M. S. Subbulakshmi (1916 - 2004) was an Indian Carnatic singer, a true queen of music who charmed the world with her voice and her grace.
Born as Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi, in Madurai, back when India was part of the British Raj, our musical queen, fondly known as Kunjamma to her family, graced this world with her presence.
Now, young Kunjamma was practically born into a symphony! Her mother, Shanmukhavadivu Ammal, was a dab hand at the veena, and her grandmother, Akkammal, knew her way around a violin. It sounds like musical talent was definitely in the genes, and growing up in a household with such musical expertise provided a rather conducive environment for musical learning.
The budding maestro started her formal training in Carnatic music at a rather early age under the tutelage of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and later broadened her horizons by learning Hindustani music from Pandit Narayanrao Vyas.
The world got its first proper taste of Subbulakshmi's talent when she gave her first public performance at the tender age of eleven in 1927, at the Rockfort Temple in Tiruchirappalli.
Her singing career really took off, and by the age of thirteen, in 1929, she gave her first performance at the prestigious Madras Music Academy. Apparently, this academy was known for being rather picky, so inviting a young girl as a key performer was quite the break from tradition! Her performance was described as "spellbinding" and earned her the lovely moniker of "musical genius" from the critics. Soon enough, she became one of the top Carnatic vocalists.
By seventeen, she was giving concerts all on her own, including major gigs at the Madras Music Academy. She wasn't just a local sensation, she travelled the globe as India's cultural ambassador, serenading audiences in London, New York, Canada, the Far East, and beyond. Her performances at the Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama in 1963, Carnegie Hall in New York, the United Nations General Assembly in 1966 (making her the first Indian to do so!), the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1982, and the Festival of India in Moscow in 1987 were all significant milestones.
While she was primarily a singing sensation, M.S. also dabbled in a few Tamil films in her younger days. Sevasadanam in 1938 was her first, and it was quite a hit, both critically and commercially. She even played the male role of Narada in Savitri (1941) to help raise funds for her husband's nationalist Tamil weekly, Kalki. But it was her title role as the saint-poetess Meera in the 1945 film of the same name that truly catapulted her to national fame. They even remade it in Hindi in 1947. It seems she really embodied the spirit of Meera.
The accolades poured in, as they rightly should! M. S. Subbulakshmi was showered with honours, including the Bharat Ratna in 1998, making her the first musician ever to receive India's highest civilian honour. She was also the first Indian musician to be awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1974, often considered Asia's Nobel Prize.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, no less, famously said, "Who am I, a mere Prime Minister before a Queen, a Queen of Music". Others like Lata Mangeshkar called her Tapaswini (the Renunciate), and Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan termed her Suswaralakshmi (the goddess of the perfect note).
Her list of awards is as long as a particularly intricate musical phrase! It includes the Padma Bhushan in 1954, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1956, the Sangita Kalanidhi in 1968, the Padma Vibhushan in 1975, and many, many more. Even a shade of Kancheepuram Saree, the MS Blue, was named after her!
She was a devoted artist, performing for Sree Ramaseva Mandali at Bengaluru for 36 concerts and even singing in front of each idol at the Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram. Her rendition of "Maithreem Bhajatha" at the UN in 1966, a composition by Kanchi Mahaswamigal, spoke volumes about her devotion. She also recorded the "Venkatesa Suprabhatam," and the royalties went to charity. Speaking of charity, she was incredibly generous, giving over 200 charity concerts and raising a substantial sum.
After the passing of her husband, Kalki Sadasivam, in 1997, she decided to retire from public performances, with her last concert also in 1997.
Even after her passing, she continues to be celebrated. A commemorative postage stamp was issued in her honour in 2005, and the United Nations also decided to issue a stamp to mark her birth centenary. A bronze statue of her stands proudly in Tirupati.