Hemant Chauhan

Hemant Chauhan is a singer of bhajans, devotional songs, and Gujarati folk music. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of art, from Gujarat ^[1].

A clerk who would not stop singing

Chauhan was born on 2 April 1955 and grew up in Kundani, a small village in Jasdan taluka of Rajkot district, where he went to primary school ^[2]. He took a degree in economics in Rajkot and worked as a clerk in several Gujarat government departments ^[2]. But wherever bhajans were being sung, he would join in, and in time he gave up the government job to sing full time ^[2].

He trained in classical music in Rajkot from 1971, and in 1976 he was selected as a B-grade artist by All India Radio, Rajkot, a turning point in his life ^[2]. Over the years he rose to the radio’s top grade, and hundreds of his recordings are kept in its library ^[2].

Songs from the villages

He sings bhajans to the ektara, the single-stringed folk instrument, which sets him apart from other singers ^[2]. Travelling through small villages of Saurashtra, he has searched out hymns by famous and unknown saint poets ^[2]. Besides old bhajans, he has sung many folk and garba songs and lent his voice to Gujarati films ^[2].

He has been linked with the Sangeet Natak Akademi for about 25 years and has performed at its events in India and abroad, including Japan, France, Britain, the United States, Canada and New Zealand ^[2]. He has sung more than 8,200 compositions and received the Gujarat government’s Gaurav Puraskar ^[2].