C. Lalitha, the younger of the noted Carnatic vocalists — Bombay sisters — died here on Tuesday. She is survived by her husband and former advocate general N.R. Chandran, and her elder sister C. Saroja.
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Though they were residents of Chennai for 60 years, the sisters in an interview to The Hindu had said that they retained the title Bombay sisters after, “Mouna Swamigal of Ambattur gave us that name as his blessing for our future success.”
The sisters had their initial lessons from vidwan H.A.S. Mani but shifted to Madras in 1958 when Saroja got a fellowship from the Central College of Music, Madras. Subsequently, Lalitha also got it.
They learnt from Musiri Subramania Iyer, who was the principal of the college, later from his disciple T.K. Govinda Rao for 45 years. They were given the Music Academy’s Sangita Kalanidhi award in 2010.