Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh’s CD launched this past week is called "Mysterious Duality-Just me". Explaining the concept ahead of the launch, the vainika explained: “The underlying concept is Duality, which is fundamental to nature, to an individual, and is mysterious because it is not always obvious or visible. An individual wears many hats - parent, sibling, child, spouse, friend, teacher and so on. All varied personalities, with different roles, reactions, mannerisms, equations and parameters.
“A moment of discernment and what is revealed is a harmony of the opposites and a unity of these complementary parts. This album will also draw from the scientific ideas of the String Theory and Mysterious Duality.”
What makes it extraordinary?
“One can think of layers of the veena, the tambura, the main melody, the harmony, the percussion (its effects) and the backing veena, all played by a single artist simultaneously. Orchestration here will mean not many instruments, but a resonance of each of the many strings – a coming together to project a harmonious whole. This is probably the first of its kind ever made and will pledge its allegiance to the norms of Carnatic music – lakshya and lakshana,” Jayanthi said.
This rasika was reminded of the great Chittibabu, who successfully experimented on the veena with his albums, playing with his disciples (Temple Bells and Bells of Joy) and the meditative albums of Hariprasad Chaurasia. Jayanthi’s album has four tracks (46 minutes).
Releasing the CD at a function held at TAG Centre N. Murali, president, The Music Academy observed that it was a unique and bold venture with the veena being portrayed as the voice of the inner being, of the soul. The album would go places, predicted Cleveland Dancer Alarmel Valli described Jayanthi’s artistry as sheer poetry on the veena. She had a special word of praise for Yotam Agam’s professional sound mixing. Bombay Jayashree Cited a sloka from Soundarya Lahari in this context.
Sonia Mazumdar, CEO of EarthSync, who provided enormous help in the shaping of this work talked of the state of the music industry and its future. Jayanthi mentioned the salient features of the CD and acknowledged all those supportive forces that stood by her in the preparation of this path-breaking disc. The concept that underlies this disc, according to Jayanti, drew its inspiration from the experience Dr. Paul Brunton went through with Ramana Maharishi to decipher “The Real I in You.”
(sivakumar2004@gmail.com)
