India has a rich variety of music like,

sugam, folk, semi classical, classical.

Different regions have different rhythms
and flavours of music. Carnatak is a form
of Indian classical music.
M.S.Subbulakshmi was well-known in the
field of classical music especially for her
singing of Carnatak classical songs.

Subbulakhmis full name is Madurai

Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi. She was born
on 16th September, 1916 at Madurai in Tamil
Nadu. She got her training in the Carnatak
classical music from Srinivas Iyer and in
Hindustani classical music from Pandit
Narayan Rao Vyas. She acted in her first
feature film Sewasadan in 1938.
In 1940, she married Tyagarajan Sadasivam.
Tyagarajan was a freedom fighter.

The devotional songs (Bhajans) sung by her

in the film Meera were appreciated by one
and all. Even today these songs are very
popular among people. In Meera, she sang
devotional songs in Hindi for the first time.
Even Mahatma Gandhi had tears in his eyes
when he heard the song Vaishnav Jan To
Teine Kahiye, Peer Paraye Jaane Re, sung
by Subbalakshmi.

She received a number of Awards in her

life. She was the first classical singer to
have received the Sangeet Kalanidhi
award in 1968, the Magsaysay award in
1975, the Kalidas award in 1988 and the
Indira Gandhi award for National
Integration in 1990. In 1998 she received
the Bharat Ratna award for her
contribution in the Carnatak Classical
music.

Along with her achievements an classical

music, Subbulakshmi was also known for
her social service. She had a soft corner for
the blind. She participated in music
concerts in five big cities of India to collect
money for them. The whole amount thus
collected was donated to Shankara
Netralaya Hospital.
For last few years, she stopped
participating in concerts. She died on
December 11, 2004 in Chennai.