakam, Bruhi Mukundeti, Maithreem Bhajatha...the list goes on and on and on..

Some of my personal favorites : (excluding the ones above)

Sri Ranganatha Gadyam, Govindaashtakam, Sikshaashtakam, Jo Achyuthaanada, Raaraa Chinnnana, Shambo Mahadeva, Parama Purusha, Koluvaiyunnade,Sri Rangapura Vihara, songs on Kanchi Kaamakshi...............endless list ..:)

M.S.S Audio


We have uploaded some audio file in a audio blog . You can access them here

Please bear with the quality in some of the songs.Thanks




"Shreyo Bhuyaath Sakala Jananam"

SARVAM SRI KRISHNAAPANAMASTHU