Chandrika Tandon’s New Album Provides A Transcendence For Emotional Well-Being

Chandrika Tandon went from being a C-suite executive at McKinsey to a Grammy Award-winning artist as a globally recognized voice in the world of world music. Tandon had what she calls a “crisis of spirit,” realizing that the happiest moments of her life were connected to music. This meant finding a greater balance between her intensive career and singing. “My intent was not to perform or win awards. I simply wanted to spend a few hours a day singing because it brought me great happiness. It transformed into something bigger after the homegrown album I made as a gift for my father-in-law’s 90th birthday acquired a cult following. Then my first studio album was nominated for a Grammy,” she added.

The Vedic genre continues to gain momentum with billions of followers worldwide and in the U.S., fueled by the growing popularity of yoga, mindfulness, and Eastern healing practices. In her latest album, Soul Ecstasy, she invites listeners into a transcendent soundscape of healing and spiritual awakening. This is her seventh studio album under her non-profit label, Soul Chants Music. Her previous works include the GRAMMY®-nominated Soul Call and the GRAMMY®-winning Triveni (Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album), solidifying her as one of the few artists bringing chant-based music into the mainstream spotlight.

“Thousands of Vedic texts are over 6,000 years old. These were “downloaded” by the sages in their deep meditations and have been orally handed down, surviving the test of time. Many of these texts have syllables with very specific intentions and impacts. For example, continuousrepetition of the five syllables na-mah-shi-va-ya is said to purify the five elements of the body. Om-na-mo-na-ra-ya-na-ya is said to harmonize the body as the cells go through their rejuvenation processes. These pieces of wisdom, with many others, are codified in the ancient texts. The increased use of these is because people are beginning to understand them and feel their power as they repeat or listen to them. They move something within them. Even I didn’t completely understand their full impact until I started receiving thousands of emails from people who told me how my albums that used these phrases helped them conquer alcoholism or find incredible degrees of solace during times of illness or grief. They became a means for many people to find their own healing,” Tandon explained. “That was also my journey. This Vedic wisdom helped me transform my life and find a radiant, deep inner joy in a very dramatic way. The rising popularity is due to people discovering and experiencing the benefits. It’s a process that requires you to stay with it until you reach the takeoff point when the benefits become palpable.”

Tandon’s mission is to elevate human happiness through music and education, working on the dual prongs of emotional and economic well-being. Her passion for fostering emotional well-being is focused on emanating love, joy, and transcendence through her music and artistry. As The New York Times wrote, Chandrika traveled an “unlikely path to become an internationally recognized Indian singer.” At the height of her business career, she reevaluated her life and definitions of success, reformulating her business life to intentionally include music, service, and meditation.

Her newest album, Soul Ectasy, encompasses how her journey with music evokes emotion, “This album evokes deep ecstasy within me and also the few people who have listened to it while creating it. Soul Ecstasy seemed like the perfect title. In my journey with music, I continue to experience many stages — stillness, peace, joy, and ecstasy. It creates a bubbling up of the joy that cannot be contained, a very potent internal stimulant. The energy and rhythm of communal singing dials up that feeling. That is the tone of this album, which combines incredible world sounds, Indian artists, and ancient texts for a true global album. For me and for our production and for the people who have listened to it, that is the exact feeling this album evokes. Vedic texts, which I have drawn liberally from, are incredibly diverse, including invocations, verses of gratitude and love and blessings, prayers to the planet, and supplications for the well-being of mankind,” she stated. “ I hope it will lead to a range of emotions on the road to ecstasy. In the ancient days, the Bhakti tradition brought people together to express their love for the divine through the joyous and ecstatic communal singing of very beautiful, complex pieces of call-and-response music. I just want others to reach their inner selves so that they can open up their hearts during their own journey and connect with the divine ecstatically, in whatever form they believe in. I have tried to make complex ragas simple enough so people can sing along with me, which is the hallmark intention of most of my work.”

Since 2005, under her non-profit music label, Soul Chants Music, Chandrika has released six albums – Ammu’s Treasures, Shivoham – The Quest, Soul March, Soul Mantra, GRAMMY®-nominated Soul Call in the Contemporary World Music category, and GRAMMY®-winning Triveni in Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant. Her music draws on ancient Vedic chants that have a sound healing impact and melds it with Indian classical music, and has attracted a wide cult following. She has conducted numerous benefit concerts on world stages to sold-out audiences, including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Nassau Coliseum, Times Square, premier European venues, and Washington DC’s National Mall for hundreds of thousands of attendees of the World Culture Festival. She has been named the Young People’s Chorus of New York City’s 2024-2025 Artist in Residence.

In addition to her music, Tandon’s economic well-being efforts are focused on higher education, in particular STEM, where she brings to bear her considerable business experience as one of the earliest and youngest partners of McKinsey & Company, and founder and Chair of her advisory firm, Tandon Capital Associates. She chairs the Board of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, named after her family’s generous gift. This school has been a transformation success story, with a steady rankings climb, and proudly offers enhanced access to first-generation and women students. NYU Tandon is involved in world-class groundbreaking research in areas like cybersecurity and wireless. Tandon is a Trustee of New York University, Chair of NYU’s Global Council, and a Trustee of NYU Langone Health. She is a Harold Acton Fellow at NYU and a Sterling Fellow at Yale, where she serves on the President’s Council on International Activities. She is the founder and patron of Madras Christian College’s Boyd-Tandon School of Business, and her Foundation has established faculty Chairs at Yale and Harvard Universities. Tandon is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Investment Committee and serves as a Governor of the New York Academy of Sciences.

She was recently honored with the Ban-Ki Moon Award for Women’s Empowerment, Diwali at Times Square’s Woman of the Year Award, Maharishi International University’s Maharishi Award for the Area of Celebrations and Fulfillment, the Voice Foundation’s Voice Education Research Awareness Award, the ASCAP Foundation’s Champion Award, and the South Asian Council for Social Services’ Music for Healing Award.