M.S.SUBBULAKSHMI

M S – A Life in Music by T. J. S. George; Published by Harper & Collins Publishers ; Pages 303 ;Price Rs 495/-
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TJ S George is an Eminence Grise in the world of Indian Journalism, who began his career in “Free Press Journal “, rose on to become “Founder—Editor” of “Asiaweek” and is presently with the New Indian Express. George blazed a new trail with his highly lauded biography of V. K. Krishna Menon. Later on he wrote two more books –the first on the father of Modern Singapore—Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. He covered the Hindi Film Industry with a captivating volume on “The Life and Times of Nargis.”

The book under review is George’s foray into the world of Carnatic Music and what better subject than the Magnificent and Serene M.S.Subbulakshmi ?. M S represents the highest achievement in Carnatic music by one who transmuted melody into bhakti.

Madurai, the temple town, connected with Agastya Muni, the seat and fount of “Sangams” was the place from where were born the “Mother” “M.Shanmukhavadivu” and the daughter “ M.S Subbulakshmi”. The “M” in the initials of both the names was more than a geographical formality. It was an umbilical chord that bound them with Culture.

Subbulakshmi attracted attention transcending music itself. She grew into an unique phenomenon in Tamil culture, combing the vitality of Dravida heritage with the rich resonance of Sanskritic traditions. M S honoured the ancientness of tradition, anchored her art on a spiritual basis and absorbed the best in others while developing her own distinctiveness.

M S was one of three children of Shanmukhavadivu, the other two being an elder brother M.S.Shaktivel and a younger sister M.S.Vadivambal. M S only had a pet name—Kunjamma or Kunju. Shaktivel became adept in playing Mridangam. Vadivambal, took after her mother and became a Veena player of promise. M S, however, excelled in Veena and Mridangam and got special attention of her mother. The first Guru to teach M S was Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar. Two others succeeded—Seithur Sundaresa Bhattar and Mayavaram Krishna Iyer. Subbulakshmi was a little over nine when her mother asked her to sing at gathering organized by a cycle shop—which eventually became the huge T V S ( T V Sundaram ) conglomerate. A talent-spotter in the audience approached the family with an offer of cutting a gramophone record—which was promptly accepted. The song H M V recorded under its Twin Brand was “Marakata Vadivu” in Chenchuruti raga, praising Madurai Meenakshi. The label on the record read :“ Song by Madurai Subbulakshmi, age 10 years.”. The singer says at the end of the song. “I am Madurai Subbulakshmi”.

Shanmukhavadivu used to take her two daughters for programmes in the courts of the wealthy and influential. One of them sought the hand of Vadivambal-- a millionaire Bhashyam Iyengar. Soon after the marriage Vadivambal died of pneumonia at the young age of 22. Meanwhile M S had moved over to Madras. A quick succession of events catapulted her to eminence. She won recognition in citadels of music and started making it big in the movies.

M S achieved laurels at 16 at the Kumbakonam Mahamahom in 1932. Here she was lauded by veterans like Tiger Varadachari, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer told M S, “ Child, you carry the Veena in your throat”. She followed this up by storming the male bastion—The Madras Music Academy during 1932-33. At the young age of 17 M S had become a Musical Star.

Enter Thiagaraja Sadasivam. In the year 1936 when she was 20 Sadasivam who was 34—senior to her by 14 years entered her life. He was already married and had two children, whom M S brought up as her own. Sadasivam and M S got married in 1940 and lived happily for 57 years till Sadasivam passed away at his 95th year. George has eloquently summed up the connection between the duo. “Never did a couple fill each other’s life as completely as Sadasivam and M S did. Never did another husband visualize, orchestrate and control his wife’s career as decisively as Sadasivam did. Never did a man transform a woman’s life as totally as Sadasivam transformed M S’s. Without Sadasivam M S might just have been a face in the crowd, a great voice among several voices. With him she became “Queen of Music”, a title bestowed by Jawaharlal Nehru. If M S made melody, Sadasivam made M S. If music was M S’s career, M S became Sadasivam’s career. Never did a husband and wife owe more to each other than Sadasivam and M S did.”

The author leads us step by step to M S’s ascent to glory under the watchful direction of Sadasivam. He has devoted an entire chapter to M S’s foray into Filmdom and it makes wonderful reading. The husband carefully introduces his wife to the tinsel world with K.Subramanyam’s “Seva Sadanam”. This and the next venture “Shakuntalai” found M S an essentially classical singer. It was after the completion of “Shakuntalai” that M S would get married to Sadasivam. She acted in only two more films—“ Savithri” and “Meera” ( in Tamil and Hindi ). Sadasivam rung down the curtain on M S as an actor after “Meera”. She devoted the rest of her life to becoming a singer-saint as laid down by Sadasivam.

