Sharada Mushti is a Rudraveena player, trained in Dhrupad, the oldest form of Indian Classical music. She is a disciple of Pandit Brijbhushan Goswami renowned scholar, musician and Dhrupad vocalist of the very highly respected Darbhanga Gharana. He is known for his melodic aesthetic and powerful expressiveness, conveyed through a rare selection of compositions from the timeless traditions of his native Brajabhoomi. The Darbhanga Gharana is one of the oldest existing traditions of dhrupad. This ancient tradition is embodied in the stunning force of Alapa, the incessant flow of laya joined with the finest literature (poetry) and is influenced both by Khandar vani and Gauhar vani.

A self driven musician, Sharada knew at a young age of 10 that music was her medium of expression, particularly Indian classical arts. Growing up in the Sultanate of Oman, with a lack of resources, she took to singing Bhajans and was naturally drawn to traditional and ancient content. Thus began her search for the “vernacular” style and sound. She studied a variety of music and dance forms of India and the world, the bamboo flute both Hindustani and Carnatic styles, Carnatic violin, Kathak, western guitar, a variety of western singing styles including Jazz and Blues. She believes that one’s journey is always a preparation for what the future holds and feels she was being led to the rudraveena where her pining for a pure sound rests.

A trained architect, Sharada was keen to study local vernacular architecture soon after graduating she moved to Kerala to learn from the world renowned architect Laurie Baker, master of vernacular architecture. He impressed upon her the core fundamentals of aesthetics, form and function, balance and proportion, rhythm and progression, scale and measure. These are the very principles that connect music and architecture and looking back today she realises that her training in the classical arts started very early and that music is the threshold in her life.

Sharada received initial training from Pandit Rajeev Janardan, one of the greatest Sitar players of Etawah Imdadkhani gharana. The internationally renowned virtuoso gave her a complete training in the rudraveena, in all aspects of technique and execution. Under his guidance she learnt the subtleties of raga, bhava and rasa. True to his musical genius, he instilled the melodious gayaki ang and the dexterity of tantrakari ang in her style of playing. A graded artist of All India Radio, she is a Sangeet Prabhakar and has performed at various concerts across Europe and India