Chandrika Krishnamoorthy Tandon recently won a Grammy Award for her co-album Triveni under the best new age, ambient, or chant album with Grammy-winning flutist Wouter Kellerman and Cellist Eru Matsumototu . (Read more: Grammy Awards 2025: Indian American Chandrika Tandon won the award for Ricky Keji and Anushka Shankar)
“It’s an incredible honor, a great platform, it’s got a lot of attention to my music and work, and it’s also an incredible pour in love and support from so many people.” says Tandon of his Grammy win.
This marks Septuagenarian’s first Grammy victory and second nomination, solidifying her influence in spiritual and healing music. The deep, meditative musical album bridges the soothing sounds of ancient mantras and flute and cello, culture and tradition.
“I don’t really tell you where it should go, how it should go. You need your own course and create your own instructions. Tandon has more information about her creative process. There are also some major projects underway.”
Here is an exclusive interview with her about her music, learning and teaching:
How did Triveni collaboration happen?
For Triveni, the collaboration began with Eru Matsumoto. The idea was because she wanted to do something around sound and healing. That was her dream and vision. I didn’t know Elle. She was reaching out to Uter. They knew each other. He knew my music and loved my songs, so Wouter reached out to me. I didn’t know what it was, but I liked the ideas about healing and health. So I said I would explore ideas.
They began putting together some very simple Western songs sketches. And we all met in New York for a few days. This was the first time we’ve come together musically with a few other producers and engineers, and we brainstormed. While listening to all these works, I began to imagine mantras being added on top of them. I especially imagined the Key and Lagus mantra and used it as a filler to create that healing and happiness. So, this has just turned out to be great, but not without its problems and challenges. Because all three of us came from different traditions. We all love the strong musical will and sound. It was a considerable journey of sharing and learning. Once we got the album skeleton together in New York, we went back to the place. I live in New York, Wouter is in South Africa, ERU is in California, and we work with producers in Amsterdam. We all worked with different people to do the parts within an agreed skeleton. It was a collaborative process, a give-and-take.
What was the artistic difference between the main challenges of collaboration?
It’s always a challenge when it comes from the tradition of doing a lot of music in a certain way, to give other musicians space to listen to. I had to create a distinctive voice from the flute, a distinctive voice from the cello, and a distinctive vocal sound. We couldn’t compete with each other because all three needed space to breathe, but we had to feel we were living together in the same space in a harmonious way. Not there. It’s not easy to achieve. Also, when you live in three different regions of the world, it becomes difficult because differences in time zones exchange music and sometimes things get lost in translation. There’s a debate. They might see something from a western angle, and I was watching it from the raga angle stream. They’ll say, this seems long, why don’t we cut it out? I say, no, you can’t, because that’s a half mantra. You need the entire mantra. These kinds of arguments we had, or I feel that some movement is too repetitive or boring. Even if they overlap, try to cooperate more in certain areas. The beauty of what we create is that three voices and three voices are sometimes in harmony, sometimes separate, sometimes overlapping.
We played with that different mix, so it worked. In some way, in shape, or shape, we got the right balance. We had different ideas about what we did differently, but we achieved what we were trying to do.
Can you tell us about the beginning of your musical journey?
I grew up in a very small and simple environment in Chennai. Music was everywhere there. But then I moved very deeply into the world of academics and business. It was important that I do well in school, so I went to Iim Ahmedabad.
Music was not the central setting of my life. I listened, sang and participated in many extracurricular activities, but it was just aside.
In college, I go to DJ clubs and listen to the records endlessly. That was how my musical life was in business school.
When I was in my 20s, I barely saw the light of day at McKinsey. I worked 24/7 so I didn’t have time to do anything else except to focus on creating and delivering client impact. The music was Friday night. I went home and heard an endless amount of French songs.
