About
Anup Jalota, born 29 July 1953 in Nainital, is one of India's most celebrated devotional and ghazal singers, popularly known as the Bhajan Samrat, the Emperor of Bhajans. He belongs to the Sham Chaurasia gharana, trained at Lucknow's Bhatkhande Music Institute, and is the son of the bhajan singer Purushottam Das Jalota. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2012 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2020.
Over a career of more than five decades and thousands of concerts across five continents, Jalota made bhajans such as Aisi Lagi Lagan, Rang De Chunariya and Chadariya Jhini Re Jhini part of the popular devotional canon, while also building a substantial ghazal repertoire. He continues to tour internationally and record prolifically, and leads Mission 500, an initiative to launch a new generation of devotional singers.
The artistry
Jalota sings the bhajan with a warm, accessible voice and clear devotional feeling, usually backed by santoor, sarangi and tabla, making complex devotional poetry immediate and moving for ordinary listeners. Trained in Hindustani classical music, he applies that discipline lightly, prizing sincerity and melody over display, and is equally at ease in the ghazal. His unfussy, heartfelt style has made him the most recognisable popular voice of Hindi devotional song.
Jalota is a marquee name for any devotional or bhajan-and-ghazal programme, with unmatched reach among diaspora and festival audiences. A host can programme a bhajan sandhya, a ghazal evening, or a themed devotional concert around him. [Atlas Assessment]
Anup Jalota is the pre-eminent popular voice of the Hindi bhajan, who carried Indian devotional music to a global audience and gave the form mass appeal. Known as the Bhajan Samrat and a Padma Shri awardee, he brought devotional song from the temple and concert hall into homes, television and the diaspora through hundreds of recordings. His decades of work have kept bhajan singing central to India's popular devotional culture.