Biography

Rita Sahai at her world premiere concert on June 11, 2022: Baanware Sameera ~ “The Passionate Wind”

Rita Sahai is a rare Hindustani vocalist residing in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States. After coming to the United States over three decades ago, Rita Sahai has become well-known as a composer, performer and teacher of Hindustani vocal music.

Her music reveals a theme of emotional depth, healing and harmony. Though inspired by the romance of the Benares Gharana (music style) and the rhythmic complexity of the Seni Alauddin Gharana, Rita strives for additional melodic and emotional depth. Ritaji’s uniqueness comes from her being simultaneously a soulful performer, a brilliant and prolific composer and a venerated music teacher. She is a senior disciple of Sangeet Samrat Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Saheb, and is the only vocalist and composer to carry forward the heritage of the Seni Allaudin Gharana. She has served as an ambassador of India’s rich musical heritage over the three decades that she has been in the United States.

Ritaji conducts classes all over the Bay Area, from Sacramento and Berkeley to Fremont and San Jose. Her students come from varied cultural and musical backgrounds. Through workshops and lectures she has also reached out to the larger non-Indian community and educated them in the intricacies of Hindustani music. Ritaji’s Western students discover a universal appeal and depth of emotion when singing classical ragas, and for her Indian-American students, Ritaji’s classes are a way of reconnecting to the music and culture of their mother country.

Rita Sahai has served as a faculty member at UC Davis, in the department of Ethnomusicology for the past 20 years. She is also director of two choir groups: the UC Davis Hindustani Ensemble and her Vasundhara Choir, which is composed of many of her long-time students.  

In March, 2013 Rita Sahai was inducted into The Alameda County 2013 Women’s Hall of Fame, the first Indian to receive such an honor, and was publicly recognized for her contributions to Culture and Art. Her personal vision is to bring healing, peace and harmony through the universal language of music.

Her personal vision is to bring healing, peace and harmony through the universal language of music.