Ahead of his latest performance in Delhi, Dhrupad artist Sumeet Anand Pandey talks about his passion for Music. Sumeet is a young exponent of Dhrupad, which is a music genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition.
Out of curiosity I asked Sumeet, “You have a master’s degree in Advertising and worked as a brand manager with a well-known MNC. How did you end up as a singer?”
“I am one of those guys who have got music in family legacy I was born into an illustrious musical family- the Darbhanga Dhrupad Tradition, which owes its allegiance to Senia Tradition of the Legendary Tansen. I am Maternal Grandson of PadmaShree Late Pt Siyaram Tiwari, one of the most successful exponents of Dhrupad of all times and Great Grandson of music genius Bihar Ratna Late Pt Ram Prasad Pandey, Naturally, I picked up music from an early age and loved performing, In fact, I had a band named “Antardhvani” during college days. Even with my job I used to perform, However, after a while, I realised I needed to pursue music wholeheartedly. So, I started my music career as a professional.” Replied Sumeet with a humble smile.
Sumeet started learning Indian classical music at a tender age from his grandfather, Sh. Birendra Mohan Pandey and went on to complete Sangeet Prabhakar (B.A) and Sangeet Visharad (M.A.). Since 2008, he is learning Dhrupad under Guru-Shishya Parampara from living legend, senior most artist of Darbhanga tradition, Dhrupad Maestro, Pt Abhay Narayan Mallick, Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee and top grade AIR artist. Sumeet is a recipient of the senior scholarship from Sangeet Natak Akademi in Dhrupad Training program awarded to his Guruji.
“It was a tough decision initially as a career in classical singing, that too Dhrupad is not very rewarding, at least monetarily, but I had the support of my family and I took firm decision of going forward embracing Dhrupad fully.” Added Sumeet, “Besides being a young performer of Dhrupad, I also bring my management skills to use in Dhrupad and organize “Dhrupad Sabha” biannually in, Delhi and Patna, where I bring forward various Hindustani classical, particularly Dhrupad artists to perform ”.
Sumeet is also a Visiting faculty with leading private universities in Delhi NCR, teaching Music and Marketing, respectively to his students, apart from pursuing Ph.D. in Management from FMS, Delhi currently.
This is the advice he has for every youth, “Identify your calling early and surrender yourself completely to it then”.
We wish you all the best and lots of success for your future.
Please do attend his upcoming Dhrupad recitals on Sat, 28th Nov evening ( 7 pm) at Navodit Kalakar Samiti’s (NKS) monthly program. Venue: Gandhi Hindustani Sahitya Sabha (GHSS) opposite Rajghat. And Fri, 18th Dec evening (7 pm) at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre. Entry Free for both.
