FROM THE ARCHIVES
M.S.'s concert at the Academy
Dr. V. K. Narayana Menon writes:
M.S. Subbulakshmi's re-appearance on the concert platform after an absence of some nine months was the most eagerly awaited event of the current music season in Madras.
And it turned out to be not only a heartening and reassuring evening, but a musical success of the highest magnitude measured by any standards.
Subbulakshmi's illness last April and May cast a gloom over the musical horizon of India. There was relief at her recovery, but anxiety was still there.
No voice has thrilled and gladdened the hearts of the public in India as Subbulakshmi's for a quarter of century — greater musicians there have been, and there certainly will be — masters, authoritative exponents, scholars, pedants, grammarians.
But no one has captured the public imagination as M.S. has — two initials which have become synonymous with the magic of singing.
The concert on Christmas Day at the Academy pandal was the best attended function of the Academy's season. M.S.'s concerts always are.
Subbulakshmi's programme, as is usual with her, was a thoughtful and carefully planned one.
Appropriately enough it started with Dikshitar's "Angarakam" in Suruti. It was sung with restraint and subdued emotion. Then came Thyagaraja's "Rama Nannu" in Harikamboji which was a real warming-up piece.
By the time she had started the `Niraval' in the charanam one knew that she had lost none of the old skill or brilliance bordering on exuberance.
(An extract from a review published in The Hindu on January 1, 1957)
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