Sheik Mahaboob Subhani. File
| Photo Credit: M. Srinath
Nadaswaram exponent Sheik Mahaboob Subhani, who along with his wife Kaleeshabi Mahboob received the Padma Shri award in 2020, passed away after a brief illness at Srirangam on Wednesday. He was 71 and is survived by his wife and three children.Representing the eighth generation of a family of nadaswaram vidwans, Sheik Mahaboob was originally from Peda Kothapalli village in Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh. He learned to play the nadaswaram from his grandfather and Andhra Pradesh State Government awardee Janab Sheik Chinna Peer Sahib, and later his father, Sheik Meera Sahib, from the age of seven.However, due to financial constraints, he became an office worker in a tobacco factory to support his family. His marriage to Kaleeshabi, his first cousin, from the nearby village of Cherukapadu, led him back to the family’s musical legacy.Mahaboob used to attend Kaleeshabi’s concerts in their village as a spectator, not knowing that she would be his life partner one day. Marriage offered Kaleeshabi a way out of parental objections to her choice of profession, even though Mahaboob was a newcomer to the concert circuit.In an earlier interview with The Hindu, the maestro had said, ““When we got married, my skill with the nadaswaram was almost nil, because I lacked practice. I asked Kaleeshabi for a year to relearn the instrument, enough at least to support her in concerts.”Their first concert in Tamil Nadu was held in Dindigul in 1976, before their marriage, for which Kaleeshabi trained Mahaboob for a month.The duo trained under Sheik John Sahib and underwent vocal and instrumental music lessons from K. Chandramouli (principal of Government Sarada Sangeetha Kalasala in Kurnool) and nadaswaram exponent Sheik Chinna Moulana in Srirangam, among other teachers.They shifted permanently to Srirangam in the 1980s, where Mahaboob and Kaleeshabi learned under the tutelage of Sheik Chinna Moulana for 10 years, and became well-known exponents of the Thanjavur style of Carnatic music.Family sources said that Sheik Mahaboob Subhani’s funeral would be held in Srirangam on Thursday. Published - March 04, 2026 06:07 pm IST
