"I was born in a city called Borea, India. And it was an educational city where there is a music college and a good well known called… faculty arts science college, medical school was there. I grew up in a family, my father was a physician and my father had a dream or a vision that he wants… he wanted his children to learn music so they can be humble. And, that is whole… his reason put us today in the music world. And, he spent time, energy, money, you tell me to bring teachers at home or go to the colleges and spend hours and hours, years and years to make sure that we become a musician. And, I grew up in a big family also. Um, royalties… they always come to our home and, uh, my mother was a silent worker, helper, saw the gurus… gurus means the teachers. Guru means the, gu means the ignorance, ru means to dispel your ignorance. So, our gurus come to our home and she… she served everybody snack and chai and everything and that’s what I grew up and I spend six to eight hours practicing since the age of six. There was no mercy, twenty-four seven to learn sitar."
A sitar artist of international fame, Hasu Patel is also a visionary composer and educator. She began studying music as a child in the city of Baroda, India, where she made her first public appearance at the age of ten. Studying under Professor N.B. Kikani and Ustad Anwar Khan Sahib, she is the first woman to receive a music degree with a Gold medal in the 75-year history of the performing arts program, M.S. University, Baroda. Her instrument is especially difficult to master: Patel plays a unique style knwon as Gayaki Ang (vocal style), which mimics the fluidity of the human voice. Since moving to the United States, Patel has taught courses on Classical Music of India at the Conservatory of Music, Oberlin College, Ohio. She is also a board member of the International Alliance of Women in Music (IAWM). An innovative composer, Patel has also composed two Sitar Concertos that blended classical Indian Ragas with Western Orchestral music performed by the Doctors Orchestra of Houston and the Plymouth Canton Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed at the 2019 Woodstock 50th anniversary, the Chicago Asian Jazz Festival, and the Women in Music Festival at the Eastman School of Music.
Hasu Patel's Traditions episode.
Hasu Patel's personal website.
"Ohio Heritage Fellow Hasu Patel Proves There's Power in Perseverance"
Contents of the Collection
- Album versions of several Ragas including "Yaman Kalyan" and "Kirwani"
- Album versions of music from Om Shanti, a guided yoga album, featuring sitar by Hasu Patel
- Newspaper article titled "The Genius of Hasu Patel"
- Interior leaflets for a class offered by Patel teaching grade school students about Indian music
- Images of Patel performing for a class at Hilliard Elementary School, OH
- Images of Patel teaching as the artist-in-residence at Lafayette College