CLASSICAL MUSIC {KEERTHANAM}BY MS SUBBUALAKSHMI

Keerthana (Kannada: ಕೀರ್ತನೆ; Marathi: कीर्तन; Bengali: কীর্তন; Punjabi: ਕੀਰਤਨ; Hindi: कीर्तन; Telugu: కీర్తన; Tamil: கீர்த்தனை; Sanskrit : Keerthana; Sanskrit for "praise; eulogy"; also Sankeertana) is call-and-response chanting performed in India's bhakthi devotional traditions. A person performing keerthana is known as a kirtankara or, colloquially, a "kirtaneera". Kirtana practice involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium,tablas, the two-headed mrudunga or pakhawaj drum and hand cymbals.

                                         MS SUBBULAKSHMI

Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. She is the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award, often considered Asia's Nobel Prize, in 1974 with the citation reading "Exacting purists acknowledge Srimati M. S. Subbulakshmi as the leading exponent of classical and semi-classical songs in the Karnataka tradition of South India.