Radha (of Radha Jayalakshmi Duo)

Radha (of Radha Jayalakshmi Duo) Biography

Radha was a leading Carnatic music vocalist as well as music teacher in the early half of 1900s. She along with Jayalakshmi formed the famous duo Carnatic singers of 20^th century, Radha Jayalakshmi. The duo together performed in many Carnatic concerts of first half of 1900s, and later worked as music teachers. Jayalakshmi worked in films as a playback singer, yet her name was credited as Radha Jayalakshmi, and she sang many memorable songs in the 1940s and 1950s. Radha sang aside Jayalakshmi for one film, Thiruchendooril Por Purindhu for the movie Deivam.

Radha and Jayalakshmi were cousins who performed together for Carnatic music concerts. In fact they began the trend of performing sisters in the 20^th century, and many female singers followed the same suit. They were honoured with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Carnatic Music – Vocal by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1981.

The cousin sisters took formal learning in Carnatic music from G. N. Balasubramaniam school, where they directly learnt from their guru G. N. Balasubramaniam. After that they started performing together for concerts, and turned to be a trendsetter. Many south Indian vocalists followed the same trend; Bombay Sisters, Soolamangalam Sisters, Sickle Sisters, Ranjani-Gayatri, Priya Sisters and a few more.

Radha did playback singing for just one movie, Deivam composed by Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan. The song, Thiruchendooril Por Purindhu is perhaps the only song recorded in the voice of Radha. Towards the end of her life, she departed from music concerts and then worked as a teacher teaching music for students. Shanmukhapriya and Haripriya, popularly known as the Priya Sisters, were their students. Jayalakshmi left her in 2014.

Published: July 23, 2018

Updated: July 23, 2018