![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Bombay Jayashri | |
---|---|
![]() Jayashri plays a concert at the PJ Civic Centre Auditorium, Malaysia | |
Born | 1964/1965(age 57–58) [1] Calcutta, West Bengal, India |
Alma mater | R. A. Podar College |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1982–present |
Known for | Carnatic singing |
Awards |
|
Honours |
|
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, veena |
Website | bombayjayashri YouTube Channel : Bombay Jayashri Ramnath Facebook Page : Bombay Jayashri Ramnath Twitter : Bombay Jayashri Instagram : Bombay Jayashri Ramnath |
"Bombay" Jayashri Ramnath is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer, and musician. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies. Born into a family of musicians, Jayashri represents the fourth generation of music practitioners in her family. Trained by Lalgudi Jayaraman and T.R. Balamani, [2] [3] [4] she was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 2021. [5] [6] She has become one of the most sought after Carnatic musicians today. [4]
Born in Tamil family in Calcutta, Jayashri received her initial training in Carnatic music from her parents, Smt. Seethalakshmy Subramaniam and Shri. N.N. Subramaniam and was later trained by Lalgudi Jayaraman and T R Balamani. [7] [8] She also learned to play the Veena from G. N. Dhandapani Iyer.
Jayashri received training in Hindustani Classical Music from K Mahavir Jaipurwale and Ajay Pohankar. [9] She also holds a diploma in Indian Music from the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi.
Jayashri studied Bharatanatyam under Guru K Kalyanasundaram Pillai of Shri Rajarajeshwari Bharatha Natya Kalamandir, Mumbai. She was also involved in theatre with the Amateur Dramatic Club, Mumbai .
Jayashri attended the St. Anthony's High School in Chembur. She holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce and Economics from R. A. Podar College, Mumbai.
![]() |
Jayashri performed her first concert in 1982. She has performed at various festivals and venues all across India and in over thirty-five different countries. In India, she has performed in all the major festivals. In New Delhi: The Rashtrapati Bhavan, Vishnu Digambar festival, Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha, India International Centre, Indira gandhi National University and Bhakti Utsav. She has performed also at Saptak, Ahmedabad; The Music Academy and Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai; ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata;NCPA and Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha, Mumbai; Chowdiah Memorial Hall and Vasantha Habba, Bangalore; Kuthira Malika and Soorya Festival, Trivandrum, The Palace of Mysore and at the Matrimandir Amphitheatre at Auroville. Across India, she has performed for the Spirit of Unity Concerts for National Integration, SPIC MACAY Festivals and All India Radio's Sangeet Sammelan.
In the US, she has performed at the Lincoln centre for the performing arts, Carnegie hall, Kennedy Centre for performing arts World Music Institute – New York; University of Arizona – Tucson; University of Texas – Austin; MIT – Boston; University of Louisiana – New Orleans; Cornell University and Amherst College. She has performed in Sydney Opera house (The first carnatic Musician to perform there).
Jayashri's Europe tours have included venues such as: Saddlers Wells and Queen Elizabeth Hall – London; Festival of Sacred Voices and Museum Rietberg – Switzerland; Vantaa Festival and The Russian Opera House – Helsinki, Finland; Théâtre de la Ville, Festival of Nantes, The Museum of Sculpture and Arts, Musee des Asiatiques and Citi de la Musique – in France; Casa da Musica a Porto – Portugal; Sala de Camera – Spain and at the University of Cologne.
She has also performed at The Royal Opera House – Durban, Monash University – Melbourne and Esplanade Theatre – Singapore.
On 19 September 2017, she performed at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as they gave the world premiere of Mychael Danna's "Life of Pi" suite.
Jayashri has been supporting SPIC MACAY since more than three decades. She has travelled to many places in India including remote places in Uttarakhand, hill districts of Himachal Pradesh, Port Blair, rural and tribal areas of Wayanad and Idukki in Kerala, Goa and many other places to perform hundreds of Lecture Demonstrations to students, introducing them to the Indian classical music.
