Written piece
Me and Music
Nirmala Subramaniam
Malaysia
About this piece
Singing has always been my love. But there have been hurdles. When a young woman appears in public, some men try to take advantage. But that was no reason for me to give up music altogether.
There was always the sound of classical music in our house when I was growing up. From the radio. In the evenings, the park nearby broadcast music through loudspeakers. Naturally, I was always singing and was elated to become the leader in the music class at school – unlike Geography class, which was boring and the master made me stand up on the chair.
When my formal learning of music began at ten, there was no stopping. I won medals, cups and cash in music competitions. I yearned to become a concert artist, and I was sent to my grandmother’s house in Madras from Bangalore, India. The maestro was sincere but expected too much. The result was, he became verbally and emotionally abusive. I went back to my loving parents’ house to pursue my studies.
I migrated to Kuala Lumpur after my marriage. Even here, singing in public attracted the wrong people. Now I compose songs happily.