ARTISTS

Gaayatri Kaundinya is a Hindustani vocalist, composer/music director, and musical
artist.

As a Hindustani vocalist, she hails from the Maihar-Senia gharana, having trained under
the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, beginning her vocal training from him in the traditional
Guru-Shishya parampara at the age of 4 until she turned 18. She started giving public
performances from the age of 7, and became a touring musician at the age of 18. She
has performed at prestigious venues and events in India and the US including the
Jaipur Literature Festival, ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata, and the SF
World Music Festival. Her repertoire consists of traditional Dhrupad style raaga
development, Khyaal renditions, as well as Thumri, Ghazal, Dadra, Bhajans, and Folk in
the unique Maihar vocal style. She is currently working on recording and releasing new
music on her Hindustani youtube channel, “Gaayatri Hindustani.” She also teaches
students, and is the founder of a non-profit organization called “The Avartan
Foundation” dedicated to promoting Indian music and musicians of today’s generation.
As a composer/music director, she brings her years of training in Hindustani music with
her music production experience studying film scoring at UCLA and music production
and engineering at Berklee College of Music. She has worked with AR Rahman as a
studio assistant, and later went on to compose for projects of her own. She also
established her own music production company called Chai Time Studios. She has
worked on media projects such as Disney Jr.’s series “Mira Royal Detective” where she
contributed work to all songs in Season 2. Her Hindustani influenced choral
composition “Pani Ka Rang” was recently premiered at the Lincoln Center performed
live by the National Children’s Chorus. She is currently working on music directing and
scoring a web-series called “Dallas Diaries,” and is scoring a short film called “Mysore
Magic.”

As a musical artist, she blends her Indian vocals with mainstream popular styles with a
unique twist. Her knack for blending Hindustani music seamlessly into pop music
styles has made her a feature in film and television. Her original song “Suno Apni
Awaaz,” written for Disney Jr.’s series “Shake Your Tail With Chip ’n Dale” garnered
over a quarter million views within a few short months of release. She is also the
featured voice behind the hit films “Million Dollar Arm,” “Hundred Foot Journey,” and
“Pelé: Birth of a Legend” scored by AR Rahman. Her film/tv credits notably include
“The Lion King,” “The Jungle Book,” “The Addams Family 2,” “The Voice,” and most
recently, she sang and wrote South Asian melodies for Marvel Studios’ hit new show,
“Ms. Marvel.” She has also sung live and recorded with many popular artists such as
Carlos Santana, Angelique Kidjo, Jared Leto, Justin Timberlake, Chris Stapleton,
Camila Cabello, Billie Eilish, and PHINNEAS.