UNITED NATIONS: To commemorate the birth centenary of
legendary Carnatic music vocalist, Bharat Ratna
Awardee M.S.Subbulakshmi, Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai, is organizing a
grand musical tribute by Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman at the United Nations
General Assembly hall in New York on August
15, 2016, India’s
70th Independence
The gala musical evening also coincides with the completion
of 50 years of M.S.Subbulakshmi’s performance in the very same venue in 1966.
Subbulakshmi was the first Indian musician ever to be awarded Bharat Ratna, India’s
highest civilian honor conferred by the Government of India and also became the
first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award, often
considered Asia's Nobel Prize.
Subbulakshmi, the greatest Carnatic musician of the century,
was invited by the then United Nations Secretary General late U Thant and the
then Chef de Cabinet late C.V. Narasimhan to perform in the UN General Assembly
Hall, considered a great honor for India and the music world. She thus became
the first Indian to perform at the UN General Assembly.
She sang the everlasting benediction in Sanskrit
“Maithreem Bhajatha†especially composed by MahaPeriyava His Holiness Shri
Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swami of KanchiKamakotiPeetam in Tamil Nadu to
invoke world peace and that song brought her a standing ovation at the world
body.
India’s
first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had this to say about
Subbulakshmi- "Who am I, a mere Prime Minister before a Queen, a Queen of
Music". While LataMangeshkar called her a Tapaswini, Bade Ghulam
Ali Khan names her as Suswaralakshmi (the goddess of the perfect
note).India’s national leader and poet Sarojini Naidu called her the
Nightingale of India. Her many famous renditions of bhajans include
the chanting of BhajaGovindam, Vishnu Saharshranamam, Hari TumaHaro and
Venkateswara Suprapatham. The Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam that runs the
world-famous Venkateswara temple has erected a statue of her in Tirupathi town.
Sankara Nethralaya in its mission of paying international
tribute to Subbulakshmi is arranging a grand Carnatic music concert by Padma
Bhushan awardee Sudha Raghunathan, a leading Carnatic vocalist and
her troupe, also at the United Nations on October 2.
As a finale to the global celebrations, Sankara Nethralaya
is also organizing a musical concert featuring world renowned Indian-origin
composer Zubin Mehta, Anoushka Shankar and the New York Philharmonic
Orchestra at Lincoln Center in New
York City on November 5.
Dr. S.S. Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus of Sankara
Nethralaya, said as an organization for the society and by the
society -Sankara Nethralaya has been blessed with the support of numerous individuals
and organizations since its inception in 1978. One of the main patrons of
the hospital who supported the community efforts of Sankara Nethralaya,
was M. S. Subbulakshmi, he said.
“The centenary is being celebrated between September 16,
2015 to September 16, 2016 and we at Sankara Nethralaya would like to pay
our humbled tribute to MS, as she is affectionately called the world over,
and who epitomized the spirit of philanthropy,†Dr. Badrinath, one of the
leading ophthalmic surgeons of India,
said. “Our endeavor is to perpetuate the memory of not only one of
the greatest musicians India
had ever produced but that of a greatest soul who lived a life of
philanthropy and goodwill for all humanity.â€
Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, who helped organize
the UN events, said India
has produced some of the best musicians in the world and among them was
Subbulakshmi. She enhanced the prestige of the nation by singing at the UN
General Assembly in 1966, he said.
US-based Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust (SN
OM Trust) is also planning six concerts by Sudha Ragunathan in Atlanta,
Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Chicago and Washington DC during September 2016
under “Voice for Vision†musical series to raise funds for its charitable
activities.
Mr. S.V. Acharya, President of Sankara Nethralaya Om Trust in the US, said
the Trust is also seeking corporate sponsors on creating a Chair
for Music in the name of Dr. M. S. Subbulakshmi in one of the universities in
the United States; the Trust is also working
to raise sufficient funds to perform at least 3,000 free ophthalmic
surgeries in honor of Subbulakshmi at Sankara Nethralaya in India.
Sankara Nethralaya is a not -for - profit world class eye
institution based in Chennai and has been consistently rated as the number
one eye hospital in India
and the recognized as among the best managed charitable institutions in the
country. 50 percent of outpatient services and 35 percent of eye surgeries are
done totally free of cost to the poor and the less privileged sections of the
society.
Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust (SN OM Trust) is
a 501 c (3) nonprofit organization in the US and
will receive donations from the USA as it has done since
its inception in 1987.
