Radha Viswanathan (11 December 1934 – 2 January 2018) was an Indian vocalist and classical dancer. She performed extensively with her mother,

Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ''Jewel of India'') is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distinctio ...

Carnatic vocalist

M. S. Subbulakshmi Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004) was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. She is ...

Early life and career

Born on 11 December 1934 in Gobichettypalayam, she was the eldest daughter of Thiagarajan Sadasivam and his first wife, Apithakuchambal (alias Parvathi). However, she was brought up by

whom her father married after the death of Apithakuchambal in 1938. Radha had her early training in music from T. R. Balasubramaniam,

Ramnad Krishnan Ramnad Krishnan (14 September 1918 – 29 January 1973) was a vocalist in the Carnatic music, Carnatic tradition. Krishnan did his schooling in Ramnad in Madras Presidency. His elder brother Prof. V Lakshminarayana took him to C. S. Sankarasivam ...

and

Mayavaram Krishna Iyer Mayiladuthurai (formerly known as Mayavaram or Mayuram) is a town and district headquarter of Mayiladuthurai district in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located at a distance of from the state capital, Chennai. Mayiladuthurai was ruled by Mediev ...

. She began accompanying M S Subbulakshmi on stage aged five. She combined this with intensive training in dance from Vazhavoor Ramiah Pillai (she was his first disciple along with Anandhi Ramachandran, daughter of

Kalki Krishnamurthy , birth_name = Ramasamy Aiyer Krishnamurthy , birth_date = , birth_place = Puthamangalam, near Manalmedu , death_date = , death_place = Chennai, India , occupation = journalist, critic and writer , nationality = Indian , education = H ...

) and made a reputation for herself as a

Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

dancer, making her arangetram (debut) in 1945. Radha and Anandhi would perform while M. S. sang Padams. Radha also performed an exclusive dance recital at the Carnatic Music College, Madras, for the violinist

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

. She danced at

Birla House Birla may refer to: * Birla family * Members of the Birla family: ** Aditya Vikram Birla ** Ananya Birla ** Basant Kumar Birla ** G. D. Birla ** K. K. Birla ** C. K. Birla ** Kumar Mangalam Birla See also * Burla (disambiguation) Burla may refer ...

before

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

for a Meera Bhajan - "Ghanashyam Aayaari" with M.S. singing for her. At the age of 21, Radha gave up dancing to concentrate exclusively on singing. Radha was to soon become a vital force in MS concerts. M.S. and Radha jointly learnt Kritis from

Musiri Subramania Iyer Musiri Subramania Iyer (9 April 1899 – 25 March 1975) was a Carnatic vocalist whose stage performing career spanned the 1920s to the 1940s. After retirement from the stage, he remained an iconic figure in Carnatic music as a dedicated teache ...

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Semmangudi Radhakrishna Srinivasa Iyer (25 July 1908 – 31 October 2003) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist. He was the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in 1947, a distinction he holds to this day a ...

and K. V. Narayanaswamy and Padams from T. Brinda. They also had intensive training in

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, si ...

from

Siddheshwari Devi Siddheswari Devi (1908 – 18 March 1977) was a legendary Hindustani singer from Varanasi, India, known as ''Maa'' (mother). Born in 1908, she lost her parents early and was brought up by her aunt, the noted singer Rajeshwari Devi. Initiation ...

Benares Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic tra ...

and

Dilipkumar Roy Dilip Kumar Roy (22 January 1897 – 6 January 1980), also spelt Dilipkumar Roy, was an Indian musician, singer, musicologist, novelist, poet, essayist and yogi. He was the son of Dwijendralal Ray (or Roy). In 1965, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, In ...

. When she was six years old, Radha made her debut in films as Bharata in ''Shakunthala'' and as "Baby Meera" in ''

Meera Meera, better known as Mirabai and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. Mirabai was born into a Rathore ...

'', which was directed by Ellis R. Dungan and produced by her father T. Sadasivam's company Chandraprabha Cinetones. In ''Meera'' she danced with

Kumari Kamala Kumari Kamala (born 16 June 1934) is an Indian dancer and actress (also known as Kamala Lakshman). Initially featured as a child dancer, Kamala appeared in almost 100 Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films throughout her career. In the 1970s, she ...

who acted as Krishna. ''Meera'' was made in both Tamil and Hindi with the premiere of the latter version in 1947, being inaugurated by Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

himself.

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

and Lady Mountbatten,

Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, Indian independence activist, journalist & scholar who served as the first president of Republic of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian Nationa ...

