Just because music is in one’s blood, one cannot consider it a property and become complacent. Music requires great devotion and discipline as values,” says Hindustani classical vocalist Meeta Pandit, who recently mesmerised the audience with her melodious voice at the Sahitya Kala Parishad’s Thumri Festival in Delhi.
The singer, who cuts across as the first woman protagonist in the Gwalior Gharana, is the granddaughter and disciple of Padma Bhushan Pt Krishna Rao Shankar. Her home was the mecca of music pandits, ustads, her father’s disciples, and music aficionados, which ensured that her mind and soul were seeped in music. “To recall when I started receiving music lessons is like asking a lion when it began hunting for prey. We would eat, drink and sleep music,” says Pandit, who is in her 40s. But her first encounter with the bare stage was at the tender age of nine, when she performed at a three-day music fest organised by her grandfather in Bhopal’s Bharat Bhawan. “The thought of performing alongside my father sent chills down my spine. But after a successful concert, my father hinted that I was ready for the world of music.”
Her career had already taken off when she was a student at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi as she used to perform at national-level, but she wasn’t certain about pursuing music as a career.
“My elder brother Tushar Pandit was being groomed to be a fine vocalist at that time. But his tragic death in 1994 changed my course of life,” says Meeta, who was then preparing for MBA. “I changed my mind and did my master’s in music, and even completed Tushhar’s PhD as a private candidate.”
Under the tutelage of maestros from the region, she inherited esoteric musical knowledge, compositions, ragas, that made her style sacrosanct. Khayal, the gharana’s jewel in the crown, emphasises on the delineation of ragas with ashtang gayaki (eight-dimensional style of singing) and shuddha aakar (full-throated) singing. “An artist of this gharana needs to be well-versed in all eight angs,” says Meeta, who received the Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar in 2007.
Straddling across the traditional musical repertoire of the Gwalior Gharana, she didn’t settle for comfort. She switched from the taxing tappas to jazz melodies to the soul-stirring bhajans.
Touted as the ‘Sur Mani’ and ‘Yuva Ratna’, she believes “music needs to be demystified for the young to become keen listeners.”
Her musical sojourns have paved way for cross-cultural collaborations. “I got an opportunity to work as an artist in Paris in a scheme by the government of France,” says Meeta, who performed alongside pianist Allie Delfau in 2003.
The classical musical edifice is dwindling today, according to her. “The present-day patrons are the corporates, government, music connoisseurs. Royalties have in a way also taken over,” says the singer, who has two albums ‘Footsteps’ and ‘Tansen’ to her credit.
With a missionary zeal to preserve the rich Gharana legacy, she is now working on a book India’s Heritage of Gharana Music: Pandits of Gwalior. She is also busy prepping up for ‘Strauss Reflected’, an upcoming collaboration with BBC broadcaster John Suchet and Orchestra Sinfonia Verdi commissioned by The Bagri Foundation. The event will be held on November 2017 at the Cadogan Hall in London.
Quick Questions
Your idea of happiness.
Engrossed in the riyaaz of my favourite raga
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
To give up
Stress buster.
Cooking or watching a film
Music genre you end up listening
to the most.
Hindustani classical
Your most marked characteristic.
My tenacity and perseverance. I don’t give up easily.
Music form that makes you think.
Ghazal because of its lyricism, language and emotionality
Favourite book.
The Last Waltz by John Suchet
Most treasured possession from your gurus.
Discipline and self-restraint
An actor you would like to lend your voice to.
Sridevi and Kangana Ranaut
Your dream stage.
Sydney Opera House
Motto in life.
Music for all