Proud Traditionalist
Meet the singer as a philosopher-politician. Dusky, delicate, a half-smile on her face, Meeta Pandit is a zealot in the art of gentle persuasion. "Singing is a noble art and a good exercise," she will tell you. "The singer fears no evil; he forgets all worry and is happy ..." Or she, the first female torch-bearer of the Gwalior gharana, as versatile with her words as singing khayal, tappa, thumri or bhajan.

Daughter and disciple of Laxmanrao Pandit, she grew up singing snatches of khayal in the same way some children are taught nursery rhymes. Meeta's repertoire has great range -- and conviction. Her first album, Footsteps, is just out and she says she will do nothing that strays from a purist tradition. "It's very easy to fall into the trap of imitative sentimentalism," Meeta says. "But that is not singing." She's saying: "I'm a traditionalist and proud of it, so sue me." Don't. You'll get more out of it.