David Dalle
Thursday August 27th, 2020 with David Dalle
Farewell to Pandit Jasraj, one of the greatest voices of his generation.

Today we say farewell to one of the greatest singers of his generation, Pandit Jasraj, who died August 17th aged a venerable 90 years old. He was born into the Mewati gharana of his family and grew up in Hyperabad. His father and his older brother were singers and, at first, Jasraj trained to be a tabla player to accompany his brother. When he was 14, after being told scornfully by a great singer that he would never understand the finer points of music if he just "beat on leather", he gave up tabla and switched to singing, practicing 14 hours every day. Though he was rooted in his family's Mewati gharana, as a young singer he would borrow elements from other gharanas despite this being frowned upon by his contemporaries. This has since become standard practice in Indian classical music. He would go on to have one of the most successful careers in Indian classical music, being loved and acclaimed both at home and internationally. He helped establish Bhajans and Thumris as serious classical music and researched and performed the ancient style of sacred singing in Hindu Temples called Haveli Sangeet. He was very devotional in his music, and sang with great soul and great joy. An incredible singer and teacher, his last live performances were this year before the pandemic, and he was still singing from his home in New Jersey through Zoom and other media until shortly before his death.