Singer Shanti Hiranand, 87 years old, passed away this Friday morning, at a hospital in Gurgaon. Nishchint Chawla, her son, said, “She had a brief ailment, and was in the hospital since Sunday. But her condition got worse last night and she passed away this morning. I wish people could have come, all those who cherished and celebrated her music. But due to the lockdown only our family was there.”
Shantiji is a Renowned Hindustani classical singer. She was awarded the Padma Shri in the year 2007. She took her training from legendary Begum Akhtar, in thumri, dadra and ghazal singing. Shantiji has been upholding an era, performing as the connection to her guru, who passed away in 1974. She has been performing as well as imparting her knowledge in the heritage of Begum Akhtar. Even in her last few months, she was diligently teaching, to keep the great singer’s tradition alive.
Begum Akhtar once said, “if you want to hear my music after my death, hear it through Shanti's singing.” In order to restore her relationship, Shanti wrote a memoir in 2005, called ‘Begum Akhtar: The Story of My Ammi’. She wrote about how she first came to meet Akhtar. Around that time, Shanti was working for All India Radio and Akhtar had just retired from her music career. Shanti admits that she was clueless about her music or what she wanted to learn from her. Soon after that, she began classes and even moved into Akhtar’s house for the same reason.
Being Begum’s last student and the only prodigy left in the tradition, she upheld the spirit of an era for the last five decades. This now comes to an end.
