How Charu Suri turned grief and exhaustion into Grammy-nominated Shayan

For Charu Suri, the journey to her Grammy-nominated album Shayan began not with inspiration, but with exhaustion. After three years of relentless touring and virtuosic performances, the Indo-American jazz composer reached a breaking point.

“I am used to playing virtuosically and touring nonstop for three years, and the intensity of it eventually caught up with me. Coupled with the tumultuous global events, my resilience snapped, and I wanted something softer, more human and comforting,” Suri recalled.

The result is Shayan, an album dedicated to her mother, who struggled with sleep after her father's death. Drawing on the deeply healing power of evening ragas, Suri, 49, crafted a composition that transcends conventional wellness music—a complex, orchestral work designed for restoration and calm. The album has earned a nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 2026 Grammys.

The Architecture of Serenity

Shayan, which translates to sleep in Sanskrit, draws from evening ragas like Kalyani, Desh, Jog, and Bagesri, each carefully selected to evoke different facets of calm and rest. But Suri's approach was far from formulaic. She studied numerous evening ragas before choosing the ones that resonated most deeply with her artistic vision.

“Raga Jog, for example, is a deep and melancholic raga that shows us that not all evenings will be happy and cheery events. For this, I turned to the beautiful cello playing of Tess Remy-Schumacher. Nightingale, which was the first piece I composed for Shayan, uses the bird-like scale patterns of Raga Bagesri," she said.

The sonic architecture emerged organically, with Suri deliberately crafting each piece's sound, orchestration, and texture. Working with musicians including flautist Premik Russell Tubbs, guitarist Jim Kimo West, and cellist Tess Remy-Schumacher, and produced by Siddhant Bhatia, she ensured the music had “plenty of pauses, rests, dynamic flow while staying true to the core and power of the evening ragas.”

Bhatia has also been nominated for a Grammy for Best Global Music Album for Sounds of Kumbha.

Charu Suri

Breaking ground as an Indian-origin composer

Suri's Grammy nomination holds particular significance as one of the first Indian-origin composers recognised in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category. For her, the recognition represents more than personal achievement.

“It gives me hope that female Indian composers can emerge and solidify their presence and above all, their influence in this category....Already, I have a lot of people emailing me to say how much they have been influenced by my raga jazz. It is just the beginning of ragas and our music,” she said.

Her optimism about Indian ragas integrating into global contemporary music is grounded in observation. She notes a deeper understanding emerging across genres, citing AR Rahman as “an excellent example of someone who has straddled both worlds and made ragas mainstream.”

AI, Artistry, and Authenticity

When asked about artificial intelligence's rapidly expanding role in music composition and production, Suri takes a measured stance. AI for her is a buzzword, and it remains to be seen how much of an impact that buzzword will have in the longer term.

“I can't see any human creation and command on music disappearing anytime soon. I don't rely upon, or use AI ever in the creation of my work, and that's not necessarily a good or bad thing (there are many creative artists who use Chat GPT to help them come up with titles etc.). I see AI as a creative collaborator at best,” she added.

Her commitment to human artistry is evident in Shayan's production process—a completely acoustic endeavour with no virtual instruments or technological embellishments. “We toyed with the idea of ambient sounds, but ultimately did not go in that direction. It's a purely instrumental acoustic album,” she noted.

Also read: ‘Find me an AI that’s had a heartbreak’: Raghu Dixit on creativity, India’s changing music scene & more

Beyond Wellness Music

While Shayan has gained traction in the growing wellness music market, Suri resists the categorisation.

“I actually don't think of Shayan as ‘Wellness music' but more as an orchestral composition that has aspects of wellness in it," she clarifies. “Musically, Shayan is quite complex, with a lot of deliberate, slow phrases and sometimes counterpoint that is often found in classical and sometimes in the jazz landscape, and hardly ever in 'wellness' music. But the evening ragas are healing, and the use of these modal scales is what gives Shayan its healing nature. It's quite its own thing,” she added.

Fair Credit in a Complex Industry

In an era of streaming and global collaborations, where royalty distribution for instrumental and cross-genre music remains notoriously complex, Suri takes a meticulous approach to crediting her collaborators.

“All of my musicians' metadata is painstakingly input in the distribution credits, and in the production credits across all platforms...This is something I take very seriously: credit where it is due. That is why you'll see artist names in all platforms, and also the producer credits,” she explained.

Looking Ahead to 2026

With Shayan receiving international acclaim, Suri's calendar for 2026. She has numerous concerts scheduled, including her sixth Carnegie Hall appearance on November 13, performances in Bermuda, and a planned concert in India in April.

Perhaps most exciting is her work on orchestrating Shayan, with several orchestras expressing interest in premiering that format. For an album conceived in moments of personal vulnerability and dedicated to healing, its evolution into a full orchestral work represents a remarkable journey.

“We are living in a world where our nervous system is getting increasingly affected by stress and outside events, and we need to prioritise our health above all," she reflects—a philosophy that has guided her from burnout to Grammy recognition, and now toward an even broader artistic horizon.

Also Read: Royalty regime improved, but 95% still don’t pay for public performances, says Javed Akhtar