New Book on M.S.Subbulakshmi
By KutcheriBuzz Staff / Chennai

The Governor of Tamil Nadu, P.S. Ramamohan Rao released a book on legendary vocalist M. S. Subbulakshmi on December 8, at Raj Bhavan in Madras.

The book titled 'Kunjamma...Ode to a nightingale' has been written by dancer Lakshmi Viswanathan. The first copy of the book was received by N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu newspaper. Following the release function, young Carnatic vocalist Shubhashree Ramachandran presented a music concert featuring some of MS's popular songs.

The colonial bungalow was an ideal setting for a warm event. MS of course, who lives in Kotturpuram, a couple of kilometres away, was not present. She has kept away from public events ever since her husband Sadasivam passed away.

For Lakshmi Viswanathan, the book is a kind of personal tribute to a person she and her family have known for ages. She says it took her two years to put it together - sourcing vintage pictures from the archives of The Hindu and Kalki and from MS' personal collection, reading up background material and going over the nuggets of personal information that MS herself had shared during the countless meetings at MS residence.

The book has been printed and produced in Singapore by Roli Books, a Delhi-based publisher. It is glossy and has lots of pictures.

It is distributed by East-West and is now available on sale at leading bookshops like Landmark (Nungambakkam and Spencers Plaza), Odyssey in Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Fountainhead in Mylapore and Karnatic Music Shop in Royapettah.

It is priced at Rs.495 and the first 100 copies were sold on day one.