MUMBAI: Born in the family of legendary musicians, Pallavi Joshi has inherited traditional music and represents the fifth generation of her family. Her training started at the age of five from her grandfather, Pandit Gajananbuva Joshi an eminent violinist and vocalist. She, later on, received her training from her uncle Pandit Madhukar Joshi for more than 25 years in a typical guru-shishya parampara. Here she imbibed the nuances of Gwalior gharana gayaki. She also received guidance from her father Shri Manohar Joshi, her aunt Dr. Sucheta Bidkar and from Pt. Arun Kashalkar.

“When I was in college I would sing a lot of jazz and pop. Some of Asha Bhosle’s songs are very jazzy in nature and I would enjoy performing them a lot. Gradually I shifted from Jazz to other genres of music due to lack of opportunity but I do love singing other styles of music,” says Joshi on being asked if she is interested in other genres of music.

An awardee of Govt. of India National Scholarship for Hindustani Classical vocal for young artistes, Joshi avers, “I really appreciate the government’s effort to preserve our roots. This is not a very popular genre and people who are trying to make a living out of it need some motivation. Survival is very important and the fact that the government is actually making an effort to, if not promote at least support these artistes, something I really respect. I feel very lucky to have been awarded the scholarship.”

In these times when western influences have literally washed off our individuality, Joshi says “It is interesting how the newer generation is showing so much interest in eastern classical music and technology has also made it easier for gurus and shisyas to connect. I have students in the USA who I connect with through Skype so kids these days have so many opportunities to learn but they are so impatient. They want everything done in a minute and I cannot blame them, the world is changing so fast.”

Pallavi has majored in Botany and has also completed her MBA. She worked for a pharmaceutical company before she got into full-time singing. “In my days it was not easy to get recognition. Only if someone picked you up would you get access to the industry, unlike today.”

Pallavi has toured all over the world with her music and is currently dedicated to teaching students, conducting workshops and playing live shows. She says, “It is our responsibility to impart the musical knowledge we have been gifted with because that is probably the least we can do to preserve our rich heritage and this is what my father and uncle taught me without them, you would probably not be interviewing me.”

If you want to listen to her live, you can catch her at ‘Dharohar’ presented by Swar Yatra.

SwarYatra brings together celebrated artistes on a common platform, at a unique concert of classical music titled ‘Dharohar’. Swar Yatra from the past five years has been striving to bring forth the present and upcoming young talent of classical music to the patrons in Chamber (Baithak) style. Dharohar concert will feature Smt. Apoorva Gokhale and Smt. Pallavi Joshi, Pandit Pusparaj Koshti (Surbahar) and Shri. S. Balachander on Chandraveena. The Concert will be held at P. L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy (Mini Theatre), Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi, Mumbai on Sunday, 5 March 2017 from 7 am onwards.