M. S. Subbalakshmi, Madurai Shanmukhavadivu
Subbulakshmi, was one of the most popular as well as most admired
vocalists in the field of Carnatic music. She was the first musician to
receive the Bharat Ratna and also the first woman recipient of the title
'Sangeetha Kalanidhi'. If you want to get more information on M S
Subbalakshmi and her life history, read the following biography.
M S Subbulakshmi was born on 16th September 1916, in the Madurai city of
Tamil Nadu. Since she was born into a musical family, Subbulakshmi
developed an interest in music from a very tender age only. Her first
recording was released when she was only ten years old. M S Subbalakshmi
received her formal training in Carnatic classical music from Semmangudi
Srinivasa Iyer and Hindustani classical music from Pandit Narayan Rao
Vyas. She gave her first public performance at Kumbakonam, during the
Mahamaham festival.
Subbulakshmi made her debut at the Madras Music Academy when she was
only seventeen years old. Then onwards started her journey as one of the
most successful singers of the country. She performed in numerous
languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu,
Sanskrit and Kannada. M S Subbalakshmi also entered the field of acting
and performed in a number of movies. People still remember her for the
role of Bhakta Meera in the movie 'Meera'. However, after the movie,
Subbulakshmi quit acting and concentrated fully on concert music.
M S Subbulakshmi married Sadasivam, a freedom fighter, in the year 1940.
The couple did not have their own children. However, Subbulakshmi gave
all her motherly love to Sadasivam's children from his previous
marriage. Subbulakshmi became India's cultural ambassador and traveled
to places like London, New York, Canada, the Far East, etc. Some of her
most noteworthy concerts outside India took place at UN General Assembly
(1966), Royal Albert Hall of London (1982) and 'Festival of India' in
Moscow (1987).
Sadasivam left for the holy abode in 1997 and after his death, M S
Subbulakshmi stopped giving public performances. The great singer
suffered serious illness in the last days of her life. She passed away
on 11th December 2004, after experiencing major complications connected
with pneumonia and cardiac abnormalities.
Honors and Awards
Padma Bhushan Award (1954)
Sangeetha Kalanidhi Award (1968)
Ramon Magsaysay Award (1974)
Padma Vibhushan Award (1975)
Kalidasa Samman Award (1988)
Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration (1990)
Bharat Ratna Award (1998)
Honored as the court-singer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams
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