Aruna Sairam
Aruna Sairam in 2013
Born	(1952-10-30)30 October 1952 (age 73)[1] Mumbai,Maharashtra, India
Occupation(s)	Vice-chairman ofSangeet Natak Academy, vocalist
Honours	Kalaimamani (2006) Sangeetha Choodamani (2006) Padma Shri (2009) U.S Congress Proclamation Award (2008) Sangeetha Kalasarathy (2014) Sangita Kalanidhi (2018)
Musical career
Genres	Carnatic Indian classical Playback singing Hindustani Filmi Bhajan
Instrument(s)	Vocals,veena
Musical artist

Aruna Sairam is an Indian classical vocalist and carnatic music singer. She is a recipient of thePadma Shri award from theGovernment of India and was elected as the Vice Chairman of theSangeet Natak Academy (India's premier national institution for music and dance) by the Government of India until 2022.^[2] In 2011, Aruna was the first Carnatic musician to perform at theBBC proms inLondon. She is also the first Carnatic musician to perform inOud Festival ofIsrael (Jerusalem).

Aruna Sairam was born inMumbai into aTamil musical family. She received vocal training from her mother Rajalakshmi Sethuraman, who was a student of the Alathur Brothers and Thanjavoor Sankara Iyer.^[3][4][5] Her father Shri Sethuraman^[6][7] was a music connoisseur who hosted musicians and dancers in the family home. At one of these gatherings, Aruna met Sangita Kalanidhi Smt.T. Brinda,^[8][9][10] who trained her in the style ofVeena Dhanammal.^[11][12] Indian-American business executive and former chairman and chief executive officer ofPepsiCo,Indra Nooyi, is Aruna's niece.^[13]

Over the following years, Aruna performedCarnatic music, drawing on the influences of Mumbai and in a pure classical style. She was influenced by film, western andHindustani (northern Indian) classical music.^[14] She ushered in a new approach to concert presentation, extending the boundaries of the Carnatic repertoire while retaining classical grammar and tradition.^[15]

Aruna Sairam has two daughters, Gayathri and Maithreyee. Gayathri Sairam's wedding reception in 2011 was grand, and covered by national media.^[16] Maitreyee Krishnaswami (1974-2020) succumbed to cancer inSeattle at the age of 45.^[17]

Aruna Sairam was taught by Sangeeta Kalanithi T. Brinda.^{[18][9][19][20][21]}

S Ramachandran,^[22] from the bani (style) ofChittor Subramanya Pillai,^[23] expanded her already wide repertoire and taught her the fine nuances ofnereval singing (improvising within poetic texts). A S Mani, a disciple ofTiger Vardacharyar,^[23] guided her through the creative process of swara singing (improvising with the sol-fa). Prof T R Subramanyam,^[24][25][26] an acclaimed music professor atDelhi University,^[23] taught Aruna to sing and spontaneously compose withinragam-tanam-pallavi.K S Narayanaswamy.^[23]

Despite her extensive training, Sairam felt the need for guidance in voice training to become capable of fully expressing her creativity and knowledge through her voice. She met German voice maestroEugene Rabine,^[27] who helped her discover and apply a new sound and emotion to her voice. She later took advice and guidance from Carnatic singerM. Balamuralikrishna.^[23] To this day, she remains in touch with the New York-based voice teacher David Jones.^[28]

Aruna Sairam has performed at the Indian President's official residence –Rashtrapati Bhavan – and the memorials to Indian prime ministersIndira Gandhi atShakti Sthal andRajiv Gandhi atVeer Bhoomi.^[29] She has also performed across the country at venues includingThe Music Academy in Chennai,^[30] theNational Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai,Siri Fort Auditorium inDelhi, and at seminars and the festival held at theIndira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi, the Music Forum in Mumbai, and the Kolkata'sSangeet Research Academy.^[31]She has performed inMysore chamundi hill for TVS Motor company annual music festival in January 2020. In March 2025, she had performed thrillana project for mahindra percussion festival

This experience gave her a mission to makeSouth Indian classical music global. She performed at theBBC Proms at London'sRoyal Albert Hall.^[32][33] as the first South Indian classical vocalist in the Proms' then-116-year history in 2011. Sairam has also performed atNew York'sCarnegie Hall,Paris'sThéâtre de la Ville^[34][35] andMorocco'sFes Festival of World Sacred Music.^[23][36]She has performed inDarbar music festival for 3 times in london.

