Shashwati Mandal

Shashwati was born in Gwalior in a family of musicians. Her maternal grandfather Pt. Balabhau Umdekar 'Kundalguru' was a darbar-gayak (court musician) at the royal court of Gwalior, and a singer of the Gwalior gharana.[2] Shashwati started her early classical training under the guidance of her mother, Smt. Kamal Mandal, at a very young age. From 1987-1992, she received a Department of Culture (Govt of India) scholarship to study under the veteran Gwalior gharana singer Pt. Balasaheb Poonchhwale.[3] Balasaheb instilled into her the finer nuances of Gwalior gayaki, and also trained her into the art of Tappa singing, the vibrant semi-classical genre. She continued her training with her gurus, Balasaheb Poonchhwale and Kamal Mandal until their deaths in 2005[4] and 2006, respectively.

She also studied briefly under Purnima Chaudhuri for Thumri, Gundecha Brothers for Dhrupad, and Sarbat Hussain for Ghazal[1] singing. In 2009-2010, she received Sanskriti Foundation's Mani Mann Fellowship[3] to study under Madhup Mudgal of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi. In addition, she is heavily influenced by the gayaki of Kumar Gandharva, and the repertoire of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana.

Shashwati has integrated these eclectic musical leanings into her gayaki (musical style). She has received praise for her full-throated resonant voice, and clarity of taans and murkis.[1][5] She is widely regarded as one of the foremost exponents of Tappa singing.[6][7][8][9]

She currently resides in New Delhi.

As a child prodigy Shashwati started giving public performance at the young age of seven.[1] She has performed extensively in India and abroad. Some of her major performances include Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav in Pune, Maharashtra in 2006 and 2022,[10][11] Darbar festival in United Kingdom in 2008,[12] Saptak Annual Festival of Music in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in 2010,[13] Vishnu Digambar Jayanti Samaroh in New Delhi in 2010 and 2018,[14][15] Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar, Punjab in 2012 and 2019,[5][16] ITC Sangeet Sammelan in Kolkata, West Bengal in 2014,[17] Hridayesh Art Festival in Mumbai, Maharashtra in 2019,[18] and Tansen Samaroh in Gwalior (several years, most recently in 2021).[19] She is a 'top' grade artist at All India Radio and is an empanelled artist at Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

Shashwati also served as a staff artist in All India Radio, Bhopal and an Assistant Professor of Music in Mumbai University, Mumbai.

• Shashwati Mandal, Alurkar Music House (2006) - Raag Dev Gandhar, Todi, Kalingada Tappa, Bhairavi Tappa
• Sasha: A Tappa Journey, Sense World Music (2007). Nominated to top ten of Songlines Music Awards 2009.[20]
• Pratah Swar, Pancham Nishad (2014) - Raag Lalit, Bhatiyar
• Studio Series I, RagaNXT (2016) - Raag Malgunji, Sohni Bhatiyar, Yaman, Brindabani Sarang Tappa