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Bombay Jayashri Ramnath
By Sudha Jagannathan
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Wealth, more wealth and still more wealth. That
may be Adam Smith's theory of wealth creation. Music,
more music and still more music. That is the philosophy
that defines this classical vocal musician. After
receiving the "Kalki Award" at Bharthya
Vidya Bhavan in Chennai in 2002, she said she knew
nothing other than music.
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She breathes it. She lives
by it. And, life revolves around just the music.
She is a Mom's girl and a Mother's dream. More than
anybody else, mother Seetha Subramaniam is the one
who shaped the musician in Bombay Jayashri. Today,
Seetha should be a happy mother. Jayashri is not
just among leading vocalists of the present time.
She has also a voice that has civilizing influence
on the listener.
Jayashri, as a young girl, was always fond of cultural
activities. And, she never missed an opportunity
to participate in such activities. Never mind, it
meant skipping classes. Though she was going to
college, her mind was always drawn to music. It
was naturally no surprise when she joined an orchestra
group "Rainbow" and got fully engaged
with it. A vibrant young girl, she was exposed to
all forms of art. In one of her interviews, Jayashri
asserted that "youngsters who wished to take
music as their career need not go for commerce but,
on the contrary, can devote their full time for
music.'' Drowned fully into music, Jayashri dreams
of an ideal situation where over 20 acres of land
is developed and dedicated only for imparting/learning
music.
Jayashri did her schooling and college in Mumbai.
She is a commerce graduate from Podar College, Mumbai.
She took her early music lessons under the guidance
of T.R.Balamani of Mumbai. Jayashri was exposed
to all form of arts like veena, dance and music
since her childhood. Her mother Seetha was her guru,
philosopher and the guide. It was she who encouraged
her to devote full time to Carnatic music. At a
tender age of three years, Jayashri was able to
render the varnams with ease while her mother was
teaching older students.
The year 1989 marked a watershed in her music life.
That was the year in which Jayashri shifted her
base to Chennai at the request of Shri.Lalgudi Jayaraman
(Violin maestro). And after this, the entire course
of her life changed. She slowly and steadily started
to scale new peaks under Jayaraman's guidance. Sooner
than later, Jayashri has become one of the top artistes.
Music has taken her to countries like the U.S.,
Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand,
the Middle East, the U.K., France, Germany, Switzerland,
Finland, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Botswana.
She has also composed music for Silappadhikaram,
a dance drama in the year 2004, produced by Cleveland’s
Cultural Alliance. Being Lalgudi Jayaraman’s
disciple she has brought out her prowess in scoring
music for Silappadhikaram verses. Jayashri was to
a large extent responsible for its tremendous success.
Jayashri presents her concerts in an unique manner.
She chooses rare and vivadi ragas for exploration
in select sabhas and enthralls the audience with
her spellbound music. Jayashri's approach to music
is steady and unhurried. There is a touch of divinity
in her rendition of music. The melody in her voice
has the ability to force one to be rooted to his/her
chair while listening to her concerts. What stands
her out is the crystal clear clarity in the way
she pronounces the phrases in a Sahitya. This makes
her an absorbing vocalist. She has even made the
Finnish and French audiences - who may not understand
the nuances of the Carnatic classical music - stay
riveted to their seats at her concerts abroad.
Jayashri is also well known for her albums. She
has a unique style of presenting her albums. Each
and every album is creative and captivating. Vatsalyam,
Brindavan, Listners Choice, Shyama, Radha Madhavam,Chiselled
Aesthetics, Classical Melodies, Dikshitar Kritis,
Atma, Carnatic Classical, Your Favourites, Shravanam,
Amritham and Anubhavam - the list is quite long
and are like pearls embedded in a garland . Jayashri
has recently released an album titled "Panchabhutams,"
comprising songs composed by Muthuswamy Dikshitar.
It is an effort well appreciated for the combination
of orchestration and rendition of pure Carnatic
music. Jayashri has won many an accolade like `Isai
Peroli', `Yuva Kala Bharathi' and “Kalaimamani”
. She has won the Film Fare award for the song "Vassegara".
Jayashri is very soft spoken. She is not demonstrative
in spite of having a command over the music. She
pines to learn more. She treasures even a small
bit of information related to music and knowledge.
Jayashri is a book-reader and nature-loving personality.
She also made a mark as a writer by publishing her
maiden book titled “Voices Within” based
on seven great musicians from carnatic music. She
co-authored this book with T.M.Krishna and Mythili
Chandrasekhar.
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