Aruna Sairam has collaborated with many artists across the globe. Here is a list of some of the artists with whom Sairam has collaborated:

•Shankar Mahadevan^[37][38]•U. Srinivas^[39][40][41]• Vid. Neela Bhagwat• Jayanti Kumaresh^[42]• Coke Studio- Ram Sampath^[43]•Sudha Raghunathan^[44]• Agam Band^[45]•Zakir Hussain^[46]• Ronu Majumdar•Haricharan^[47]• Thayir Sadam Project^[48][49] •Malavika Sarukkai (Dancer)• Pt. Jayateerth Mevundi •Kaushiki Chakraborty •Padma Subrahmanyam • Gaurav Majumdar • Vivek Sagar

• Dominique Vellard^[50][51]• Michael Riemann^[52]• Christian Bollman^[52]• Hari Sivanesan^[53]• Nouruddine Tahiri^[54]• Jesse Bannister^[55]• Vijay Iyer^[56]• Rajika Puri (Dancer)^[57]• Soumik Datta^[46] • Marco Horvat •Rudresh Mahanthappa

Sairam has won many national and international awards, including thePadma Shri and the US Congress Proclamation of Excellence.

She received Chevalier Award by French Government on 5 November 2022.

As of 2019^[update], Sairam has recorded over 60 records.^[74] Her recordings span classical repertoires, thematic presentations, concert recordings and collaborations with German, French, Moroccan and other international artists. Six of her albums have been produced and distributed in Europe and the US. She has collaborated with artists including French artistryDominque Vellard andChristian Bollman of Germany, as well as with eminent Hindustani musicians. She has also released "Aruna: Thousand Names of the Divine Mother", an album containing sacred chants from theLalitha Sahasaranamam.^[74]

Aruna Sairam has undertaken various mentoring programmes, notably the 2011BBC World Routes Academy Project byBBC Radio 3.^[75]

She has written a detailed thesis about voice training and she tutors young artists in this subject. In 2014, she was invited as a Faculty to the International Jazz Convention at theBanff Centre,Canada, by its DirectorVijay Iyer.^[76]

Every year, TheSangeet Research Academy in Kolkata invites Aruna as a mentor and member of its expert committee and as the external examiner for the graduating scholars of the academy.^[31]

She and her husband have set up theNadayogam Trust, which gives performance opportunities to young musicians.Under the Nadayogam Trust, a scholarship scheme has been instituted, through which violins were given to students of S V College of Music and Dance,Tirupati. The trust also maintains an archive of teaching materials and a collection of recordings.^[28][77]

Aruna has been well received by overseas publications across her performances. In 2011, Pulse Connects called her the "darling of Carnatic vocal music" before her performance at theBBC Proms.^[78] Outlook Magazine compared her talent to that of famed vocalistM S Subbulakshmi, calling her purity of voice, diction, sruti alignment and singing, similar to those of Subbulakshmi's.^[79][80]

London Evening Standard has called her the "New Queen of Soul", comparing her withAretha Franklin.^[81][82][83]

• Media related toAruna Sairam at Wikimedia Commons

• Carnatic singers
• Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts
• Living people
• 1952 births
• Musicians from Tiruchirappalli
• Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• 20th-century Indian women singers
• 20th-century Indian singers
• 21st-century Indian women singers
• 21st-century Indian singers

• Webarchive template wayback links
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from September 2023
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• CS1 Irish-language sources (ga)
• Articles with dead external links from October 2019
• CS1: unfit URL
• Use Indian English from May 2020
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Use dmy dates from May 2020
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2019
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• Commons category link from Wikidata