Jayashri has performed Jugalbandi concerts with Hindustani Musicians Ronu Majumdar, [10] Shubha Mudgal, [11] Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Gaurav Mazumdar. She has dialogued with artistes in dance like Leela Samson, Chitra Visweshwaran, Alarmel Valli, Priyadarsini Govind [12] and Shobana. Jayashri has sung Thirukkural and an Annamacharya verse in the prestigious audio autobiography – Wings of Fire of former President Shri Abdul Kalam.
Jayashri has also collaborated with Carnatic Musicians T. M. Krishna, Jayanthi Kumaresh [13] and Abhishek Raghuram.
She performed in 'Bhaire Baanvari', the story of Meera, conceptualised and directed by Gowri Ramnarayan. [14] She also was a part of 'Mathemagician' with actor V Balakrishnan and written by Gowri Ramnarayan. Jayashri also performed at the MTV Coke Studio (India) Season 1 with Ustad Rashid Khan and Richa Sharma. [15]
Jayashri also conceptualised 'Listening to Life' – A concert that features the journey of a musician as a lover of music. [16]
Her quest to interact and experiment with various forms of music has resulted in collaborations with various eminent artistes from around the world. Jayashri has sung two Sangam Period songs, Veral Veli (A Kuruntokai poem by Kapilar) and Yaadhum Ure in the album 'Sandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil', an international collaboration of various artists and Durham Symphony by Composer Rajan Somasundaram. Yaadhum Ure song, a multi genre fusion where Bombay Jayashri sang Carnatic portions along with various international singers was declared the theme song of 10th World Tamil Conference. [17] The album was featured in Amazon's Top#10 International Albums category in July 2020.
She has sung with Egyptian singer Hisham Abbas and Senegalese singer Thione Seck. In 2008, she was part of an Indo-Finnish venture 'Red Earth and Pouring Rain', where she sang Kuṟuntokai – ancient poems from Sangam literature – with Avanti,conducted by John Storgards set to music by Eero Hämeenniemi. This was premiered at Helsinki and was also performed at Lapland. [18] In 2012, she sang the poetry of Mirza Ghalib composed by Eero Hämeenniemi at the Vantaa festival, with the Gamba quartet led by Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, Finland. The performance was also held at Hungary. [19] In 2014, she worked with Eero Hameenniemi in Yadhum Oore, Sangam Poetry and performed with Finnish Philharmonic orchestra.[ citation needed ]
Jayashri is also a playback singer whose film music includes Collaborations with M S Vishwanathan ( Tampathigal), Ilayaraja, A.R.Rahman, M M Keeravani, Oesappachan, M Jayachandran,Ramesh Narayan, Haris Jayaraj, Shankar-Ehsan-Loy, Imman, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Govind Vasantha. [ citation needed ]Her song for Harris Jayaraj won her the Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil for the popular song "Vaseegara" from the Tamil film Minnale . She sang the song "Zara Zara Bahakta Hain" (the Hindi version of "Vaseegara") in the movie Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein with music composer Harris Jayaraj.She sang in Mahesh Dattani's 'Morning Raga' for the music of Amit Heri. She has sung in various films in Hindi, Tamil, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam languages. She collaborated with composer Mychael Danna on "Pi's Lullaby" from the film adaptation of Yann Martel's book Life of Pi in 2012.
