MS Subbulakshmi’s musicianship and personality were closely intertwined. Any discussion of her music eventually becomes a study of her mann...
MS Subbulakshmi’s musicianship and personality were closely intertwined. Any discussion of her music eventually becomes a study of her manner, her beliefs and her image. This is a great pity for she was, first and foremost, a consummate artiste. And it is for that reason that we must separate her music from what there is that is known of her as a person.
Subbulakshmi’s style was based on an appreciation of what was most beautiful in the vina, nagasvaram and vocal performances she heard around her. It is known that she played the pieces she sang on the vina to enable a deeper understanding of the pace and meaning. Her song rendering was always superb and marked by purity and considered restraint.
Every Carnatic performer has to build a recital around composed pieces, and in her concerts familiar and unknown pieces alike were cleanly presented, the most difficult sung with deceptive simplicity. A character in a short story has this to say on Bach. ‘I think there has to be an authority of expression; a sense of control that is combined with effortlessness – what the Italians call sprezzatura. It never shows how hard it is. It seems easy, right, natural, even if it is...
