MS Subbulakshmi | Live at Srinivasa Perumal Temple, Singapore, 7.2.1979 | 109th Birthday Special

On the evening of 7 February 1979, the city of Singapore held its breath. At the hallowed Srinivasa Perumal Temple, lamps flickered against the carved gopuram, their light mingling with the scent of camphor and freshly strung jasmine. Devotees gathered in hushed anticipation, their hearts tuned to one name — MS Subbulakshmi.

That night, the temple did not merely host a concert; it bore witness to history. At sixty three years of age, MS stood radiant, her voice tempered by decades of devotion, discipline, and divine grace. She began with an invocation to Perumal, a gesture both reverent and intimate — a salutation not only to the presiding deity of the temple, but to the spirit of the venue itself. The hall filled with stillness, as if the God being invoked had indeed descended to listen.

What followed was a procession of ragas and bhakti, unfolding with the poise of someone who had lived with music for a lifetime. Thodi emerged, vast and tender, every gamaka steeped in maturity. Shankarabharanam gleamed like a river in moonlight — expansive, majestic, and touched with the radiance that had long become synonymous with her art. Each phrase bore the weight of memory, of years where voice and raga had grown inseparable.

Her trusted accompanists, who had stood beside her for decades, wove a tapestry around her music. Their experience mirrored hers; every bow stroke, every Mridangam beat, every sollu on the Khanjira and the Ghatam seemed to anticipate her next breath. Together, they created communion.

After the thani avartanam, the concert blossomed into a series of bhajans and tukdas, intimate offerings that carried the audience closer to the divine. Familiar favorites sparked applause after applause — not just polite appreciation, but the unguarded joy of listeners caught in rapture.

This was not simply a recital; it was a spiritual journey. A night where the voice of MS Subbulakshmi became both prayer and answer, where the stones of Srinivasa Perumal Temple themselves seemed to vibrate with her music.

We are honoured to share this archival recording on the occasion of MS Amma’s 109th birthday. Preserved from its original spool, it offers a listening experience as close as possible to that evening in 1979, when Singapore was blessed with her presence. Decades may have passed, but the music remains timeless — a living, breathing invocation.

Vocal: MS Subbulakshmi
Vocal Support: Radha Viswanathan & Vijaya Rajendran
Violin: Kandadevi Alagiriswamy
Mridangam: TK Murthy
Khanjira: V Nagarajan
Ghatam: TH Vinayakram

00:00:00 - Invocation
00:02:00 - Hamsadhwani - Vinayaka Vigna Vinashaka - Adi - Ra Ganapathi
00:09:23 - Khamas - Brochevarevarura - Adi - Mysore Vasudevachar
00:17:47 - Abhogi - Alapana
00:25:47 - Abhogi - Sabhapathiku - Adi - Gopalakrishna Bharati
00:32:24 - Abheri - Veenabheri - Adi - Muthuswamy Dikshitar
00:35:05 - Thodi - Alapana
00:48:49 - Thodi - Dhasharathe - Adi - Tyagaraja
01:10:16 - Tani Avarthanam - Adi
01:31:17 - Chintamani - Devi Brova Samayamide - Adi - Shyama Sastri
01:39:42 - Suddha Saveri - Siraiyarum Madakiliye (Thevaram) - Sambandar
01:44:00 - Shankarabharanam - Ragam
02:03:12 - Shankarabharanam - Thanam
02:08:30 - Shankarabharanam - Pallavi - Dasharathe Karuna Payonidhe, Inakula Thilaka - Adi (4 Kalai)
02:20:32 - Salakabhairavi - Thunga Theera Virajam - Kamalesha Vitthala Dasa
02:25:04 - Maand - Valli Kanavan - Adi - Kavadi Chindu
02:27:18 - Ragamalika - Yamuna Kalyani, Purya Dhanashree, Nadanamakriya, Kapi, Senchurutti - Bhaja Govindam - Adi - Adi Shankara
02:34:45 - Jhinjhuti - Hey Govind (Bhajan) - Indra Devi
02:38:55 - Paga Ghungroo (Bhajan) - Meera
02:42:27 - Senchurutti - Bhaktharai Panivargal
02:44:56 - Kapi - Jagadodharana - Adi - Purandara Dasa
02:50:50 - Kapi - Raghupathi Raghava (Bhajan) - Disputed composer
02:57:27 - Misra Yaman - Maithreem Bhajatha - Chandrasekharendra Saraswati
02:59:41 - Sourashtram - Ni Nama Rupamulaku (Mangalam) - Adi - Tyagaraja

Through this initiative we aim to archive concerts by various artists and bring to our viewers the experience of listening to complete concerts. These concerts are carefully chosen from Vaak's archives and cleaned up for the best listening experience.

The purpose of this upload is to assist the students and the lifelong learners of India in their pursuit of an education so that they may better their status and their opportunities and to secure for themselves and for others justice, social, economic and political. This has been posted for non-commercial purposes and facilitates fair dealing usage of academic and research materials for private use including research, for criticism and review of the work or of other works and reproduction by teachers and students in the course of instruction. Many of these materials are either unavailable or inaccessible in libraries in India, especially in some of the poorer states and this collection seeks to fill a major gap that exists in access to knowledge.