Pandit Jasraj

In News 

• Recently, the Prime Minister of India paid tribute to Pandit Jasraj on the occasion of the Jayanti of the doyen of Indian Classical Music.

Image Courtesy: News 18

About Pandit Jasraj: 

• Early Life: Born on January 28, 1930, in the Hissar district of Haryana.
  • His initial years were spent in Hyderabad where his father was to be appointed the court musician of Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad. 
  • The family then shifted to Ahmedabad for a few years before moving to Calcutta in 1946 where Jasraj began singing on the radio.

• Musical Career: He started as a tabla player and was known as an able accompanist in the classical circuit in Kolkata before turning to classical singing.
  • His association with his spiritual guru Maharana Jaywant Singh of the erstwhile princely state of Sanand in Gujarat made him believe in the miracles of bhakti. 
  • His musical career has spanned more than 80 years and led to numerous major awards.

• Expertise and Achievements:
  • He was the foremost exponent of the Mewati Gharana moved away from Dhrupad and brought an element of devotional singing to Khayal by employing harkats and murkis that were associated with light classical music. 
    • Khayal is a musical form based on the elaboration of a Raga with a lyrical composition consisting of two stanzas.

• He took the art beyond the rarefied confines of a select set by imbuing khayal with an unmistakable element of bhakti rasa.
• He had the mastery over shuddha madhyam notes and his ability to play with light and heavy and popular and rare ragas like Durga, Jog and Abeer Todi with equal felicity. 
• He created a unique form of jugalbandi called Jasrangi, in which a male and a female singer sing different ragas in their respective scales to merge their individual displays into one unified performance.
• He was also a master of haveli sangeet. 

• His performances of classical and semi-classical vocals have become albums and film soundtracks. 
• He has taught music in India, Canada and the US.

• Awards and Recognition:
  • He was a recipient of several prestigious awards including Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan as well as Padma Vibhushan.
  • Minor Planet named ‘Panditjasraj’- In 2019, the International Astronomical Union had named a minor planet after Pandit Jasraj.
    •  The minor planet is located between Mars and Jupiter.

Source: PIB