New Delhi: Eminent musical maestro Pandit Jasraj died in the US on Monday. He was 90. A musical maestro he had a musical career spanned more than 80 years and led to numerous major awards. He was honored with Padma Vibhushan Award. His performances of classical and semi-classical vocals have become albums and film soundtracks.
In addition to performing classical music, Jasraj has worked to popularise semi-classical musical styles, such as Haveli Sangeet, which involves semi-classical performances in temples. He has also sung classical and semi-classical compositions for film soundtracks, such as the song, ‘Vandana Karo’, composed in the raga Ahir Bhairav by the composer Vasant Desai, for the film Ladki Sahyadri Ki (1966), a duet with vocalist Bhimsen Joshi for the soundtrack of the film Birbal My Brother (1975), and a ballad, Vaada Tumse Hai Vaada for a horror film titled 1920 (2008) directed by Vikram Bhatt.
In memory of his father, Jasraj organises a musical festival every year called the Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroh in Hyderabad. The festival has been held annually since 1972.
Jasraj has tutored several students who have gone on to perform as classical musicians including Saptarshi Chakraborty, Sanjeev Abhyankar, violinist Kala Ramnath, Tripti Mukherjee, Suman Ghosh, flautist Shashank Subramanyam, Anuradha Paudwal, Sadhana Sargam, and Ramesh Narayan.
He also the founder of schools for Indian classical music in Atlanta, Tampa, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Mumbai, and Kerala. At age 90 he was teaching some of his international students through Skype.
