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Raga ‘n’ josh
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INTERVIEW Bombay Jeyashree and Shubha Mudgal are in a dialogue on and off stage these days, writes DEEPA GANESH
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Photo: Murali Kumar k.
UNIFYING SPACE Jeyashree and Shubha: ‘We will sing in our own styles and from our own sensibilities, not to eliminate the possibility of criss-crossing’
Apart from the fact that the two musicians have unusual voice textures, they have many other things in common too. Both Bombay Jeyashree and Shubha Mudgal are women who have consciously steered away from the oft-beaten track; not as an act of defianc
e, but as an act of inclusion. The two maestros have sung and experimented with many other “lesser-known” forms, and even the popular forms that classical musicians would shun as low brow and inferior. This, however, doesn’t leave them as loud, flag bearers to a cause, but musicians of great poise and grace, who have time and again reinforced their stance with conviction and elegance, through their music.
And so you have the earthy-voiced Jeyashree rendering some lovely film music compositions with deep involvement and Shubha Mudgal with her full-bodied voice belting out pop music with intense commitment. Whether it is Jeyashree’s lullabies or Bharatiyar’s poetry or Shubha’s Sufi renditions or her songs in “Man ke Manjeere”, they are reflective and sincere.
When you two have such egalitarian musicians coming together on stage, expectations are high. Not in musical terms alone, but also in terms of exploring genres, fusing boundaries, blending the note and its idea, and celebrating the love of music. “It all started when an organisation called Banyan proposed this idea of us singing together,” says Jeyashree, who’s also co-authored the book (with T.M. Krishna) on music, “Voices Within”. Shubha shifts the conversation from real time to historical time putting their experiment as part of a continuing tradition. “There has been an interest and curiosity about other kinds of music and it is not new. People have been doing it for generations and this is an area that has been constantly explored. What we are doing now could perhaps be called a ‘newer exploring’.”
For both of them a jugalbandi of this kind is a closer look at each other’s styles. For instance, when you sing a raga that’s come to be your own but has its source in the other system, it makes for an interesting study. In fact, Shubha’s teacher Pandit Ram Ashray Jha wrote a composition in Amritavarshini, a Carnatic raga. “We are trying to dwell upon the emotional content of the common ragas, though the singing styles are entirely different,” explains Jeyashree. They don’t intend to memorise compositions from the other system, and “it wouldn’t be truthful,” observes Shubha. According to her, memorising something that has been practised and internalised over many years by Jeyashree is not a feasible idea. “Even if we try hard, it will still remain unknown to us,” reasons Shubha. And hence, they thought juxtaposition was a better idea. “We will, in all our efforts together, sing in our own styles and from our own sensibilities, not to eliminate the possibility of criss-crossing and an intuitive interaction,” adds Shubha.
To come to an understanding with each other, it requires tremendous amount of working together. “If we need to achieve an intuitive response on stage, we need to spend lots of time practising together. There’s till some untidiness to it all, but we are making an effort to get better with each concert,” says Shubha.
While both of them are firmly rooted in their respective traditions, their constant forays into other genres have forced them to answer questions on the notion of tradition and purity. Jeyashree says: “Tradition is constant change. It is also an extension of my personality, the manner in which I perceive things.” Given that music in India to a large extent has been an oral tradition, it is implausible to keep track of what was borrowed or what was lent. It is an unremitting process. “It happens even now, in divisive times like this. How can anyone claim that they are part of a blue-blooded tradition? Look, I’m the 13th generation in the musical lineage. What kind of claim can I make? At best, I can say I’m a 13th generation music lover,” says Shubha, astutely. But when you are called eclectic and not labelled with a gharana, is it isolating? “No,” she continues. “I don’t feel perturbed. These are things discussed in seminars. But if you read the life stories of gurus, you’ll realise that they have also been trained by many gurus. It’s strange that we choose not to acknowledge that part of history. Also there is nothing new left even in this ‘eclecticness’ claim,” says Shubha categorically.
Is there also a conscious “keeping out” of certain kinds of music and poetry? “I think yes. Even in the nation-building exercise this happened. Once Gandhiji was addressing a gathering of tawaifs many of whom were outstanding musicians. Among them Vidhyadhari Bai, who was already in her 80s sang a song and Gandhiji was impressed. He urged her to use these songs as a tool against the British. Vidhyadari Bai apparently told Gandhiji that she had many such songs in her repertoire, but had sadly forgotten most, because she didn’t have a forum to sing them. So there is suppression at work,” concedes Shubha. Ask Jeyashree why the Tamil discourse hasn’t moved beyond Bharatiyar? “That’s not entirely true. It’s just that Bharatiyar had such a wide range that you look for a song on any issue, and you’re sure to find one by Bharatiyar.”
Devotional poetry goes beyond the Saguna (the God with attributes) to become the Nirguna (the abstract notion). Like music, does the musician also achieve this? It doesn’t really matter to Jeyashree whether it is God X or God Y. What matters to her is the devotion. Shubha however, is interested in knowing the ritual or context of the poem. “Music has emerged and evolved from various worship spaces. It’s important to know its origin because we have to accept there is divisiveness in art as well as hierarchies. If there is a space that’s composite, it is music. In rendition, I agree music has a strong quality of the Nirguna.”
Both Bombay Jeyashree and Shubha Mudgal are two very serious musicians who have a realistic assessment about their project. “We have no intentions of outshining each other, nor do we intend to share symmetrical concert space. It is a dialogue and hope it will be an enriching one,” they say.
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