Chanakya, the great political scientist of the Mauryan period, in his masterpiece Arthashastra (c. 250 AD) describes four weapons wielded by a ruler to subdue his opponents — saama, daama, bheda, danda. Subtlest of all, saama, you co-opt opponents by involving them in a dialogue, daama , you buy them over, Bheda, suggests instigating differences among your enemies, and finally danda (punitive action), refers to outright repression.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Modern India's greatest singing legend
What a stellar life for MS Subbulakshmi, the Nightingale of India.
Born Sept 16, 1916 and died Dec 11, 2004 - MS regaled music lovers with her divine voice.
Let us all join the nation in paying rich tributes to the great melody queen.
7 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Agreed. She had a divine voice (this is totally based on the ears of the beholder).
Honestly, was she such a great singer?
I am not much knowledged in traditional music, well any form of music. But I do tend see singing as an act completely detached from the voice of the singer. To me this make sense.
I don't buy the popular notion (which is prevalent here) that "K.J. Yesudoss should stop singing in films, he has lost his voice". To me, even today, certain songs are enriched by his "singing". And I know of certain songs (though famous) that are let down because he didn't sing. And I rate few such singers as masterclass.
Whenever I hear MS (please don't mistake this for ridiculing her), I don't feel I am hearing a "masterful" singer.
I guess, I have mislead you guys. Let me clarify on those!
I did not compare MS with KJ. KJ is one person who I rate as a masterful singer - across the globe. I wanted to know whether you guys rate MS in the same manner with respect to singing (minus the voice factor).
Also, I agree MS is a legend with respect to what she has offered the world in her life. I salute her.
Rags, I can hear the same songs of MS that you had mentioned (and some more) over and over again. I would like to have more of them too. All great singers will have at least a handful of masterful renditions. Won't they?
Well, if someone asks me why I feel KJ, Pink Floyd, Ilayaraja(to some extent) , Lata as legendary singers/musicians, I think I would do a job that would satisify at least me if not the questioner.
I always had doubts in my mind on why she is rated so highly for her singing abilities(esp. when she passed away, media went berserk). I wanted to ask a open group of intelligent people to see their views. So, I jumped on to the opportunity presented by this blog hoping that the discussion might open me up in terms of understanding her greatness as a singer in a better way.
May be God gave her the voice or may be her ancestors gave or more simply, nature and her hard work/discipline in tuning it gave her the voice.
May be she is not "singer" which is how I define KJ and hence "apples and oranges" came into picture!
I wanted to know why you guys rate her in legendary proportions as a singer. I didn't want advice without any reasoning behind....
Having said that, I wonder whether you rate her as a "legend" as human including all aspects that she offered to us. If that is the case, as I said before, she is a legend...and I salute her from my heart.
I think there will always be generalized statements like 'X is a legendary singer' and I think one has to listen to X on-and-on to understand why people praise X. I think it is pointless to join the praise-group without enjoying X's songs. I think we have every right to question ourself before joining the fans bandwagon.
When I like some music, I try to listen to the same music again and again till I feel I have exhausted that album/song completely. I think, most of us like the complexity that is prevalent in things(read music) we come across in day-to-day life and we try to explore the complexity to the maximum-extent possible. This exploration gives one the 'kick' of having achieved something.
All Pink Floyd or Dire Straits or Led Zep songs never bore me, even if I am listening to them day-in day-out. These bands really have the fuel to 'go the distance'. Even the most remarkable A R Rahman song falls into the 'burn-out' category.
Guess, only songs which have soul and style can sustain for long time. Songs by 'led zep', 'pink floyd', 'dire straits', classical music(western or carnatic or hindustani) always will last long. Reason for classical music to be featured in this 'perennial-favourite' is that they have an enigma associated with them. It is not easily comprehensible and there lies the beauty of the song. So, most of us wont mind to listen to songs of such kind of again-and-again and still not be satisfied with our interpretion of that song. Every time you listen to the song, you will get a different understanding of that song. Really enjoyed listening to Madurai TN Seshagopalan's rendition of 'kurinji .. nattai kurinji' raga/song. Infact I even enjoyed the song which ran in the 'kill bill 2' final credits, that song was in some Latino language(I guess Spanish) was composed by Robert Rodriguez.
MS was a legend and a beautiful person She and her husband has done so much charity work, but never sought any publicity. When she sang as Meera you feel you are listening to the real Meera and you feel the same emotion as her. Thats what music is all about.
