One afternoon, two weeks ago in Chennai, in a space — where Bombay Jayashri Ramnath and her students teach music to children with special needs — a handful of seasoned artistes gathered to rehearse Yatra, a Journey Within. It wasn’t as if they were meeting for the first time; they had a framework of the compositions the performance will feature, and the rehearsal was really an opportunity to explore and further dig possibilities in improvisation, and innovation, within the form.
The grand finale of The Hindu November Fest in Chennai, this collaborative performance conceived and performed by Bombay Jayashri Ramnath and Abhishek Raghuram, classical maestros, also features a handful of talented artistes — Murad Ali (sarangi), Praveen D Rao (keys), Ravichandran Kulur (flute), Anantha R Krishnan (mridangam) and Ojas Adhiya (tabla) — who will add yet another layer to the vocal component of the sublime performance.
Yatra, a Journey Within, is a journey for the audience, through the musical traditions of India. The artistes will be able to showcase their mastery not merely in the Carnatic form, in which they are primarily trained in, but also in the music from different States in India, like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Karnataka.
The concert is layered in a sense; the second ‘journey’ here is for the musicians on stage. For artistes, a collaborative concert is the possibility of sharing space and their music (and musicality) with other musicians, like Abhishek Raghuram says, “who are inspired and inspiring”. While stringing together the concept, the two artistes at its helm, were keen to rope in musicians like Murad Ali and Ravichandran Kulur because they are artistes in their own right, and their aesthetics would naturally enable audiences to travel to another musical tradition.
For Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, who grew up surrounded by music of all genres — “we’d listen to Ramnad Krishnan and Bhimsen Joshi with the same intent and excitement as Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mahmoud” — and as a result, “in my head,” as she says, “music is just music.” Yatra, a Journey Within, is testimony to that idea. It’s the coming together of music of all genres, music that the artistes have heard, appreciated and internalised over time, allowing for it to become a part of themselves and letting it reflect in their musicality and aesthetics, and in a way, as the title says, in the music within.
Yatra, a Journey Within will be held at the 14th edition of The Hindu November Fest on Sunday, November 18, at The Music Academy, 7.30 pm.