She has composed music for Kalidasa's Meghadootham, choreographed by Sheejith Nambiar and Parvathy menon, produced by Aim for Seva. She has composed the music for Meera- Soul Divine, choreographed by Chitra Vishweshwaran, produced by Aim for Seva. [ citation needed ] Jayashri worked with Ang Lee on his motion picture, Life of Pi. She performed the lyrics for "Pi's Lullaby", which was nominated for the 2012 Oscars in the Best Original Song category. She has also composed music for actor Revathi's films Verukku Neer and Magal in Kerala Cafe . [20] In 2004, Jayashri composed music for Silappadhikaaram, a dance drama commissioned by the Cleveland Cultural Alliance. She has composed music for her albums, Shravanam, Smaranam and more.[ citation needed ]
In 2001, Jayashri, along with Sanjay Subrahmanyan and T. M. Krishna wrote the book 'Prof. Sambamoorthy, the visionary musicologist', detailing the life and times of Prof. Sambamoorthy – eminent Indian musicologist. The book was published to commemorate his birth centenary. In 2007, Jayashri, T. M. Krishna – leading Carnatic vocalist and Mythili Chandrasekar – Senior Vice-president at JWT together wrote the book Voices Within, [21] – a one-of-a-kind coffee table book that captures the pioneering spirit of 7 of the greatest Carnatic masters of the previous generations.[ citation needed ]
Jayashri featured in the first full-length Carnatic music film 'Margazhi Ragam', conceptualised by Director P Jayendra. This was a ground breaking venture that showed Carnatic music in a whole different light. The movie, released in 2008, used the very best and latest technologies for video and sound recording. In her quest to reach music to the next generation, she along with T. M. Krishna and YACM initiated Svanubhava – a week-long Music Festival, exclusively for students of music, which continues to be conducted annually. [22]
Another dimension of music which Jayashri is focused on is in exploring the therapeutic and healing value of music . Under her Trust Hitham she shared music with Children in the Autism Spectrum. [ citation needed ]She and her students teach music at Swami Dayananda School at Manjakudi . She has been working closely with institution like Kilikili, Sampoorna in Karnataka and Sankalp in Tamil Nadu which care for autistic children.[ citation needed ] This domain is a matter of serious engagement for Jayashri and her students. Some other institutions that Jayashri has worked with include: The Banyan Chennai (rehabilitation of homeless/mentally challenged women), Vasantha Memorial Trust (cancer patients), [23] Stepping Stones Orphanage Home, Malaysia, Multiple Sclerosis Society of India, Bangalore [24] and more.
The relatives of Malayalam poet Irayimman Thampi and the Irayimman Thampi Smaraka Trust alleged that the lyrics penned by Bombay Jayshree for "Pi's Lullaby", which was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category for the 2012 film Life of Pi , were copied from Thampi's lullaby Omanathinkal Kidavo. [31] Jayashri had rendered 'Omanathinkal Kidao' in a Malayalam version back in 2001 on her album Vatsalyam. [32]
Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna was an Indian Carnatic vocalist, musician, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer, composer, and character actor. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1978. He has garnered two National Film Awards, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975, the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honor in 1991, for his contribution towards arts, the Mahatma Gandhi Silver Medal from UNESCO in 1995, the Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2005, the Sangeetha Kalanidhi by Madras Music Academy, and the Sangeetha Kalasikhamani in 1991, by the Fine Arts Society, Chennai to name a few.
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music and also as a cultural icon of Kerala. Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 80,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Odia, Bengali, Marathi as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian, in a career spanning six decades. He is often referred to as Gaanagandharvan. He is one of the highly acclaimed singers in India. Yesudas holds the record for singing 11 songs in different languages in a single day. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.
Usha Uthup Iyer is an Indian pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer who sang songs in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. "Darling", which she recorded with Rekha Bhardwaj for the film 7 Khoon Maaf, won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 2012.
Lalgudi Gopala Jayaraman was an Indian Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer. He is commonly grouped with M.S. Gopalakrishnan and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin-trinity of Carnatic Music. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2001.
Avasarala Kanyakumari is a violinist from South India who specializes in Carnatic music.
Sudha Ragunathan is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer and composer. She was conferred the Kalaimamani award by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1994, Padma Shri (2004) and Padma Bhushan (2015) by the Government of India, and Sangeetha Kalanidhi by Madras Music Academy in 2013.
Sivamani, commonly known by his stage name Drums Sivamani, is an Indian percussionist. He plays many instruments including drums, octoban, darbuka, udukai, ghatam and kanjira. He performed drumming during the IPL Championships in 2008 and 2010. He is affiliated with the Chennai Super Kings team, but gained recognition through his role as A. R. Rahman's lead percussionist. They have been close friends since childhood. In 2019, he was conferred with Padma Shri.
Anuradha Sriram is an Indian carnatic and playback singer and child actress who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 3500 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Hindi films.
Sirkazhi Govindarajan was an Indian Tamil Carnatic vocalist and a leading playback singer of Indian cinema.
Shweta Mohan is an Indian playback singer. She has received four Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer, one Kerala State Film Award and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She has recorded more than 700 songs and albums in all the four south Indian languages namely Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, she has also recorded songs for Hindi films and has established herself as a leading playback singer of South Indian cinema.
