Indian-American global business leader and musician, Chandrika Tandon Sunday won a Grammy for Triveni, an album which blends ancient chants with world music, at the 67th Grammy Awards. Tandon, 71, won the hallowed gramophone for her recent collaborative album in the Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album category. The seven-track album aimed to be a meditative journey in what Tandon has called “inner healing”.
She joined forces with South African flautist Wouter Kellerman and Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto to present age-old Vedic chants in the album named after the confluence of three rivers, besides representing their three different styles. “Music is love, music ignites the light within all of us, and, even in our darkest days, music spreads joy and laughter,” she said while receiving the coveted award in Los Angeles.
Raised in a traditional and orthodox middle-class home in Chennai and a Madras Christian College alumna, music was all around Chandrika Krishnamoorthy Tandon and her younger sister Indra. Since the family was rooted in the teachings of the Samaveda, Vedic chants, besides Carnatic music, were a part of the home’s traditional upbringing.
While Indra Nooyi led PepsiCo for 12 years as its CEO, and became one of the 50 most powerful women in business in the world, Tandon was the first Indian-American woman partner at McKinsey, and created New York-based Tandon Capital Associates, a firm that looks at measurable restructuring of institutions.
A graduate of IIM Ahmedabad, she became a global business leader and philanthropist who, with her husband Ranjan, donated $100 million to the New York School of Engineering in 2015. The institute now adds Tandon to its name.
Tandon, who learnt music from classical singer Shubhra Guha and vocalist Girish Wazalwar, was nominated for her first Grammy in 2010 for her album Om Namo Narayana: Soul Call.
Interestingly, this year she was nominated with producer Ricky Kej, sitar player Anoushka Shankar, and Indian-origin British artist Radhika Vekaria.
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Shankar, who has now been nominated about 11 times, missed out, yet again, on taking a golden gramophone home. Her half-sister Norah Jones, Pt Ravi Shankar’s daughter, won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Visions, her ninth studio album — soothing tracks that are an amalgamation of a slew of genres.
Suanshu Khurana is an award-winning journalist and music critic currently serving as a Senior Assistant Editor at The Indian Express. She is best known for her nuanced writing on Indian culture, with a specific focus on classical music, cinema, and the arts.
Expertise & Focus Areas Khurana specializes in the intersection of culture and society. Her beat involves deep-dive reporting on:
Indian Classical Music: She is regarded as a definitive voice in documenting the lineages (Gharanas) and evolution of Hindustani classical music.
Cinema & Theatre: Her critiques extend beyond reviews to analyze the socio-political narratives within Indian cinema and theater.
Cultural Heritage: She frequently profiles legendary artists and unearths stories about India’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
Professional Experience At The Indian Express, Khurana is responsible for curating and writing features for the Arts and Culture pages. Her work is characterized by long-form journalism that offers intimate portraits of artists and rigorous analysis of cultural trends. She has been instrumental in bringing the stories of both stalwarts and upcoming artistes to the forefront of mainstream media.
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Chandrika Tandon, 71, won the hallowed gramophone for her recent collaborative album in the Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album category.