M S Subbulakshmi at Festival of India, London, 1982

Nādabhṛṅga brings you a rare archival video recording of renowned doyenne Smt. M S Subbulakshmi, who was invited to perform the inaugural concert at the Festival of India, a showcase of India's rich cultural and artistic heritage, at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, in 1982. This is a recording of the special television report of the event. We are thankful to Sri V Shrinivasan, grandson of Smt. Subbulakshmi for providing us with this recording.

M S Subbulakshmi
Radha Viswanathan - Vocal Support
Kandadevi S Alagiriswamy - Violin
Guruvayur Dorai - Mridangam
G Harishankar - Kanjira
T H Vinayakaram - Ghatam
Jean Paul & K R Atmanathan - Tambura

Programme details:

News announcement [00:00]
British Premier Mrs. Margaret Thatcher arrives [00:42]
Indian Premier Mrs. Indira Gandhi arrives [01:12]
H R H The Prince of Wales arrives [02:06]
The opening festivities [02:44]
The artistes ascend the dais [04:56]
Smt. Subbulakshmi ascends the dais [05:32]

The concert programme:

1. oṃ namaḥ praṇavārthāya (Invocatory śloka - selection from "śrī dakṣiṇāmūrti stotram") - ādi śaṅkarācārya [06:50]
2. baṇṭurīti koluvu - haṃsanādam - ādi - tyāgarāja [08:51]
3. akṣayaliṅga vibho - śaṅkarābharaṇa - miśra cāpu - muddusvāmi dīkṣita [15:58]
4. tani āvartana [41:30]
5. hari tum haro (bhajan) - mīrābāi [48:13]

Nādabhṛṅga consists of a consortium of enthusiasts and collectors of Indian Classical Music who are intent on sharing good quality recordings of the erstwhile Masters from a compendium of archival recordings, carefully collected over several decades. The music we share here will hopefully serve as an archival source for current and future generations of musicians, students, aficionados and connoisseurs. In case of any copyright disputes, kindly contact us and we will remove the video. Nādabhṛṅga is NOT a monetized channel. Any ads that do feature here are due to third party copyright claims, which are unavoidable.