Dr. Ranjani Ramachandran is a well-known vocalist of Khayal in the North Indian classical music tradition. She is a versatile musician equally well versed in other forms such as Thumri, Dadra and bhajans. She has performed widely in India and abroad, has collaborated with ethnomusicologists and participated in several inter-disciplinary projects with visual artists. Ranjani is a Ph.D in music and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hindustani Classical Music at Sangit Bhavana, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan in West Bengal.

 

Initiated into music by her mother Vijaya, Ranjani has trained under eminent musicians like Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and Vidushi Girija Devi in Kolkata, Dr. Veena Sahasrabuddhe in Pune and Pandit Kashinath Bodas in Kanpur. She specializes in the Gwalior and Jaipur gharana gayakis.

Ranjani combines an active career as a performing artiste with contributions towards dissemination of Hindustani music at various levels. Ranjani has performed in major music festivals across India and abroad including the Serendipity Arts Festival (Goa), MUSICON (Durham, UK), Vishnu Digambar Jayanti Samaroha (New Delhi), ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelans, Horizon Series ICCR, First Edition Arts, Indian Museum (Kolkata), Suburban Music Circle (Mumbai), Chandigarh Sangeet Sammelan, to name a few.

She has been recognized with a number of distinguished awards and honours including the Charles Wallace Grant from the UK, resident scholarship of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy and the Surmani award. She is empanelled as a performing artiste for ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations), is a graded artiste of AIR and Doordarshan and has many commercial audio CDs to her credit. Ranjani is regularly invited to conduct workshops on Hindustani music and has lectured at institutions such as SPIC MACAY, IIT Guwahati, University of Kashmir and the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata.