The nightingale of today’s India, Bombay Jayashree talks to DNA about her upcoming concert in the city, her music and much more...

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We’ve often wondered what the ‘Bombay’ in Bombay Jayashri meant — is it a name taken to speak of Bombay connections or a naming tradition that has long been lost with time?I grew up in Bombay and when I came to Chennai, they immediately gave me the prefix ‘Bombay’! It is a charming practice in Chennai to do this as a way of identification. So my guru is ‘Lalgudi’ Jayaraman, named so, after his village and ‘Bangalore’ Nagaratnamma, named after your city, and many more. And no, no one has called me ‘Mumbai’ Jayashri after the name change there!You are accredited with having been one of the few Carnatic singers who indulges and freely combines with other styles of music? How would you define your own style and how do you manage to be so tolerant in a system that so thoroughly patronises orthodoxy?When one grows up in an environment that listens to music because it is beautiful, because it inspires, elevates and not because it conforms to a style or a genre, then life is just a song to be heard and sung. I was blessed with such an environment all through my life — from my parents’ home to my Guru’s view of music. Anything that touches me seeps into me and becomes a part of me, and becomes my path. How can one miss out on the beauty of different forms of music as a rasika, which is what I am and will remain — always wanting more! I am always going to be rasika.Kannada music, poetry and composition is nothing new to you; who are your favourite artistes from the state, irrespective of genre and style?I am blessed to be singing compositions by greats like Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Vadiraja and the beauty of the lyrics is simply captivating.Listening To Life — The Journey Of A Raga, sounds like a performance that will see the coming together of many styles and forms that you hold dear. Could you tell us a little bit more about what Bangalore can look forward to and how the whole idea came about?Styles, forms and genres are what we create. Like the political borders on the map of the world that we do not see if we were to look at the earth from the moon. Music that touches the heart is beyond genres, styles and forms. It is the intellect that analyses later on, what the form was. Often, it does not matter to the heart.

In Listening To Life, my attempt is to become a rasika, a passionate listener, while performing for you. I do the journey of a listener along with you. The programme was conceptualised by all of us in the team. It has been one of the most fulfiling musical experiences for me. It was a free-flowing creative process with Sai Shravanam taking the lead on the concept and the flow, Embar Kannan pitching with creative inputs and Naveen Iyer and Navneeth Sundar coming in with their thoughts. The programme loosely holds onto one raga as it weaves its way through several others, in different genres. There is popular music, music that we are familiar with, too. The young and talented instrumentalists and Bangalore’s very own MD Pallavi bring in extraordinary energy. I feel so privileged to have MS Sathyu do the set and lighting design!Finally, while Bangalore will see you perform in two concerts during the same week this time, have you planned your next visit to the city and what do you think of the city’s audiences?This time will be quite different as I perform the same concert at MLR Convention Centre in JP Nagar on August 2 and then the very next day, I perform again at Chowdiah Memorial Hall — but I have already planned my following visit to Bangalore! The city has embraced me every time I’ve tried a new idea — a new ragam, a new tanam, or even a new pallavi. My new kritis and each and every dialogue that I have shared with Shubha Mudgal, Ronu Majumdar or Leela Samson have been accepted very well — I am always grateful to the audiences there.