Carnatic vocalist Sudha Ragunathan will perform at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on October 2, where she will pay a musical homage to M.S. Subbulakshmi on her birth centenary. The concert will commemorate the legendary Carnatic singer’s UN Day concert, performed at the same venue in 1966.
“It is not an honour, or a privilege… it is much more than that. I will be singing compositions popularised by M.S. Amma. There will also be a piece dedicated to non-violence to suit the day, which is the International Day for World Peace. It is likely to be a medley of songs in many languages,” said Ms. Ragunathan at a press meet at the Sankara Nethralaya.
This concert and six others in various cities in the U.S. and a performance by Zubin Mehta and Anoushka Shankar, accompanied by the New York Philharmonic orchestra on November 5 at the Lincoln Centre, New York, are part of Sankara Nethralaya’s efforts to pay tribute to the Carnatic legend.
It will also be a fund raising effort to pay for 3,000 free cataract surgeries organised by Sankara Nethralaya, India and Sankara Nethralaya Om Trust, USA.
Recalling her interactions with M.S., Ms Raghunatha said she had met her half a dozen times. “But the one instance that remains fresh in my memory is meeting M.S. Amma and Sadhasivam Mama at the inauguration of the annual dolls exhibition at Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan on Mount Road. I sang the invocation and M.S. Amma gave me the first doll. Then the organisers asked her to sing a song. On that day nobody else had accompanied her and she asked me if I knew Kurai Ondrum Illai . I said yes and we sang together. It might have been a small incident but it has stayed in my heart,” she recalled.
Ms. Ragunathan will also perform across the U.S. On September 3, the concert will be held at the Hindu Temple of Atlanta, on Sept. 5 at the Cabrillo High Auditorium, Long Beach, Los Angeles, on Sept. 10 at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, Lemont, on Sept 11 at the Unity Church of Dallas, on Sept. 17 at the Asia Society Texas Centre in Houston and finally on Sept. 18 at the Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Washington.
Sankara Nethralaya Director (Administration) Akila Ganesan said M.S. and her husband Sadasivam had helped in raising funds for the institution.
