SUBULUXMI NAIDOO Diwali 1989

SUBBULUXMI NAIDOO
Dhanalutchmi Nepaul popularly known as Subbuluxmi Naidoo was a cultural icon in the community. She hails from a highly respected Andhra family and was born in 1932 in Seaview, Durban.
Subbuluxmi started her singing at a young age and was inspired by her mother’s desire for her to take up singing. She was nurtured in a family with a strong religious background and was gifted with a rich timbre and melodic voice. Her support and influence came from Swami Nishalananda, a Rama Bhaktha, Sri Surianaraina and Sri A.M Naidoo of Tongaat. Young Subbuluxmi was a regular at the Andhra Eisteddfods and won many medals for song and dance. In 1949 at the age of 17, she recorded 6 original songs for the Shalimar recording label after which her popularity grew to the masses. This reached the ears of Madhanjith Nepaul, a musician and cultural activist who convinced her to join his music group called the Linghum Orchestra.
She later married Madhanjith Nepaul and together they became a duo that was well known for their cultural activities. There was initially resistance from her family as coming from a staunch Andhra family and marring into a Hindi speaking family was not encouraged in her days. But music was the foundation that their relationship was based on and language was not going to be a barrier to them. Her four children are Thilagavathy, Sungeeta, Deshni and their only son Tansen Nepaul. Subbuluxmi and Madhanjith took great pride in supporting Tansen’s illustrious music career and knew that they were raising a son that would make a great difference to South African Indian music. Subbuluxmi was the lead singer in the Linghum Orchestra, a group that ran for 50 years managed by Madhanjih. Subbuluxmi later took to learning Carnatic music under S. Nundha and later Rennie Pillay. She also played a crucial role in training youth for the Andhra Eisteddfods.
Subbuluxmi was proud of her new daughter in law, Umita Kalyan, and imparted some of her Telegu songs to her, which Madhanjith really enjoyed listening to. She encouraged Umita to propagate the Gujrati language in the form of music as she had the ability and support to do it. Both Subbuluxmi and Madhanjith were confident that Tansen and Umita would follow in their path and continue their legacy.
Madhanjith and Subbuluxmi were the first Husband and Wife team to receive the Indian Academy’s Tygaraja Music Award in May 2006 at the Playhouse in Durban. Madhanjith passed on in the same year in November 2006 after which Subbuluxmi’s health also took a turn for the worse. She passed on just 10 months later in October 2007.
Subbuluxmi may be no more but her voice will not be forgotten as her songs are still played on radio till this day.
(Extracts taken from writings of Dr T.P Naidoo)