Some of the songs sung by M S in ‘Savithri” proved all–time hits. The greatest was “ Broohi Mukundeti” of Sadasiva Brahmendra in Kurunji raga. Sadasivam used to recount how artists and technicians in ‘New Theatres’ at Calcutta flocked to hear M S whenever there was a recording and they included K.L.Saigal. Kanan Bala, Pahari Sanyal and Pankaj Mulick.

They would request her to sing favourite songs . About “Meera” it was rightly said, “M S did not act. She became Meera herself in the film “. Sarojini Naidu appearing at the end of the Hindi version declared, “She is not an interpreter but Meera herself.”

Sadasivam had a close circle of great friends—Kalki Krishnamurthy, C.Rajagopalachari, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Rajaji had approved of and blessed Sadasivam’s marriage to M S. The couple came under the spell and protection of the Paramacharya of Kanchi who accepted the couple as his life-time bhaktas. He gave the highest tribute to M S—“Whatever she is, she is like Brindavan Tulasi “. The Sadasivams , in turn, venerated him as God. This equation underscored Society’s acceptance of M S’s transformation into an Iyer wife.

The remarkable attribute of M S is that her repertoire included compositions of Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir and Guru Nanak. She spent a lot of time in learning thumris and khayals from stalwarts like Siddheshwari Devi of Benaras and Dwijendarlal Roy of Calcutta.

“Bhakti “ became the hallmark of M S. The art of singing which she perfected acquired a new direction by getting soaked in Bhakti which welled up in her heart every time she sang a composition or sloka expressing intense Bhakti for God. Her rendering of Suprabathams, Vishnu Sahasranamam, Bhaja Govindam and Hanuman Chalisa are actually representative of her oeuvre. MS single-handedly transformed the culture of morning prayers across South India.

Sadasivam made M S a world phenomenon arranging concerts at Edinburgh, Paris, Moscow culminating in the ultimate recital at United Nations. In the last venue she sang a Rajaji composition—“Kurai Ondrum Illai”—I have no regrets.

Mahatma Gandhi was so much fascinated by her voice that once he conveyed a request that she should sing for him the Meera Bhajan
“ Hari Tum Haro”. Unfortunately, she had not learnt this song and conveyed her regrets. Later the same evening another message came from Gandhiji that he would prefer to hear the song spoken by M.S than sung by anyone. Sadasivam arranged immediately for a composer and overnight she learnt the song, recorded it and sent the same to Bapuji. It was played for him on his birthday on 2nd October 1947. A few months later, the radio announced the shocking news of Gandhiji’s assassination. This was followed by the rendering by M.S of the Meera Bhajan. M.S swooned on hearing it and for over a year she would not attempt to sing “Hari Tum Haro”.

M S lived a full life with awards heaped on her from all over the globe. All these she placed at the feet of her Lord and Mentor Sadasivam. To everyone’s lasting regret the Bharat Ratna was awarded to her a little after Sadasivam’s passing away. It was an appropriate reward for his life-time struggle to keep M S always at a Pinnacle. Dr Radhakrishnan declared, “Her music is a gift of the Gods which she placed at the service of the Nation.”

One of the most poignant scenes in the book is the passing away of Sadasivam which will bring tears to the eyes of the readers. It is worth recalling in full. “On 19, November 1997 Sadasivam felt something he had never felt before—fluctuating fever and some breathlessness. Reluctantly, he agreed to go to a nursing home for a check-up. He would be back home in three days, he assured his family. The hospital diagnosed his condition to be pneumonia. On the morning of 21November, he asked for the three rows of Vibhuti to be applied on his forehead with customary punctiliousness. Coffee arrived from home as per his specifications—dark, hot and sweet, but sipping the brew was not easy, what with the tubes emerging from an oxygen cylinder claiming closer attachment. As the hours of discomfort passed desultorily, an aide noticed his eyes turning glassy. M S was sent for. As she entered the room, Sadasivam looked at her, smiled and held her hand. Looking, smiling and holding hands, his eyes glazed over and the breathing stopped. It was so quiet a passing that it took a few moments for those around him to realize that Sadasivam was no more.”

One word that frequently cropped up in the language of those who met M S in her later years was “Glow “. Everyone talked about how she glowed from within. She was one who had found “Serenity”. An aura of “Grace” surrounded her.

T J S George has enabled us to share that Glow to a great extent and his work deserves to be read by all rasikas, lovers of music and lay persons.