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* Pandit Jasraj Institute of Music, New York. * Mero Man Mohiyo - Performance Review on Nov.
^ Kamat's Potpourri: Mohan Nadkarni article on Pandit Jasraj. * Birbal My Brother (1973, music by Shyam Prabhakar)Ģ. * Ladki Sahyadri Ki (1966, music by Vasant Desai) * Padma Vibhushan, (art-classical music-vocal) in 2000 Music composers Jatin-Lalit are his nephews.Īt one time, he was also involved with Protima Bedi. They have a son, Sarang Dev, and a daughter, Durga Jasraj, a television anchor. In 1962 he married Madhura, the daughter of the legendary film director V. In memory of his late father, he organises a musical festival every year called the Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroh in Hyderabad, India. Sadhana Sargam, a well-known Bollywood singer, is one of his disciples. Amongst his flag-bearing disciples, Sanjeev Abhyankar, Suman Ghosh, Tripti Mukherjee, and Kala Ramnath are well-known exponents of the Mewati Gharana.
However, Jasraj has many students and is ensuring longevity of his genre. It is often said that the great artists fail to pass on their craft to the next generation. His greatest contribution to Indian classical music is his conception of a unique and novel jugalbandi, styled on the ancient system of moorchanas, between a male and a female vocalist, each singing in their respective scales and different ragas at the same time. He also did extensive research in Haveli Sangeet. His vocalizing is in perfect diction and clarity. Jasraj is blessed with a rich, soul stirring and sonorous voice, traversing effortlessly across three and a half octaves. At the age of 14, unhappy with the treatment of an accompanying artist, Jasraj left and vowed not to cut his hair until he learned to sing. However, at the time, just like sarangi players, tabla players were looked down upon. In 1960, when Jasraj went to visit Bade Ghulam Ali Khan at a hospital, Khan asked him to become his disciple, but he declined saying that he could not accept his tutelage since he was already Motiram's disciple.Īs a means of livelihood, Maniramji took Jasraj as an accompanying tabla player. He was also greatly influenced by the voice of the famous ghazal singer Begum Akhtar, whom he used to listen to, skipping school, at a small hotel playing her songs all day. He also received training from his elder brother, Pandit Maniramji, and later from Maharaja Jaywant Singhji Waghela. Jasraj was initiated into vocal music by his father, Motiram. Motiramji died when Jasrajji was only four, on the day he was to be appointed as the state musician in the court of the Last Nizam. His family is well known for singing in the Mewati Gharana style. Jasraj was born in Hissar, Haryana to Pandit Motiramji, a classical exponent. He has a sonorous voice which spans three and a half octaves and which is at once both spiritual and emotional. He comes from a family which includes four generations of outstanding musicians, began his training under the tutelage of his father, although he started with the tabla and continued with extensive training by his brother. Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj is one of the leading vocalists in the North Indian classical tradition.