Bombay Sisters

The Bombay sisters, C. Saroja (b. 7 December 1936) and C. Lalitha (b. 26 August 1938), are a Carnatic music singing duo. 

The sisters, Saroja and Lalita are a prominent duo, who are known for their balanced approach to concert presentation. Disciples of T K Govinda Rao, the Bombay sisters, as they're popularly known, have graced the Carnatic music stage with distinction. They are known for neat renditions of songs and competent handling of improvisations. They have a large number of cassettes and albums to their credit and have performed globally. Through their Muktambaram Trust the sisters have been promoting many young artists in a big way.

Early life

The Bombay Sisters, C. Saroja and C. Lalitha, were born in Trichur, Kerala to Mukthambal and N. Chidambaram Iyer. The sisters were brought up in Bombay. Saroja and Lalitha had their education in the S.I.E.S Matunga, passed their intermediate privately from Bhopal, M.P. and completed their graduation from Delhi University. They had their musical training with H. A. S. Mani, Musiri Subramania Iyer and T. K. Govinda Rao.

Concert Performances

As part of the trend of duo singing in Carnatic music, which started in the 1950s, with performers like Radha Jayalakshmi, and Soolamangalam Sisters, Bombay Sisters have been singing since 1963 when they started with light classical music, subsequently progressing to classical Carnatic music. They sing in multiple languages including Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Marathi. They are also known for promoting young musicians through endowments and scholarships.

The Resonance of the Two

For only the second time in its eight-decade history, the Madras Music Academy has awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidhi title this year jointly to a pair of performers: C. Saroja and C. Lalitha, singers of great poise and classicism, who appear on their billings as the Bombay Sisters. In 2002, another set of sisters, Sikkil Neela and Sikkil Kunjumani, became the first to win the award together. As in Hindustani music, pairs of performers—very often siblings—are common in Carnatic music, so the fact that no such pair won the award for its first 73 years hints at the Academy’s odd reluctance to honour double acts jointly.

Only by dint of a spot of charming blackmail did the Alathur Brothers, stentorian-voiced singers, avoid a similar situation. The Alathur Brothers were not really related; Srinivasa Iyer and Sivasubramania Iyer both learnt their music from the latter’s father, Alathur Venkatesa Iyer, and thus started performing together. In 1964, the Academy named Sivasubramania Iyer its Sangeetha Kalanidhi.

This was a dilemma. Refusing the title would have involved insulting the Academy, but accepting it alone was difficult for a man who had practically grown up with his partner in song. Sivasubramania found a way out. He extricated from the Academy a promise that it would confer the award upon Srinivasa the next year. Happily, the Academy stuck to that promise; sadly, Sivasubramania did not live to see it, having died that very year.

At first blush, the notion of a double act in Carnatic music struck me as strange. This was not, after all, the same as a band performing together, each member playing a different instrument, adding a different layer of sound. When they sing a song, Carnatic pairs can do so with such perfect fidelity that each vocalist mirrors the other’s inflections, and two voices begin to sound like one. When they improvise on a raga, the singers alternate between themselves. My initial thought, therefore, was a naïve and rather unkind one: If both singers are really good enough to be on a concert stage, why don’t they just perform solo?

It took some active listening—mostly in concerts by the Malladi Brothers, who form my favourite performing pair today—to work out for myself the merits of Carnatic double acts. Their fidelity within a song is a demonstration of the strength of a bani—of the singers’ particular school of music, which can tweak a song subtly but palpably. In improvising, the best vocalist pairs visibly draw inspiration from each other, each goading the other to new creative heights.

The most electric moments come when a vocalist has successfully thrilled even her own colleague, each appearing to sing exclusively for the other, while we sit in as privileged witnesses to this musical dialogue.

Awards

• 2020-Padmashri
• Isai Peraringar Award, 2006; awarded by the Tamil Isai Sangam
• Sangeetha Kala Shikhamani, 2006 awarded by The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai
• Kalaimamani for contributions to Carnatic music - Government of Tamilnadu .
• First women to be conferred the status of Asthana Vidushi by the Kanchi matha.
• Sangeetha Kalanidhi Award for the year 2010 from the Madras Music Academy.
• Sangeetha Choodamani Award for the year 1991 from the Sri Krishna Gana Sabha.
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year 2004 - Government of India
• S V Narayanaswamy Rao Award 2018, awarded by the Sree Rama Seva Mandali, Bangalore
• Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer Memorial Award 2013
• Sangeetha Kala Nipuna awarded by Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Madras in 1994
• MS Subbulakshmi Award 2019, awarded by the Government of Tamilnadu