Today's Google doodle celebrates renowned Carnatic vocalist M S Subbulakshmi's 97th birthday.
Google is celebrating Bharat Ratna MS Subbulakshmi 97th birthday through its Google Doodle. The doodle features the singer holding a tanpura with her trademark red and black bindi on her forehead.
MS Subbulakshmi was the first Indian musician ever to be awarded the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974 and the Bharat Ratna in 1998. The renowned singer was born in Madurai on September 16, 1916 and trained in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music. She gave her first public performance at the Madras Music academy in 1929 when she was just 13 years old and made her film debut in Sevasadan (1938). The noted signer died in 2004 at the age of 88.
MS is known for her devotional music and her prominent hymns include Suprabhatam, Bhajagovindam and Vishnu Sahasranamam. Besides Carnatic music, MS Subbulakshmi also performed in a variety of devotional musical forms in different languages including Sanskrit, Bengali, Tamil, Punjabi, Hindi, Kannada and more.
MS travelled as India’s cultural ambassador to London, Canada, New York and the Far East. She also performed at the Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama in 1963 and at the UN General Assembly in 1966. The celebrated singer received many awards including the Padma Bhushan in 1954, Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1968, Padma Vibhushan in 1975 and Bharat Ratna in 1998.
National leader Sarojini Naidu called her “Nightingale of India”. Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru once said of the singer: “Who am I, a mere Prime Minister before a queen, a queen of music.”
Source: TOI