Vocalist Shubha Mudgal is one of India’s acclaimed exponents of North Indian raag music and specializes in two vocal forms known as khayal and thumri-dadra. As a first-generation professional woman musician, Mudgal is able to view the highly complex, nuanced world of North Indian art music, (often referred to as Hindustani music) as both an insider and outsider. The fact that she does not belong to a hereditary family or community of musicians makes her an outsider in a system that was nurtured and nourished by hereditary lineages of musicians. Simultaneously, her five decades of involvement in the world of Indian music as a student, performer, composer, and teacher grants her the privilege of being an insider. In 2000, she received the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian awards.