21 Facts About Jasraj

Pandit Jasraj was an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the Mewati gharana.

Pandit Jasraj taught music to amateur and professional students in India, Europe, Canada and the United States.

Pandit Jasraj was born on 28 January 1930 in Pili Mandori, a village in the then Hisar district of Haryana, in an artistic Brahmin family to Pandit Motiram, a classical singer and Krishna Bai.

Jasraj was the youngest of three sons, in a family of classical singers.

Motiram died in 1934 when Jasraj was four, on the day he was to be appointed as the state musician in the court of Mir Osman Ali Khan.

Jasraj spent his youth in Hyderabad, and travelled often to Sanand in Gujarat to study music with musicians of the Mewati gharana.

Jasraj performed for Thakur Jaiwant Singhji Vaghela, the Thakur Sahib of Sanand, who was deeply dedicated to classical music, and received training from him.

In 1946, Jasraj moved to Calcutta, where he began singing classical music for radio.

In 1962, Jasraj married Madhura Shantaram, the daughter of film director V Shantaram, whom he had first met in 1960 in Bombay.

Jasraj was initiated into vocal music by his father, and later trained as a tabla accompanist under his elder brother, Pandit Pratap Narayan.

Jasraj began training as a vocalist at the age of 14, after renouncing tabla in reaction to how accompanists were treated at the time.

Jasraj initially trained as a classical vocalist with Pandit Maniram, and later with Jaiwant Singh Waghela, a vocalist and beenkar.

Jasraj created a novel form of called Jasrangi that is styled on the ancient system of, between a male and a female vocalist, who each sing different ragas at the same time.

Jasraj was known for presenting a variety of rare ragas including Abiri Todi and Patdeepaki.

In memory of his father, Jasraj organised an annual musical festival called the Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroh in Hyderabad.

Jasraj tutored several students who have gone on to perform as classical musicians, including Saptarshi Chakraborty, Sanjeev Abhyankar, violinist Kala Ramnath, Sandeep Ranade, shehnai player Lokesh Anand, Tripti Mukherjee, Suman Ghosh, flautist Shashank Subramanyam, Anuradha Paudwal, Sadhana Sargam, and Ramesh Narayan.

Jasraj was the founder of schools for Indian classical music in Atlanta, Tampa, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Mumbai, and Kerala.

Jasraj would spend six months of each year in the United States and Canada at either his home in New Jersey, teaching, or touring.

Pandit Jasraj remained in the US when the country entered its COVID-19 lockdown.

Jasraj died at his home in New Jersey on 17 August 2020 at 5:15 am EST, due to cardiac arrest.

Jasraj's body was later repatriated on an Air India flight to Mumbai where it was cremated with state honours and 21-gun salute at Pawan Hans Crematorium in Vile Parle.