iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
Indian-American business leader and musician Chandrika Tandon made history on Sunday, winning a Grammy Award for her album Triveni at the 67th Grammy Awards.
While receiving the award, Tandon said, “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 for every one of you who make the music.”
Tandon, 71, claimed the prestigious gramophone in the Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album category for her groundbreaking work, which blends ancient Vedic chants with world music.
Triveni, a seven-track album, takes listeners on a meditative journey of “inner healing,” a concept Tandon holds dear.
In collaboration with South African flautist Wouter Kellerman and Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto, Tandon brought together three distinct musical traditions, drawing inspiration from the confluence of three rivers, symbolizing unity and spiritual harmony.
Raised in a traditional Chennai home, Tandon was immersed in Vedic chants and Carnatic music from a young age, alongside her younger sister Indra Nooyi.
While Nooyi rose to global prominence as CEO of PepsiCo, Tandon carved her own path as the first Indian-American woman partner at McKinsey and founded Tandon Capital Associates, a firm focused on institutional restructuring.
A graduate of IIM Ahmedabad, Tandon has also made a name as a philanthropist, with her husband Ranjan, donating $100 million to the New York School of Engineering in 2015.
Tandon’s Grammy win follows her first nomination in 2010 for Om Namo Narayana: Soul Call, an album that earned her recognition in the same category. This year, she was nominated alongside notable artists like producer Ricky Kej, sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar, and British Indian artist Radhika Vekaria.
While Shankar—who has now been nominated 11 times—did not take home the award, her half-sister, Norah Jones, triumphed in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category for Visions.
(Photo courtesy: Screengrab from X)