Sangita Kalanidhi Aruna Sairam is an Indian classical vocalist and carnatic music singer. She is a recipient of the Padma Shri award from the Government of India and was elected as the Vice Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy by the Government of India until 2022. In 2011, Aruna was the first Carnatic musician to perform at the BBC proms in London. She is also the first Carnatic musician to perform in Oud Festival of Israel (Jerusalem).
Charulatha Mani is an Indian-born Australian Carnatic and playback singer. She has been performing Carnatic concerts since 1999. She has also sung for movies. Charulatha has appeared in numerous TV shows and radio programmes, in India, and overseas. She has recorded many, CD and DVD albums. Her Isai Payanam TV show, aired on Jaya TV, deals with Ragas in Carnatic and film music and has completed more than 80 episodes. She recently received her PhD from the prestigious Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, on Hybridising carnatic Music and Early Opera. Charu's music is known for its impeccable adherence to the Karnatik principles. It is also known for being courageous and out there. It is this ongoing interplay, of newness and the vintage, that has become the hallmark of her unique performance philosophy and signature style. This interesting interweave derives from her strong belief that Karnatik music must embrace innovation, inclusivity and diversity in contemporary society.
Mahathi. S, known by the mononym Mahathi is a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in several Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Punjabi.
Omanathinkal Kidavo is a lullaby in Malayalam that was composed by Irayimman Thampi on the birth of Maharajah Swathi Thirunal of Travancore. To date, it remains one of the most popular lullabies in the Malayalam language.
"Pi's Lullaby" is the Tamil-language intro song of the 2012 film Life of Pi. It was composed by Mychael Danna, with lyrics by Bombay Jayashri, who also performed the song. The song earned a nomination at the 85th Academy Awards for Best Original Song. The nomination marks the first ever Tamil song to be nominated in the category.
Saroja Vaidyanathan is a choreographer, guru and a notable exponent of Bharatanatyam. She was conferred the Padma Shri in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2013 by the Government of India.
Pandit Dr. S. Ballesh Bhajantri is an Internationally celebrated Indian classical Hindustani shehnai player. He is a disciple of shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan, he is an expert in benares gharana shehnai playing, and a patiala gharana hindustani vocalist, ghazal singer, Indian playback singer and musician, Ballesh is credited with popularizing the shehnai, a reeded woodwind instrument. While the shehnai had long held importance as a folk instrument played in traditional ceremonies in India, Ballesh is credited with elevating its status and bringing it back to the centre stage. He plays often for Prasar Bharati's All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan.
Srimathumitha is an Indian playback and Carnatic singer who sings mainly in Tamil. She has also sung in Telugu, Hindi and Kannada songs. Some of her notable songs are "Azhage Azhage" from the movie Oru Kal Oru Kannadi, "Valayapatti Thavile" from the movie Azhagiya Tamil Magan, "Kanaa Kaanum Kalangal" from the movie 7G Rainbow Colony, and "Rathathin Rathame" from the movie Velayudham. She is one of the leading playback singers in today’s film music scenario. She has sung for leading music directors like Ilayaraja, Harris Jayaraj, Yuvan Shankar Raja, A. R. Rahman, Bharathwaj, Deva, S. A. Rajkumar, and Bharani. She emerged as the "Best Voice of 2002" in the TV Reality Show Rajageetham conducted by RAJ TV. She is the first playback singer to win the Vikadan Awards started in 2004, which was juried by late Sujatha. A. R. Rahman has featured her in 2 songs in the soundtrack of Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire.
Dr. Gayatri Sankaran is an Indian Carnatic musician and vocalist specialising in Carnatic vocals and violin performances. She is a recipient of the Kalaimamani award from Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram, a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu. The Government of India honoured her in 2006 with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his contributions to music, making her the first visually impaired woman to receive the award.
Subbu Arumugam was an Indian musician, writer and Villupattu theatre art exponent. In 2021, he was awarded India's fourth-highest civilian award the Padma Shri in the Arts and Literature category. He published 15 books containing Villu Pattu narratives, songs, short stories and novels such as Veera Pandia Kattabomman. Some of his published notable works are Noolaga Villisai, Ramayanam, and Villisai Mahabharatham.