South India's Nightingale S Janaki Passes Away; State Funeral in Mysuru Today

Thiruvananthapuram: The music world bids farewell to S Janaki, the legendary singer known as the Nightingale of South India. A public viewing will begin at 9.30 am today at Maharajas College Ground in Mysuru, with the funeral to be held with full state honours at Kaniyanahunda Farm House in the evening. The last rites will be performed by her granddaughter Apsara. S Janaki passed away last night while undergoing treatment at Apollo BGS Hospital. Her family said every corner of the country had been home to her, and conveyed gratitude to all her fans and lovers of her music across the world.

S Janaki, born on April 23, 1938, went on to become an irreplaceable voice in South Indian music for six decades. She sang close to 50,000 songs across 17 languages — including Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, English, Japanese, Arabic, German and Sinhala — with Kannada and Malayalam accounting for the largest share of her output. Many luminaries in the field of music described her as a miracle of the art.

In Malayalam alone, she gave voice to around 1,200 songs. Evergreen classics such as Thumbi Vaa Thumbakudam, Aadi Vaa Kaatte, Kiliye Kiliye, Thenum Vayambum, Natha Nee Varum and En Jeevane are among the finest songs in the history of Malayalam film music, all of them bearing the unmistakable imprint of Janaki's voice.