Lalitha Sivakumar

Who is Lalitha Sivakumar?

Lalitha Sivakumar is a prominent Carnatic music teacher and composer. She was known for vocally accompanying her mother-in-law and leading Carnatic vocalist, the late D. K. Pattammal, in concerts,. Lalitha Sivakumar is also prominently known as the mother and guru of Nithyashree Mahadevan, a prominent vocalist in Indian music.

Lalitha Sivakumar's father, Palghat Mani Iyer, was one of the leading mridangists in the field of Carnatic music, and was the first mridangist to win the Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Padmabhushan awards. At the age of 18, Lalitha Sivakumar was married to I. Sivakumar, son of D. K. Pattammal. The day after the wedding, she received received training in Carnatic music from D. K. Pattammal. Shortly thereafter, both as a solo performer and as a musician accompanying D. K. Pattammal, she received praise from several other leading Carnatic vocalists including D. K. Jayaraman, K. V. Narayanaswamy and M. S. Subbulakshmi. However, her career as a solo performer was brief, and she remained content vocally accompanying her guru.

Lalitha Sivakumar has composed, and set music to a number of kritis, tillanas, and bhajans, in a variety of Indian languages.

Other than Nithyasree Mahadevan, Lalitha Sivakumar's disciples also include Lavanya Sundararaman, Maharajapuram Srinivasan, Niranjana Srinivasan, Pallavi Prasanna, Nalini Krishnan and others.