She was the toast of Chennai, soulfully rendering the aalap of her signature piece in dhanyasi raga at the Margazhi 2022 concert to a packed audience. The Tamil month of Margazhi is melody season in the Carnatic music capital of the world, where rasikas flock to attend over 1,000 concerts held between all of December and part of January.
As the famous voice, beseeching and alluring, swims through the huge, half-dark space of the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium, even Lord Muruga would be moved to hear Sudha Ragunathan sing ‘Sivanukku ilaya seya sevvel silambane nee vaa…’ The musical diva of southern classical music dazzled audiences with compositions from Thaigaraja to Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri and GN Balasubramaniam.
Yet, doubting the traditionalist artiste’s yen for reinvention could be a mistake. It has been the Year of Sudha. In February, the Ministry of Culture appointed her to the prestigious Central Advisory Board on Culture. In June, she collaborated with Canadian Tamil-origin musician Abby V on a viral music reel, titled How Carnatic musicians order groceries—quite an outlier raga exercise for a virtuoso. In May, the Madras High Court gave her a win in a case filed by a music label.
The year’s feather in her cap is the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) Puraskar. “The SNA recognition is from the fraternity, so it is special,” Ragunathan says. For the past 30 years, she hasn’t missed a single Thaiagaraja aradhana, rendering Pancharatna Kritis at Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur along with her peers. Ragunathan’s repertoire is marked by shruti shuddham (pitch purity), flawless laya (rhythm) and highly creative manodharma (improvisations).
“Her vocal style is vibrant. I admire her ability to maintain energy levels effortlessly throughout her concerts. The instant rapport she strikes with the audience is inspiring,” gushes S Sowmya, Vice-chancellor, Tamil Nadu Dr J Jayalalithaa Music and Fine Arts University. Ragunathan gives credit for her achievements to her guru, the legendary musician ML Vasanthakumari (MLV). Along with DK Pattammal and MS Subbulakshmi, MLV makes the female trinity of Carnatic music.
“She carries forward MLV’s legacy, but has created a distinct ‘Sudha style’. She is always in command during her performance, and that control has zero arrogance,” raves Subashree Thanikachalam, creative head of Maximum Media. It is a given that shade is thrown in the creative world, but icons also get to enjoy fandom. “Ragunathan shines like a full moon, spreading joy and peace with her soulful music,” says Nandini Ramani, Bharatanatyam dancer and executive board member of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi.
Among the over 200 audio CDs she has released, which is Ragunathan’s favourite album? “All of them are interesting. But among the most challenging pieces is Dance of Shiva for which we had to find rare compositions in Tamil.” These projects were conceived and completed in the 90s, the early phase of Ragunathan’s career, which she refers to as “the golden phase of music recordings”.
She has had many golden moments; Ragunathan is the only other Indian classical musician who has performed at the United Nations after MS Subbulakshmi. She is happy that musicians today step across borders to create new content and add to the wide array of fusion music. “How we draw ideas from other artists to arrive at a new sound different from how it would have been usually rendered is exciting,” she exclaims.
Then there is the Sudha Ragunathan away from the arc lights. In 1999, with Mother Teresa as her role model, she started her own charitable organisation, Samudhaaya Foundation. “I’m always conscious of the need to give back to society,” she says.
At 66, Raghunathan can understand the eagerness of young musicians to ascend the stage. “Once
you decide to become a performer, the time you spend doing sadhana (meditation) and shaping the voice becomes less,” she cautions them. Her best advice to them is “take it slow”. She knows well that an aalap will eventually and ecstatically rise to a drut at the right point in the composition.