Vandana Vishwas

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vandana Vishwas

• When Vandana was just 2 days old, a nurse mistakenly injected an unsterilized syringe into her left hip due to which she developed a septic infection, causing her 24/7 chronic and acute pains. She is fighting a lifelong partial immobility in her left leg due to this septic arthritis.

• Vandana’s childhood years were spent in Korba, Chhattisgarh. She was born with a blessed voice and could easily sing difficult songs even at the age of 4.

• She was 5 years old when she began to learn music lessons. Her first Gurus were Pandit Parashuram Sharma and Mrs. Vimla Soni.

  

• At the age of 8, she suffered from serious tonsillitis which started to damage her vocal cords. She was not allowed to sing for 4 years during the time of her homoeopathic treatment for this health problem.

• Vandana participated and won in many local and regional singing competitions during her school days.

• She was underage (16 years old) when she received her Sangeet Virashad degree from ABGMM Institute. It was given to her as an exception.

• Vandana worked as a part-time singer at All India Radio while she was pursuing her B.Arch degree. Her voice was noticed there by Ustaad Ahmed and Mohammed Hussain, who trained her in ghazal singing.

  

• In 1993, months after her degree was over, she was invited by the Doordarshan (national television of India) to perform on TV.

  

• When Vandana was working at All India Radio, Mr. D.K. Gandhe composed music for her. He was her mentor.

• She has performed at ‘Acharya Brihaspati Sammelan’ conducted by Sur Singar Samsad, Mumbai. After that, many Bollywood music directors approached her but she chose to pursue a career in architecture due to her physical limitations.

• Vandana worked as an architect in Dubai for some years and then moved to Canada with her husband. After a 22-year career in architecture, she decided to come back to music as a full-time career in 2009.

• Her singing style is unique for her collaboration of  Indian and Western music, where she blends Rock, Pop, Flamenco, African, Ballad, Chinese Erhu, and Country music with her Indian classical voice for Geet, Ghazals, Nazms, and Thumri.

• Apart from singing in Hindi and Urdu languages, she also sings in Marathi, Punjabi, Bangla, Tamil, Gujarati, Rajasthani, and Manipuri languages.

• Her husband, who was her collegemate, co-produces music with Vandana. All the guitar beats to Vandana’s songs were given by him. He hails from Bangalore.

  

• Vandana and her husband designed and marketed her debut album, ‘Meera – The Lover…’ all by themselves. The songs in this album are inspired by the 16th-century Indian poet Meera’s love poetry for Krishna. The album cover is also inspired by their story, where the ‘ektara’ and ‘flute’ represent the instruments of Meera and Krishna.

• Her other albums are titled Monologues (2013), Samarsiddha (2014), Parallels (2016), Nav Varsh Mangalkamna Geet (2021), and Kabeera-The Thinker (2023).

• Vandana is also a live performer and has been singing on stage since 2009. She has sung in events and concerts like the Latin-Afro-South Asian Cultural Concert and the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).

• Vandana’s fans often compare her voice to the legendary Indian singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

• She has been featured in several popular newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV stations as an independent artist, with no label, artist manager or booking agent working for her.

• Her album, ‘Parallels’ topped the RMR (Root Music Report) World charts in 2016, and stayed there for four weeks in a row. It also topped the Earshot National International charts in Canada.

• Vandana also sings to raise funds for the victims affected by natural calamities or human tragedy.

  

• Vandana is a hardcore traveller and foodie. Her Instagram account has many pictures of her food from various places. She is fond of trying snacks, drinks, and food from different locations.

• Vandana has been a part of an art project, ‘Our Temple Of Madness: The Summoning in Nelson,’ BC, Canada. As a part of the project, she sang a Hindi devotional song ‘Prem Jo Anant Ho Gaya’, two Bangla songs ‘Bolchi Gaane Gaane’ and Mon-Pakhi’, and a female version of the Meiti song ‘Malangba.’

• Vandana is serving as a teacher and principal in the ‘Vandana’s School of Indian Music,’ Mississauga, Canada since 2007.

• She loves to spend time in nature and believes it works as therapy.