It was a night to remember in the music world, and at the heart of it stood an Indian-American vocalist Chandrika Tandon.
At 71, the accomplished business leader and musician earned her first Grammy for her album ‘Triveni’ in the Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album category at the
67th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Tandon shared this prestigious honour with her collaborators—South African flautist Wouter Kellerman and Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto—for a seven-track music album that brings age-old Vedic chants to life.
So, who is Chandrika Tandon, and how did she secure her place in the world of music? Let’s take a closer look at her journey.
Chandrika Tandon, a seasoned business leader and the elder sister of former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, hails from Chennai, where she pursued her studies at Madras Christian College.
Although initially set on attending law school, a professor encouraged her to shift her focus to business, which led her to the prestigious Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. There, she became one of just eight women admitted.
Following this, she started at Citibank in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War and, by 1992, founded Tandon Capital Associates. Through her firm, she provided advisory services to major global players such as Chase Manhattan Corporation, Comerica, Unibanco (Brazil), Suncorp-Metway Ltd. (Australia), Fleet Financial Group, Bank of America, Rabobank, and ABN Amro.
Her influence grew, and she became the first Indian-American woman partner at McKinsey & Company in New York City. Soon her success in the business world was accompanied by significant philanthropic efforts.
In 2015, she and her husband Ranjan made a groundbreaking $100 million donation to the New York School of Engineering, marking the largest donation by an Indian-American in the US. The school was subsequently renamed NYU Tandon School of Engineering in recognition of their contribution.
Tandon also founded the Krishnamurthy Tandon Foundation in 2004, a non-profit organisation dedicated to community building, arts, and spirituality. Through the foundation, she has made meaningful contributions to institutions like the American India Foundation, Yale University, and Berklee College of Music.
Perhaps Tandon’s passion for music is deeply rooted in her family’s traditional upbringing, with both she and her sister Indra being immersed in Samaveda and Vedic chants and Carnatic music from an early age, reported Indian Express. She learnt music from classical singer Shubhra Guha and vocalist Girish Wazalwar.
Chandrika Tandon’s Grammy-winning album Triveni is a reflection of its name—a confluence, much like the sacred Indian rivers Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati, she said. This musical collaboration brings together three artists, Tandon, Kellerman, and Matsumoto, who represent diverse cultures.
Released on 30 August 2024, Triveni consists of seven tracks, each telling its own story while contributing to the album’s overarching theme of healing and resonance. The tracks include Pathway to Light, Chant in A, Journey Within, Aether’s Serenade, Ancient Moon, Open Sky, and Seeking Shakti.
In her acceptance speech, Tandon expressed her gratitude and love for music, saying, “Music is love, music is light, and music is laughter, and let’s all be surrounded by love, light, and laughter. Thank you for the music, and thank you to everyone who makes music.”
This wasn’t Tandon’s first brush with the Grammys. In 2010, she received a nomination for Om Namo Narayana: Soul Call in the Best Contemporary World Music Album category.
This year, she was nominated alongside notable artists such as producer Ricky Kej for ‘Break of Dawn’, the late Japanese maestro Ryuichi Sakamoto for ‘Opus’, Indian-American sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar for ‘Chapter II: How Dark It Is Before Dawn’, and Rashika Vekaria for ‘Warriors of Light’.
Speaking to reporters backstage after her win, Tandon described the moment as surreal. “It feels amazing,” she said, acknowledging the exceptional talent in her category. “The fact that we won this is really an extra special moment for us. There were fabulous musicians who were nominated with us.”
With input from agencies
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