Finance Guru Goes From Riches to Raga as Indian CD Seeks Grammy
Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon
Sunita Thyagarajan/Rock Paper Scissors via Bloomberg
Vocalist Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon. Tandon's latest CD, ``Soul Call,'' a collection of meditative-style chants and tunes, is up for a Grammy Award, Sunday night, for best contemporary world music performance.
Vocalist Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon. Tandon's latest CD, ``Soul Call,'' a collection of meditative-style chants and tunes, is up for a Grammy Award, Sunday night, for best contemporary world music performance. Photographer: Sunita Thyagarajan/Rock Paper Scissors via Bloomberg
Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon, a financial adviser who once specialized in corporate restructuring at McKinsey & Co., dabbled in music on her off- time. The hobby yielded a chanting CD called “Soul Mantra” that she recorded six years ago for her father-in-law’s 91st birthday.
A hit with family and friends, it attracted a cult following. Her second CD of meditative chants was something else. Released in 2009, “Soul Call” received a Grammy Award nomination in December for best contemporary world music recording.
On Sunday night, Tandon will mingle with other nominees such as Jay-Z, Herbie Hancock and Wynton Marsalis at the 53rd Grammy Awards at Los Angeles’ Staples Center.
Tandon, the chairman of Tandon Capital Associates Inc. in New York, said it’ll be nice to beat the well-known nominees in her category, who include Brazilian music legends Sergio Mendes and Bebel Gilberto, Benin native Angelique Kidjo and banjo master Bela Fleck.
“But there is no success or failure in this,” said Tandon, 56, by phone. “I’m not trying to see if I can sell a number of albums. This CD is about what I want to share, and that’s my motivation.
If she takes home the trophy, she will join the small club of India-born musicians who have won Grammys, such as sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, tabla master Zakir Hussain and Indian classical musician Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
Sarod Maestro
She’s already one of the few Wall Street executives who can hang a Grammy nomination certificate on her office wall next to her MBA degree, which she earned from the Indian Institute of Management in 1975.
“This has changed my interaction with all my straight- laced colleagues,” said Tandon, whose sister is PepsiCo Inc. Chief Executive Officer Indra K. Nooyi. “It’s opened up a new dimension.”
“Soul Call” features Tandon performing songs that incorporate an eight-syllable chant, Om Na Mo Na Ra Ya Na Ya, that’s more than 6,000 years old.
The inspiration to compose came early one morning in bed, and she began writing drafts of songs. She hired sarod player Tejendra Narayan Majumdar to arrange the compositions, using more than 30 Western, Indian and folk instruments.
“I could have been a classical performer,” she said. “But I wanted to touch the heart and sing music that makes me feel happy and where I can lose myself.”
One Life
Tandon is funneling proceeds from the sales of “Soul Call” into her Krishnamurthy Tandon Foundation that supports nonprofits and causes focused on the economic empowerment of women, education, spirituality and the arts.
“I thought to myself: If you had one life to live, what is it that you want to do?” she said. “It was like creating a business plan for myself.”
To contact the writer on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff in New York at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
Rate this Page