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'Deewana banana hai to diwana bana de...' (make me insane if you please...) with the soulful strains of this gazal sung by Akhtaribai Faizabadi, now renowned as Begum Akhtar, began Pandit Jasraj's musical journey. He was six then and spellbound. All he knew at the time was that he wanted to sing. So he spent most of his schooling time listening to the gramophone in the tiny teashop strategically positioned by fate on his way to school.
Ironically, after a brief initiation into vocal music by his father, Pandit Jasraj opted for the tabla under the training of Pandit Pratapnarayan. This was merely a decision taken to create an additional means of livelihood in order to lighten the burden of family responsibilities that were thrust by the sudden demise of Pandit Jasraj's father. However, at the age of fourteen rebelling against the humiliating treatment given to accompanying artists, young Jasraj vowed to never to be an accompanist. He had vowed not to cut his hair until he learnt to sing. At last he decided to sing.
Perhaps unknown to himself then, thus began his quest for the divine... in music...in the world around him...and within himself. Under the tutelage of his older brother Sangeet Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Maniram and with the spiritual influence of Maharaja Jaywant Singhji Waghela of Saanand, Pandit Jasraj began his vocal and spiritual journey. The Maharaja, himself a gifted and scholarly musician of the Mewati Gharana, gently ushered Jasraj into the realm of devotion, preparing him for the sublime music he was ordained to create.
Today, Pandit Jasraj's relentless pursuit, his passionate strife and his single-minded devotion to music have made him what he is... ...The bright sun of Indian music...the glorious Sangeet Martand. In honor of the glory of this unparalleled living legend, awards and titles have not only been created and bestowed upon him but have also been instituted in his name, thus these awards gaining more in prestige and value on account of being associated with his name. So much so that even a foreign university like the University of Toronto has instituted a scholarship in his name for young canadians wishing to train in music.
Also the first distinguished visior award was created specially in honor of Panditji by the same university in 1999 for the first time since its inception 200 years ago. A rolling trophy instituted by the Rotary club of Bombay (Shivaji Park), an award by the public of Pune, an auditorium in New York, all in his name stand testimony to his greatness. These are unprecedented events in the history of classical music, there being no other living musician in this genre whose name has been immortalised in his lifetime.
Born in a family that has given to Indian classical music four generations of outstanding musicians, the Mewati maestro had his initial grooming in music under his father, late Pandit Motiramji. He then underwent intensive tutelage under his elder brother and guru, the late Sangeet Mhamahopahyaya Pandit Maniramji. Endowed with a rich, soulful and sonorous voice which traverses effortlessly over all three and a half octaves, Panditji's vocalising is characterised by a harmonius blend of classic and opulent elements, projecting traditional music as an intense spiritual expression, at once chaste and densely coloured.
This gives his music a very sublime emotional quality, touching the soul of the listener. He has been guided in this by his spiritual guru, late Maharana Jaiwant Singhji of Anand, another doyen of the Mewati gharana. Perfect diction, clarity in sur and extreme tunefulness, command in all aspects of laya, choice of composition and interplay of the notes with the words to evoke the desired mood and feeling are other highlights of this Rasraj Pandit Jasraj's music. This sensitivity together with the pure classical approach has given his singing a lyrical quality, which is the quintessence of the Mewati style of singing.
