By Asif Ismail
In the ancient Vedic tradition, mantras are more than just words; they are vibrations, energy, and invocations of something higher. For Chandrika Tandon, these ancient chants are not merely melodies but bridges between the sacred and the accessible, offering a source of healing — indeed, a way of life.
Tandon’s Grammy-winning album “Triveni,” which was released last August, transforms Vedic mantras into a musical journey that resonates with audiences worldwide. The album is a result of her collaboration with two other acclaimed artists — South African flutist Wouter Kellerman and Japanese American cellist Eru Matsumoto.
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“Since I started learning music, all I [have been drawn] to are bhajans, chants, shlokas, and mantras,” Tandon told The American Bazaar in an interview on Feb. 8, six days after winning a Grammy in the “Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album” category.
“The Vedic tradition gives you so many things to hold on to as absolute pillars of support,” she said, quoting one of her favorite mantras from the “Isha Upanishad, “Purna mada, purna midam.” It means I am fullness [and] I am abundance. Because I’m connected to this big source of abundance, I can never be depleted.”
Now a Grammy winner, Tandon’s album — hailed by The Sunday Times as a “masterpiece… a deeply meditative and healing musical journey” — has solidified her role as a transformative figure in spiritual and meditative music.
In an expansive interview, Tandon — who has studied Hindustani and Carnatic classical music as well as Sanskrit — reflected on the overwhelming response to her Grammy win in both the U.S. and India, her musical evolution, and her projects.
“And the Grammy goes to…”
Recalling the Grammy-winning moment, Tandon said she, Kellerman, and Matsumoto barely heard the announcement at first. “We were the fifth nominee, and people were cheering loudly for us — as the fifth nominee,” she said. “So, I barely heard them calling out the winners. The three of us were sitting close to each other, and we had a jolly walk up to the podium, just enjoying ourselves. People were cheering for us all along the way. It was a very exciting moment.”
Tandon noted that the category was fiercely competitive, featuring renowned artists, including at least three with deep connections to India — among them Indian American Anoushka Shankar and Grammy winner Ricky Kej.
When asked if she had expected to win with this being her second nomination, Tandon acknowledged the uncertainty of the outcome. She noted that while they couldn’t predict the result, the album had a strong following. Each of the three artists had their own dedicated base of supporters—fans of her singing and voice, admirers of Kellerman’s work, and classical music enthusiasts who followed Matsumoto. “So there was a shot,” she said, “but you know, there were thousands of voters. So this was a crapshoot in some sense.”
Tandon also spoke about the response she has received since her win. She has been inundated with messages of love and congratulations, but what has moved her most is the outpouring of emotion from people she has never met or interacted with. “One man from India wrote saying, ‘Ms. Tandon, we want you to know that a billion hearts are with you, celebrating with you,’” she said. “And I get that. I have felt that in every step of the way, that these billion hearts who have very little to gain from this, they are just genuinely thrilled and genuinely happy and genuinely proud.”
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Describing this response as her “biggest excitement,” Tandon said, “It’s not for the award, it’s not for you — just feel the love of people.”
For the musician in Tandon, this experience has reaffirmed her purpose. “People from different eras of my life — students I once taught, friends I hadn’t spoken to in years — have come forward to express their joy. It’s not just about the award; it’s about the love and energy that music creates.”
While traditional Indian classical music has its own following, she has carved a unique space between classical virtuosity and the deeply meditative world of bhajans and mantras. “Triveni,” like much of her previous work, is a testament to this fusion.
Ever since she was first nominated for Grammy in 2009 for “Om Namo Narayanaya: Soul Call” in the “Best Contemporary World Music Album,” Tandon has brought the power of chanting to a global audience.With each successive album, she has reaffirmed that. “Soul March” (2013), “Soul Mantra” (2014), “Shivoham – The Quest” (2017), and “Ammu’s Treasures” (2023) — they have all been critically acclaimed.
At the heart of it all, Chandrika Tandon’s music is an offering of peace, connection, and resonance. “We don’t always know who we are touching through our music,” she reflects. “But if it brings even one person closer to a sense of inner quiet, then it’s all worth it.”
READ: Chandrika Tandon’s new album reconnects to childhood(October 28, 2023)
On her experience of working with Kellerman and Masumoto, Tandon shared that the process was less about the literal meaning of the mantras and more about the fluidity of musical interpretation. “They had certain beds of tunes, and I had to find the right syllables and meter to fit. Once I put it together, they were deeply interested in the meaning. And Eru would say, ‘Oh, this makes me feel so good inside. I just love listening to it.’”
