M.S. Subbulakshmi

For millions of homes in India the dawn breaks with the soul-stirring music of Venkateswara Suprephatam sung in praise of Lord Balaji of Tirupati, the famous Vishnu Sahasranama or the Bhaja Govindam composed by Adi Sankaracharya, all rendered by the legendary Carnatic vocalist, M.S. Subbulakshmi.

MS, as she is popularly called all over India, is one of the greatest musicians of India who stirred spiritual consciousness through soulful music. Like the great saints of yore and all the great votaries of Hinduism, MS, through her unmatched rendition of bhajans, has taught the world that the best and easiest way to realize God is through devotion or bhakti in this kaliyug.

Endearingly called Kunjamma during her childhood, MS was born in Madurai on 16 September, 1916. To say music was in her looks is no hyperbole. In the temple town of Madurai, music vocal and instrumental filled the air and this little girl used to hum along with the notes of the nadaswaram that permeated the carnival air and the strains of the veena played by her mother. She cut her first disc at the age of ten in Madras. It was just a matter of time before she metamorphosed from providing vocal support to her mother to solo performance in hundreds of concerts. Her good looks and rich voice made her a brilliant actress of the Tamil cinema for a while.

Honours have been heaped on her the span of several decades of a career that held audiences in India and abroad under a spell of rich Carnatic music, bhajans and resonant melody and seemingly limitless repertoire.

�Courtesy: Competition Success Review