Meeta Pandit

Early life

Meeta was born in New Delhi, India. She is the daughter of Abha Pandit, a homemaker and Pt. Laxman Krishnarao Pandit, an exponent of the Gwalior gharana and Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee. She spent her childhood in New Delhi, where she attended St. Mary’s School until higher secondary, and earned a bachelor's degree in Commerce from Lady Sri Ram College, Delhi University.

Meeta began training with her grandfather Padma Bhushan Pt. Krishnarao Shankar Pandit and her father Pt. L.K Pandit at the age of 3. Growing up in a house where music ustads and her father’s disciples visited day in and day out, and all conversations centered around music, she was exposed to the finer aspects of music from a very young age. However, as a teenager, she was encouraged by her parents to take up a more stable profession than music, primarily due to the irregular working hours and solo travels involved, making it a difficult career choice for a woman. Her elder brother Tushar Pandit was in fact, being groomed to take the family legacy forward. He was pursuing a Ph.D in Hindustani classical music when he met with a fatal road accident in New Delhi on September 1, 1994 at the age of 27. Meeta, who was pursuing her bachelor's degree at the time and preparing for an MBA, decided to take up the cudgels of carrying on the legacy and went on to pursue her masters in music. She completed her Ph.D in the Hindustani Classical music by the age of 27.

Career

Meeta gave her first performance on stage at the age of 9, during a 3-day music festival ‘Prasang’ organized by her grandfather, Pt. Krishnarao Shankar Pandit at Bharat Bhawan, Bhopal. At the age of 15, she performed at the Sankat Mochan festival in Varanasi, one of India’s biggest annual classical music and dance festival.

1995–2005

Between 1995 and 2005, Meeta performed extensively in prestigious festivals in India and abroad in France, Germany, London, Switzerland, Norway, Rome, United States, Russia and Bangladesh.

Through a special project by French Embassy in New Delhi, she stayed in Paris for three months as an “Artist in Residence” in 2003. There she collaborated with the Jazz pianist, Allie Delfau, as a part of an Indo-French project.

She represented India as the Cultural Ambassador of India to Pakistan during the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Summit in Islamabad in 2004.

The Public Service Broadcasting Trust and Prasar Bharati made a film titled – “Meeta: Linking a Tradition with Today” - which documents her life and growth as a singer in 2005.

2005–2015

In 2008, Meeta presented a music appreciation series called “Swar Shringar” on World Space Satellite Radio.

She collaborated with Amsterdam based tabla player, Heiko Dijker on an album called “The Luminance Project”. This album was launched in 2012.

Since 2009, she has been a consultant with Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, a premier government-funded arts organization in India. Among other things, she is involved in a project archiving more than 60 living maestros representing different genres and gharanas of Hindustani Classical music.

Meeta sings in different genres such as bhajan, thumri, tappa and ghazal and has proved her mastery over khayal and tappa. She actively promotes Indian Classical music worldwide. She has also been actively coaching budding singers from India and abroad in her attempt to spread Indian Classical Music globally.

Before 2005

2006–2015

Discography