Her excitement was marked by restraint, but it was hard to miss the child-like glee in her eyes.
“It was a beautiful learning experience,” said carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri, on recording Pi’s lullaby, which has been nominated for the Oscars in the ‘Best Original Song’ category.
Jayashri wrote the lyrics while Mychael Danna, the other nominee, composed the music.
Mychael Danna got to listen to Jayashri’s rendition of ‘Omana thingal kidavo..’, a traditional Malayalam lullaby in the album ‘Vatsalyam’, one of her famous albums with traditional lullabies in various Indian languages. He had also heard a few other songs by her and approached her for Pi’s lullaby.
“The song was recorded largely in Mumbai, and some portions, here in Chennai. It was fantastic working with Mychael Danna, who knew exactly what was required to evoke the mood. Ang Lee (the director) is a genius who is so endearing and sensitive. As a classical musician, my ideas are limited, but they guided me through this and the process was enriching,” said Jayashri, on the sidelines of a press conference here on Friday.
On January 19, Jayashri, along with a team of musicians, will present ‘Listening to Life – The journey of a raga’ at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chetpet, in support of Sankalp, a special school. The performance seeks to highlight the beauty in different genres of music, even as the artistes seamlessly travel from one form to another.
Jayashri and her students have been engaging with children with autism through music for sometime now.
“Such children are very musically inclined and it is beautiful sharing our music with them. There is a great deal of earnestness and truth in these children that, somehow, has gone missing in the adult world. Singing for them adds meaning to one’s life as a musician,” she said.