7 comments:
Agreed. She had a divine voice (this is totally based on the ears of the beholder).
Honestly, was she such a great singer?
I am not much knowledged in traditional music, well any form of music. But I do tend see singing as an act completely detached from the voice of the singer. To me this make sense.
I don't buy the popular notion (which is prevalent here) that "K.J. Yesudoss should stop singing in films, he has lost his voice". To me, even today, certain songs are enriched by his "singing". And I know of certain songs (though famous) that are let down because he didn't sing. And I rate few such singers as masterclass.
Whenever I hear MS (please don't mistake this for ridiculing her), I don't feel I am hearing a "masterful" singer.
Well, I can have my opinion :-)
Anand...you are surely entitled to your opinion.
But for me, she is wonderful and a God's given gift to mankind.
I bow to the Legend. Who can forget the rendering of "Bhaja Govindam", "Kaatrinile varum geetham" and "Kurai ondrum Illai".
I can listen to it a million times and I would still want more.
Anand - KJ is a master in his own right, but my advice, dont compare apples to oranges.
I guess, I have mislead you guys. Let me clarify on those!
I did not compare MS with KJ. KJ is one person who I rate as a masterful singer - across the globe. I wanted to know whether you guys rate MS in the same manner with respect to singing (minus the voice factor).
Also, I agree MS is a legend with respect to what she has offered the world in her life. I salute her.
Rags, I can hear the same songs of MS that you had mentioned (and some more) over and over again. I would like to have more of them too. All great singers will have at least a handful of masterful renditions. Won't they?
Well, if someone asks me why I feel KJ, Pink Floyd, Ilayaraja(to some extent) , Lata as legendary singers/musicians, I think I would do a job that would satisify at least me if not the questioner.
I always had doubts in my mind on why she is rated so highly for her singing abilities(esp. when she passed away, media went berserk). I wanted to ask a open group of intelligent people to see their views. So, I jumped on to the opportunity presented by this blog hoping that the discussion might open me up in terms of understanding her greatness as a singer in a better way.
May be God gave her the voice or may be her ancestors gave or more simply, nature and her hard work/discipline in tuning it gave her the voice.
May be she is not "singer" which is how I define KJ and hence "apples and oranges" came into picture!
I wanted to know why you guys rate her in legendary proportions as a singer. I didn't want advice without any reasoning behind....
Having said that, I wonder whether you rate her as a "legend" as human including all aspects that she offered to us. If that is the case, as I said before, she is a legend...and I salute her from my heart.
Amen!
Surely...... Her songs are full emotions.......Indeed was a Legend...
I think there will always be generalized statements like 'X is a legendary singer' and I think one has to listen to X on-and-on to understand why people praise X. I think it is pointless to join the praise-group without enjoying X's songs.
I think we have every right to question ourself before joining the fans bandwagon.
When I like some music, I try to listen to the same music again and again till I feel I have exhausted that album/song completely. I think, most of us like the complexity that is prevalent in things(read music) we come across in day-to-day life and we try to explore the complexity to the maximum-extent possible. This exploration gives one the 'kick' of having achieved something.
All Pink Floyd or Dire Straits or Led Zep songs never bore me, even if I am listening to them day-in day-out. These bands really have the fuel to 'go the distance'. Even the most remarkable A R Rahman song falls into the 'burn-out' category.
Guess, only songs which have soul and style can sustain for long time. Songs by 'led zep', 'pink floyd', 'dire straits', classical music(western or carnatic or hindustani) always will last long. Reason for classical music to be featured in this 'perennial-favourite' is that they have an enigma associated with them. It is not easily comprehensible and there lies the beauty of the song. So, most of us wont mind to listen to songs of such kind of again-and-again and still not be satisfied with our interpretion of that song. Every time you listen to the song, you will get a different understanding of that song.
Really enjoyed listening to Madurai TN Seshagopalan's rendition of 'kurinji .. nattai kurinji' raga/song. Infact I even enjoyed the song which ran in the 'kill bill 2' final credits, that song was in some Latino language(I guess Spanish) was composed by Robert Rodriguez.
source
MS was a legend and a beautiful person
She and her husband has done so much charity work, but never sought any publicity.
When she sang as Meera you feel you are listening to the real Meera and you feel the same emotion as her.
Thats what music is all about.
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