Iconic MS Subbulakshmi is Nightingale of India by her voice : Vice-Prez

Chennai, Oct 17: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today showered encomiums on legendary and iconic carnatic singer M S Subbulakshmi and hailed her as the 'Nightingale of India' by her voice. Speaking after inaugurating a photo exhibition to mark the centenary celebrations of M S Subbulakshmi here, he said she had that glow, that divine glow, hailed by the great philosopher President Dr S Radhakrishnan as Brahma Tejas; found in the 'God intoxicated faces' of great sages. 'MS Subbulakshmi was a patriot. She sang throughput her career, that spanned about seven decades, the patriotic, nationalist songs of Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi very spiritedly', he added. 'Dr Sarojini Naidu was the Nightingale of India by her verses and Dr MS Subbulakshmi was the Nightingale of India by her voice', Mr Naidu said. He said India was a land of rich cultural heritage with music in diverse genres representing the truly myriad mosaic of plurality—from the two main fountainheads of classical music—Carnatic and Hindustani—to a variety of folk music from every nook and corner to Sufi music, Qawwalis, Rabindra Sangeet to popular film music. 'What defines India is this rich heritage of music and its unifying role in bringing people together cutting across religions, regions, castes and communities', he said, adding, the roots of Indian music could be traced to Vedic literature, Sama Veda in particular, and as such every note and cadence associated with our ancient music systems have to be preserved and propagated. UNI