<p>Congress president Sonia Gandhi has condoled the demise of celebrated playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam and hailed him as the "singing moon" who shed his special radiance over the country.</p>.<p>The versatile singer, actor and music composer was laid to rest at his farmhouse near Chennai on Saturday with a 24-gun salute by the Tamil Nadu Police.</p>.<p>In a letter to his son S P B Charan, Gandhi said she was deeply saddened by the death of Balasubrahmanyam, "who so bravely fought the cruel Covid-19 virus for over six weeks before succumbing to it".</p>.<p>Gandhi said Balasubrahmanyam was a shining symbol of India's rich musical and linguistic culture, singing with equal melodious and emotional power in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.</p>.<p>He brought joy and solace to millions of his fans, and the artistic and cultural world is much poorer and darker for his loss, the Congress chief said.</p>.<p>"He was indeed the Paadum Nila -- the Singing Moon -- who shed his special radiance over our country," Gandhi said in the letter.</p>.<p>Balasubrahmanyam, who held sway over millions of fans with his golden voice rendering a record 40,000 plus songs over five decades, died on Friday at a hospital in Chennai, plunging music lovers in grief.</p>.<p>After waging 52 days of grim battle for life following Covid-19 infection, the 74-year old singer suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest and the end came in the afternoon, a day after his condition turned extremely critical.</p>.<p>A six-time national award winner, Balasubrahmanyam was honoured with Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2011. </p>
<p>Congress president Sonia Gandhi has condoled the demise of celebrated playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam and hailed him as the "singing moon" who shed his special radiance over the country.</p>.<p>The versatile singer, actor and music composer was laid to rest at his farmhouse near Chennai on Saturday with a 24-gun salute by the Tamil Nadu Police.</p>.<p>In a letter to his son S P B Charan, Gandhi said she was deeply saddened by the death of Balasubrahmanyam, "who so bravely fought the cruel Covid-19 virus for over six weeks before succumbing to it".</p>.<p>Gandhi said Balasubrahmanyam was a shining symbol of India's rich musical and linguistic culture, singing with equal melodious and emotional power in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.</p>.<p>He brought joy and solace to millions of his fans, and the artistic and cultural world is much poorer and darker for his loss, the Congress chief said.</p>.<p>"He was indeed the Paadum Nila -- the Singing Moon -- who shed his special radiance over our country," Gandhi said in the letter.</p>.<p>Balasubrahmanyam, who held sway over millions of fans with his golden voice rendering a record 40,000 plus songs over five decades, died on Friday at a hospital in Chennai, plunging music lovers in grief.</p>.<p>After waging 52 days of grim battle for life following Covid-19 infection, the 74-year old singer suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest and the end came in the afternoon, a day after his condition turned extremely critical.</p>.<p>A six-time national award winner, Balasubrahmanyam was honoured with Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2011. </p>