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Music is meditation, says Bombay Jayashri
What is music? It is not just singing, listening and experiencing.
It is more than all these put together. Ask senior Carnatic
vocalist Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, she will
vouch for it. In a chat with Sudha Jagannathan,
she asserts that music (of any kind) can play a positive impact
on one who practices it and also on one who partakes in it.
Music brings a sense of discipline, tranquility, fulfillment
and healing. In a way, it is twice-blessed – it blesses
the giver and the receiver.
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Discipline is a key to be a singer
in the first place, says Jayashri. To do an alapana, say in
raga Kambhoji, one has to sit cross-legged for a considerable
span of time. To do that, one requires a lot of discipline.
"There should be control over the pitch and discovery of the
raga,’’ she elaborates. For Jayashri, music is meditation.
In this modern day when `stressed-out’ youngsters and
`tired-out’ elders make a beeline for yoga classes, Jayashri
feels music can come in handy to play the `ache-reliever’
act to perfection.
"Practicing music is akin to doing yoga,’’
she says. Practice of yoga gives one relief from physical and
mental stress. Doing pranayama improves breathing and makes
music presentation a lot easier. Similarly, listening and practicing
music bring tranquility to the mind. If the mind can travel
faster than light, music too can transport one to wherever he/she
wishes. It depends on what the singer/listener is yearning for.
"If you are a Krishna devotee, the Kannan songs could take
you to Dwaraka. Bharatiyar song “Engirundu Varugirado”
could be appealing to someone else,’’ she says.
For some rasikas, tranquility comes through listening to their
favourite singers. So much so, informal fan clubs have sprouted
for many an artiste such as Vijay Siva, Sudha Raghunathan, Sowmya
and others.
"Even Mahatma Gandhi had a favourite artiste. He wanted to
hear the now famous "Hari Tumharo” to be sung by M.S.
Subbulakshmi only. The music of MS was appealing to great public
personalities such as Pandit Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and others.
MS did a big role in promoting Carnatic music in international
sphere. After she donned the role of “Meera,” her
songs on Lord Krishna have become popular even to current generation
of people.
One has to immerse into music, experience it and pursue it without
any agenda. “If you take music for the sake of music,
it will give you back everything,” says Jayashri. Practising
a raga this way, you get a wholesome experience of practicing
all kritis in that raga. This is what guru Lalgudi Jayaraman
has taught Jayashri. And, she says she herself has experienced
it while practicing Sankarabharanam, Begada and other ragas.
"While doing an alapana, repetition is bound to happen. And,
a few fumbles are also likely. A painter gets immense satisfaction
while painting colours of various hues. Each and every colour
will be repeated, no doubt. But a good painting will surely
make the artist feel contended while his work is displayed.
Similarly, while you sing each time and improvise it, you get
a new experience and make the rasikas relate to the music of
legends such as Semmangudi, M.S. Subbulakshmi, M.L.Vasanthakumari
and others,’’ she says.
More than this, music has curative powers. Assorted people and
organizations are still working at various levels to scientifically
chronicle the curative powers of the music. Yet, there is a
conviction among many that music does have a healing power.
"I have heard from people that Ananda Bhairavi helps to reduce
blood pressure. Likewise, Atana helps to reduce the blood sugar,’’
Jayashri says, pointing to people who have experienced it. In
fact, Apollo Hospital has a music therapy wing in Chennai to
treat certain types of ailments.
Music, according to her, is one way to gain peace of mind. "We
need something else other than the daily routine to keep us
going forward. In that way, music helps us a lot. In this stress-filled
world, one can’t depend on anything else. Music gives
satisfaction permanently. We can rely on it at all the times,’’
she says.
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