Often lay persons with no liking of classical music still play her devotional verses as an every morning ritual. The suprabhatams on the deities of Tirupati, Kasi, Rameshwaram and Kamakshi of Kanchi thrill pilgrims at dawn in temples from Kedarnath to Kanyakumari. In the midst of roadside blasts of film songs, if an occasional "Kaatrinile varum geetham" of "Chaakar rakho ji" come on, the pedestrian is arrested into paused listening. There are others who swear that listening to her recorded music helped them tide over troubled times, even traumas and tragedies. In this writer's personal experience, there was the instance of a dear friend, a Hyderabadi girl, who repeatedly asked for "any MS music" as she bravely faced death from third degree burns.
The New York Times said: "Subbulakshmi's vocal communication trancends words. The cliche of 'the voice used as an instrument` never seemed more appropriate. It could fly flutteringly or carry on a lively dialogue with the accompanists. Subbulakshmi and her ensemble are a revelation to Western ears. Their return can be awaited with only eagerness." Dr. W. Adriaansz, Professor of Music, University of Washington, wrote: "For many, the concert by Mrs. Subbulakshmi meant their first encounter with the music of South India and it was extremely gratifying that in her the necessary factors for the basis of a successful contact between her music and a new audience - highly developed artistry as well as stage presence - were so convincingly present...without any doubt (she) belongs to the best representants of this music."
Looking at her self-effacing deportment, one has to remind oneself forcefully that she is a world-travelled artist, a globally-acclaimed career person who has changed the definition and image of Carnatic music in the 20th century. A first-time foreign listener at her concert was quick to note the ethereality of the MS image. "It is not right to describe her as the Maria Callas of India. Callas has fans, frenzied legions of them. But not devotees! MS does not sing, she makes divinity manifest."
To watch her learn a new composition is an experience in itself. For the
Annamacharya kritis (five cassettes produced for the Tirumala Tirupati
Devasthanam), the lyrics were read repeatedly with an expert in Telugu to
explicate the sense as also methods of splitting the words and syllables
for the musical score; the whole rehearsed until neither text nor notation
was required at the recording session. Even, more awesome was her mastery
of that magnificent edifice, the mela ragamalika by Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan,
a string of 72 ragas mostly rare, with hair's breadth variation between them.
The Sanskrit libretto was equally taxing. But the finished product had
natural ease and flow. When he heard it the Paramacharya of Kanchi pronounced
his blessing: "This will last as long as the sun and the moon stand in the
skies."
Yet, popular rather than critical acclaim has more often not been the outcome of the MS efforts. She arouses devotion more than analytical scrutiny, despite her undoubted musicianship. In a nation quick to canonise and deify, she was first transformed into a saint, then to a veena-holding Saraswati - the goddess of learning and the arts.
The golden voice is a divine gift which cannot fail the possessor, who remains a stranger to the struggles and labours of the less gifted. However, a 1968 commendation by T.T. Krishnamachari (Ananda Vikatan) recognises the truth. "She has the maturity to keep on learning. Training, feeling, and grasping power, she has them all. God has given her a good voice. She has made excellent use of that voice through practice. No one can become an expert without labour. A good voice by itself will not make for great art, though, as far as I know, no one (but MS) has been blessed with a voice of such sweetness."
Not the least of her achievements in over six decades of singing is the development of style of her own. This is not based on identifiable techniques of execution, but on the communication of a mood, of an ecstasy of emotion. What the ancient theoreticians called rasadhvani, when art became an experience of that ultimate bliss within and without, both immanent and transcendent. This was accomplished through auchitya - a wide term which embraces contextual appropriateness, adaptation of parts to one another and to the whole, a fitness of things, and poetic harmony. And MS exemplifies them all in her choice of raga and sahitya, balance of mood and technique, in her "mike sense" and timing, in the consonance she establishes with her accompanists and audience.
Towards the end of each recital MS sounds the cymbals in eyes-closed
concentration for the Rajaji hymn "Kurai onrum illai".
It becomes obvious that for all the splendour of her music, it is her
image as a saintly person which will probably endure long after this century,
just as in the case of Meerabai. For, in the highest tradition of the
Indian way of life, Subbulakshmi links her art with the spiritual quest,
where humility and perseverance assure the sadhaka of grace.
From: GENIUS OF SONG by Dr. Gowri Ramnarayan FRONTLINE, December 31, 1993
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