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (''née'' Swarup Nehru; 18 August 1900 – 1 December 1990) was an Indian diplomat and politician who was the 6th Governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964 and 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 19 ...

and Indira Gandhi attended the premiere as well. Radha accompanied M S Subbulakshmi on her frequent concert tours and recording engagements. M.S. had no disciples other than Radha. Both of them performed all over India and the world including the US, Europe, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. In 1966, they toured Europe and embarked on a coast to coast tour of the US, becoming some of the first vocalists of Carnatic music to perform in the US and Europe. During this tour, they performed a concert at the United Nations in October 1966. They sang a song composed specially for the occasion by the Paramacharya of Kanchi, "Maithreem Bhajatha". The ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'' greeted their singing as "a series of miracles." The reviewer exclaimed: "Subbulakshmi’s elaborate vocal filigree sometimes sung in unison or octaves with her daughter Radha Viswanathan were unbelievable in their poised ease and constancy of flow..." M.S. and Radha Viswanathan recorded many songs together. The "Venkateswara Suprabatham" and the "Vishnu Sahasranamam" were practiced for six months in front of Vedic scholars including Agnihotram Thathachariar and Swami Ranganathananda of Sri Ramakrishna Mutt. The Annamacharya recordings were released in 1980. They were a series of five records called the "Balaji Pancharatnamala" that included classical and devotional music. The royalties from these recordings were donated to various charities. In 1975, when M.S. won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in the Philippines, both of them sang at the Malacañan Palace. In 1977 during their second tour of the US, they performed at Carnegie Hall. During

Maha Shivaratri Maha Shivaratri ( IAST: Mahāśivarātri) is a Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god Shiva. The name also refers to the night when Shiva performs the heavenly dance called Tandava. In every month of the luni-solar Hindu ...

, they performed in front of the Paramcharya of Kanchi with just a tambura for accompaniment as he performed the pujas. In 1982, at the Festival of India held in the United Kingdom, M.S & Radha performed at the Royal Albert Hall. This program was attended among others by Prince Charles, the Prime Minister of Great Britain,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi,

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North In ...

, V.K. Narayana Menon (Chairman of

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and ...

) and

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the fou ...

. In April 1982 Radha fell critically ill with tuberculosis meningitis and slipped into a coma for three months. Although she survived, her recovery was slow. All of her concerts scheduled for the next year were cancelled by her father and no new ones were accepted. Radha finally sang again on 12 March 1983 at M.S.'s benefit concert for the Houston Meenakshi Temple held at the Music Academy, Chennai. For the next 10 years she accompanied M S Subbulakshmi for concerts, although the number was reduced, as age was catching up with M.S. and Thiagarajan Sadasivam. However, once again Radha's health deteriorated in 1992 and she had to completely stop accompanying M.S. On 16 September 2007, Radha performed in concert for the first time in 15 years to celebrate M.S. Subbulakshmi's 91st birthday. Using a wheelchair, she was accompanied by her granddaughter Aishwarya. After this concert at Narada Gana Sabha, the pair sang together in more than 20 concerts, including some in the US. Radha was honoured with the title "Sangeetha Ratna" by Lalithakala Academy in March 2008. In April 2010 she was awarded the citation "Kala Chandrika" by the Cleveland Aradhana Committee for her outstanding services to the cause of Carnatic music. Radha's disciples are her Granddaughters S.Aishwarya and S.Saundarya who now carry forward the MS legacy, Anuradha (daughter of the K.V. Narayanaswamy), Sikkil Gurucharan (ref SG'S homepage), Mahesh Vinayakaram (son of the Ghatam Maestro – Vikku Vinayakram), Navaneet Krishnan, P.T Seshadri, Balaji Shankar (disciple of the late D K Jayaraman) and the playback singer

Harini Harini may refer to: * Harini (singer), South Indian film playback singer * Harini (Kannada actress) Harini is a former actress in the Kannada cinema. She was active during the 1950s and 1960s, retiring at the peak of her career. As of 2006 sh ...

Personal life

Radha was the wife of Guruswamy Viswanathan and has two sonsV Chandrasekhar and V Shrinivasan and one specially abled daughter Subbulakshmi Viswanathan. The eldest son Chandrasekhar is married to flautist Sikkil Mala, daughter of flautist Sikkil Neela. Their second son, Shrinivasan Viswanathan and his wife Geetha are parents of S. Aishwarya and S. Saundarya who are extremely popular musicians. Shrinivasan is the Managing Trustee of the "Suswaralakshmi Foundation for Classical Music and Performing Arts". She died in Bangalore on 2 January 2018, aged 83. Radha's daughter Subbulakshmi Viswanathan passed away on May 7th 2021 at Bengaluru due to Covid related complications. She was 50 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viswanathan, Radha 1934 births 2018 deaths Women Carnatic singers Carnatic singers Indian women classical singers 20th-century Indian singers People from Gobichettipalayam 20th-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers Women musicians from Tamil Nadu