Radha Viswanathan

Radha Viswanathan
Born	Radha Sadasivam 1934 Gobichettypalayam,British India
Occupation	Carnatic vocalist
Years active	1939 – present

Radha Viswanathan (born 1934) is an Indian vocalist and former classical dancer. She has performed extensively with her mother, Bharat Ratna Carnatic vocalist M. S. Subbulakshmi,.

She is the eldest daughter of Thiagarajan Sadasivam and his first wife, Apithakuchambal (alias Parvathi). However, she was brought up by M. S. Subbulakshmi whom her father married after the passing away of Apithakuchambal from a scorpion sting.

Radha had her early training in music from T.R. Balasubramaniam, Ramnad Krishnan and Mayavaram Krishna Iyer. She began accompanying her mother on stage at age of 5. She combined this with intensive training in dance from Vazhavoor Ramiah Pillai (she was, in fact, his first disciple along with Anandhi Ramachandran, daughter of Kalki Krishnamurthy) and made a reputation for herself as a Bharatanatyam 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. She danced at Birla House before Mahatma Gandhi 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, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and K. V. Narayanaswamy and Padams from T. Brinda. They also had intensive training in Hindustani classical music from Siddheshwari Devi of Benares and Dilipkumar Roy.

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