M.S. Subbalakshmi by Manish Kumar ‘Santosh’

Madurai Shanmugawdiwu Subbalakshmi, widely acclaimed as the ‘Nightingale of Karnataka Sangeet’ was born on September 16, 1916 at Madurai (Tamil Nadu) in a poor Devdasi family . Her father’ s name was Shri Subrah many am Aiyyar and that of her mother was Shanmugawdiwu.
That’ s how Subbalakshmi’ s name included the name of her birthplace as well as that of her mother—the first part is the name of her birthplace and the latter , that of her mother. At home, everyone called her Kunjamma. In the world of music, she was popular as M.S. Subbalakshmi had inherited music. Her grandmother, Akkamal, was an expert in violin whereas her mother was an exponent of Veena. The musical atmosphere at home deeply influenced her and she got interested in ‘Carnatic Sangeet’ since childhood.