Diary of unique kind
V. BALASUBRAMANIAN
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What began as a hobby for M. A. Subramanian after his retirement turned into an obsession and he has listed about 6,000 songs sung in concerts.
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M. A. Subramanian.
Seventy nine-year-old M. A. Subramanian, known as MAS in his circles, is a retired Income Tax officer. MAS has been attending music concerts since 1985 after his retirement. So what? He has been religiously noting down the details of the concerts, date-wise, with names of the artiste and the list of the songs presented in the concert with the raga and composer's name. We interrupted: "What about the tala?" He admitted that he had no formal training in Carnatic music and hence did not take that extra effort of noting the talas.
Further, as a child, he had the opportunity to listen to the 78-rpm records of S. V. Subbiah Bhagavathar, S. G. Kittappa, K. B. Sundarambal and other stars of yesteryear played in his house by his father. This kindled his interest in Carnatic music and thus he developed a taste for ragas.
Interesting incident
What if the singer sings a song not familiar to him? Yes, MAS had difficulties in the earlier years when he started compiling the details. He would just ask the singer for the same and update his record. He recalls an interesting incident, when Mysore Nagamani Srinath had sung a composition in Hindolam, which was an unfamiliar one. Coming to know that it was her own composition he had suggested it would be useful to rasikas if the performer announced the details of the songs. Since then she has been meticulously following the advice of MAS. Ravikiran is one other artiste who is doing this.
For Subramaniam, who has received the Best Rasika Award from Shanthi Arts Foundation and Endowments (SAFE), it all began as a casual hobby in 1985 after his retirement. It turned into an obsession later, and about 6,000 songs have been listed by MAS with details of the raga and composer. This apart, he maintains another diary where he has raga-wise listings of songs and composers updated from his concert diary.
One is amazed by the care with which the details are entered in print like handwriting. AIR concerts were useful in the earlier years to collect information but he feels that of late AIR announcers are making a lot of mistakes.
How supportive has his family been? Not much.
MAS asserts that his encyclopaedia comprises of songs that were heard by him in concerts and that no entry has been made on hearsay. At home, he spends much of his time listening to classical music.
Has he had any formal training in classical music? Veenai Vasu once spotted him in a concert, and impressed by his work, persuaded him to become his student. But the learning process came to an abrupt end as Vasu succumbed to cancer.
With failing eyesight, MAS, nearing 80, continues to frequent sabhas with the assistance of an understanding friend who also notes down the songs, keeping a 20-year passion alive.
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