Working on such a truly global endeavor — blending South African, Japanese, and Indian influences — came with its own set of challenges. Classical musicians have their own traditions, and both Matsumoto and Kellerman are classical musicians, Tandon noted. “And I come from a very different, very pure raga tradition. I would want to go in a certain sequence. For me, a raga meant you had to develop it a certain way.”
However, her collaborators had ideas of their own sometimes. “So, we had some knockout, drag-down debates about some of this stuff. And sometimes I won, sometimes I didn’t. But this is what you learn from a collaboration: You don’t maximize yourself, you optimize for the whole.”
In the end, the universality of music had shone through with even the live performances eliciting a deeply emotional response from audiences worldwide. And the Grammy was the icing on the cake — or a final affirmation of that.
READ: Chandrika Tandon: I sang before I could speak (December 1, 2019)
Next chapter
Music is just one aspect of Tandon’s life. She has made a significant mark in the business world, becoming the first Indian American woman elected as a partner at McKinsey & Company before founding Tandon Capital Associates. In addition to her professional achievements, she is a leading philanthropist. A decade ago, she and her husband, Ranjan, donated $100 million to New York University’s School of Engineering, which was subsequently renamed the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Balancing her passions across music, business, and philanthropy, Tandon divides her time equally among the three. “I’m spending time pretty much a third, a third and a third,” she explains. While her recent Grammy recognition has drawn significant public attention to her music, her contributions in business and academia often remain behind the scenes. “It just happens. It goes in waves right now because of the Grammy. It’s a lot of attention,” she says.
Yet, even amid the celebrations, she remained deeply engaged in her other pursuits. “All of the day Thursday, I was at the New York Academy of Science leading a conference on AI, moderating a panel on AI and the workforce.” Unlike her musical endeavors, which are highly visible, much of her work in academia and business remains “very much under the radar” but still demands a significant portion of her time.
On the music front, Tandon is now working on two new projects. The first is a traditional album dedicated to the “Maha Mantra” which includes the chant “Hare Rama Hare Krishna.”
“This is an ecstatic chant,” she says, noting that the entire Hare Krishna movement was built around it. The album, which she has already recorded and is currently in post-production, brings together “a lot of the Krishna mantras.” It is expected to be ready in the next couple of months.
READ: Indian American couple gifts $100 million to NYU School of Engineering (October 6, 2015)
The second project is a commission from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to compose Sanskrit mantras for choral performances in partnership with the Young People’s Chorus of New York. Having witnessed the profound impact of her composition “Song of Light” at Lincoln Center, where hundreds of young singers performed a fusion of English and Sanskrit chants — Tandon is eager to expand this work. “There was something magical about 800 New York City high school and middle school children walking into Lincoln Center, in a dark room with a little orb in their hand, singing the Gayatri mantra.”
They sang “Lead Kindly Light,” composed by Tandon. “They’re performing the song everywhere they go, because this has become their signature song,” she says. “So, to me, that’s what the next iteration is.”
For Tandon, the inspiration for this next chapter began with her performance at the World Culture Festival, hosted by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2023. As part of the event, she had planned a setlist that blended Sanskrit and English, assuming that American children would sing the English verses while a small group of Indian singers would handle the Sanskrit. But what happened during rehearsals took her by surprise.
“When I went to the rehearsals, it shocked me because all the American children said, ‘Why can’t we sing the Sanskrit?’ So they all wanted to sing it,” she recalled. That unexpected enthusiasm led her to adjust her approach, dedicating extra rehearsals to teaching them proper pronunciation. The effort paid off. “The joy of having 450 children of all shapes and sizes and backgrounds singing Sarva Mangalam, Bhavatu, Bhavatu, Bhavatu was like […] to me what a bridge to peace looks like, right? Where there are no boundaries. It’s a boundless world in terms of music being a great uniter.”
That experience solidified Tandon’s vision for a new large-scale composition — one centered around what she calls “secular chants.” These chants, she explains, are universal prayers for light, happiness, and blessings for all. “They talk about finding the light inside. They talk about being in a happy place. They ask for blessings for all the people. They ask for all the divine energies to bless you and everyone else. And they ask that the planets and the earth and the sun and the fire and everybody is calm and full of blessings.”
Tandon sees this as her next major project. “They seem like very beautiful, universal prayers that we can ask for. So that’s what I want to work on now and make them a major piece. I’ve already done a lot of the work on it. Now, I have to compose it.”