When I joined McKinsey, I was given a $5,000 signature bonus for security deposit, rent and furniture. I bought two with that money. This bought a stereo system that costs around $1,800 and a Martin guitar that costs around $2,500. One of the things I brought from India was a collection of records, so listening to my records on this very beautiful stereo system was the greatest pleasure.
I had less than $500 left to eat, live, or do anything for a month. I had rice and cilantro chutney. I slept on a sheet with pillows on a hard floor, listening to the best music and had a great guitar.
And, fortunately, I got paid and I could have done more, but I didn’t consider it a loss. I didn’t think I was sacrificing anything. For me, the joy of owning Martin was a lifelong dream. I took a lesson and the sound of strumming it and playing the simplest EFG chord was a great pleasure. I didn’t care about the comfort of the food, shelter or creatures. That was that I had clothes, my work, and my music.
How about your classical music training?
When I was little, I took carnatic music classes for several years. My mother brought the teacher home and took classes every week. The teacher comes over for an hour and teaches us. It was not an intense training at all. He taught us a lot of songs.
In the meantime, my mother studied Veena, where she took classes with her young children. The music was around and I learned to play Veena while watching her. That was my training in Carnatic music. Years later, I was a very big master and even more back to Hindustani music, a little more carnatic music. After that, my training was much more in Hindustani music.
How do you find the current music scene?
I’m not really in the music scene. I was a listener for all kinds of music. All these musicians were like iconic, etheric figures from the stratospheric that just came to you through the radio. I’ve heard of rebirth singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, and Ms Subbulakshmi. This was before YouTube. I couldn’t afford to buy concert tickets.
I remember hearing Subalakshmi sing on a musical mackerel that is very close to my house. During the December music season they set up a big that roof.
I liked the second half of the concert. Because in the first half they do all these big ragas and everything. Still, in the second half of the concert, Subbulakshmi sang a song with Meera Bhajan.
At one stage, I was standing on the street peering into the singer’s palm leaves and now I think I can actually play on stage. I never imagined it, and my music wasn’t for performance, even when it became a central stage. My music was not intended to make an album. My music was initially for me, but then I started to create albums that grew from there. But that’s still the case today. I love music and it makes me happy, so I love sharing it when it makes others happy.
Have you conveyed your musical legacy?
I have one daughter who is an incredible musician. She is a singer and a great pianist, but she does not pursue a life of music. She is extremely talented, studying piano for many years and created a lot of music for her a cappella group when she was in college. She now has a child and sings to them.
For me, the most beautiful part of this journey, and I hope it accelerates a lot – that many young people come to me and understand what these chants mean.
I remember my 4 year old grandson asked me, Ammu, what is the light? How can I know I have the light? When I did Ammu’s treasure (in my previous album, I included these chants in a different format), I think these are questions that everyone should ask or think about their own answers.
Do you have any messages to emerging musicians?
One of my teachers said there are three stages of music learning, practice and internalization. One is when you are actively practicing – when you are sitting there singing, scales and riyaz, and singing practice and actual physical singing. The other part is listening. Because listening is also a way of learning, and the third part is so counterintuitive that the way you grow in music is not a linear curve, so it’s silent. There are breaks and plateaus. You learn something and then there’s a break. Hearts and cells need time to adjust and absorb as they reach the next level.
Do readers have final thoughts?
One of the reasons and beautiful results of what happened at Triveni, and one of the moments we are in is the one that we are in is the whole of our population, whether it be India, the US or parts of the world, especially the youth. In different segments, mental anxiety and stress became a much more central stage. It’s not much criticized for talking about it and owning it.
Health and happiness are important topics. What I have done through mantras over the past few years uses these ancient Vedic sounds to resonate and influence far beyond our understanding, but today is very important.
My teachers would always say it whenever I asked them. Go and try it yourself.
Our masters have worked very hard to teach us about the sound of the Vedas. Chanting is a very easy way to access them. This rich ancient wisdom is a great gift that we can use to ask, to take, and in this age.
