Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri who has been nominated for an Oscar along with Mychael Danna in the Original Song” category for “Pi’s Lullaby” — in the film “Life of Pi” — tells K.T. Jagannathan that she hopes this will make more people listen to Carnatic music. Excerpts.
Describe the journey leading up to the Oscar nomination. Who were those involved in it?
We recorded the song in Bombay with Tanay Gajjar, the revered sound expert in AVA-Studio. Tanay is an artiste himself. The song was recorded in December 2011. A lot of the mixing was done in Los Angeles. Since Mychael Danna and Ang Lee had worked closely with Tanay in earlier projects, they wanted to record the whole thing in his studio in Mumbai. And, they wanted to do it in December (in 2011). I was praying that it wouldn’t clash with my December season concerts in Chennai. Luckily, the recording happened between December 4 and December 10, 2011.
We all stayed close to his studio for the whole week. We worked from 9.45 in the morning till very late in the night. We exchanged constantly with them in New York. Tanay’s studio was our home for the week, and we worked like a family. A lot of discussion had gone into each and every word and syllable of the song. It was a lot of hard work.
What does this Oscar nomination mean to you? Where do you take-off from here?
It means so much to me, Indian music and musicians. I feel I have been chosen to represent them all. I really don’t know where I go from here. But I am just grateful for the moment. That’s all I can think of at the moment.
The descendants of the Malayalam poet Irayimman Thampi have alleged that you have lifted the lines from his lullaby “Omanathinkal Kidavo….” What do you say?
The words and expressions in “Pi’s Lullaby” are that of love and affection expressed commonly by a mother to a child, such as Kuil, Mayil, Chanda, Sooraj, etc.The directors of the film wanted a song as I would sing for my own little one, as a mother would sing for a child. Kanne, kanmaniye and the like are the universal ways a mother would call her child. Some of these find expressions in Sangam Tamil literature, Azhwar pasurams, especially Periazhwar’s, Andal pasurams ...We are influenced by the things we are called and referred to by our parents in our childhood. And if they call us Kanne, Mayile, we would refer to our kids as Kanne, Mayile.
How could the Oscar nomination impact the Carnatic musician in you?
The Oscar nomination reaffirms my belief in the immense power and the reach of our music.
What fallout will your nomination have on Carnatic music?
I hope it means more people will listen to this beautiful music.
What kind of responsibility does this cast on you?
Definitely, it adds responsibility. It will make me to continue to keep working hard. I feel it is the duty of every artiste to increase the visibility of Carnatic music. We have to do it — draw the audience closer to us — without diluting the format.
Can this bring about a change in the audience profile to your concerts?
May be it could result in a change. In fact, I have been getting a lot of mails from university students from Beijing who have listened to this song. They are keen to know about my work, and about Carnatic music. They even want me to recommend what they should listen to in YouTube.
jagannathan.kt@thehindu.co.in
Keywords: Pi’s lullaby, Bombay Jayashri, Oscar nomination, Life of Pi, Irayimman Thampi lullaby, Carnatic music
What is worrying is news medias publishing this false
allegation of plagiarism piece without researching the content by
eligible scholars, by doing so cause great insult to a respected artist.
Goddess Andal has mentioned in her 10th Nachiyar Tirumozhi verses the dancing of peacock and the cry of cuckoo.This is composed thousand of years back. Iryaman Tampi’s Omana Tingal is 200 years back. Moreover Andal’s Nachiyar Tirumozhi starts with “Thai Oru Tingal”.Andal is also influenced by her father Periazhwar who calls little Krishna with names such as Manikkame, Maniye etc. It’s obvious that the later years poets have been influenced by these verses and incorporated in their own poem. Poem itself is creativity. It’s always discovery!
Of Course we are all happy that Mrs Jayasree got the nomination and it is in deed a feather in her cap and ahomage to the great Carnatic music tradition. I feel that Carnatic music, great as it is, has been largely confined to brahminical tradition--with few exceptions like nadaswaram. I am aware the nobody in particular can be blamed for this.On the other hand, Hindutani music has always been more "inclusive" in the sense that people of different castes and communities have taken to it and have risen to great hights. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amjad Ali khan and a host of other Muslim pundits have been revered by Indian music lovers. I wonder why it is not so with Carnatic music. Somebody may please enlighten.
the title says a lot about ourselves i guess. "Oscar nomination, a high note for Carnatic Music". I am sorry, What/Who is Oscar? Why a foreign entity recognition so important. High note for carnatic music will be when one of the performers get a padma bhusan or filmfare award or some such award within india NOT from other countries.
In my opinion it is a low note for The Hindu.
I am a great fan of Ms Bombay Jayashri. Hope she brings glory to India with an award as well. Let us pray for that. Hope she also continues to sing and enthral people like me with her mesmerizing voice.
Whenever I find myself stressed, confused and feel really lonely I
listen to her music which totally relaxes me. Her beautiful voice has
that magic. It is as if Godess Saraswathi herself is singing. My day is
not complete without listening to her ‘Nanati jeevithamu’ in Revathi and
‘Sarvam brahmamayam’ in Darbari kanada. She is pride of India and her
nomination is well deserved.
I am not biased but why does it happen that when an foreign director makes a movie "anyhow related to India", somebody gets nominated. If you closely follow/listen to A R Rehman music he's given such music ample no of times like in movies Bombay, Taal, Jodha Akbar etc. but never got nominated but as soon as he linked up with a foreign director (read Danny Boyle) he not even got nominated but won one.
What a beautiful song! Listening to the U tube version, it was
difficult to follow the lyrics. Though knowing Malayalam and a bit of
Tamil, I fell in love with the song without understanding the lyrics.
Irayamman Thampi, the revered Malyalam poet, has exhausted all
possible endearing terms beautifully and it will be very difficult for
anybody not to have some similarity somewhere. He himself may have
been inspired by the tamil literature Jayashree speaks of - but can
anybody point a finger at it? I wish the Irayamman Thampi Trust rises
above this and wish her success instead of kicking up a controversy.
I feel Ilayarajss lullaby in Moondram Pirai, sung by KJ Yesudas is better than the lullaby of Life of Pi. It very very original.
The lullaby (Omanathingal kidavo) in this movie was an original creation
of Irayimman Thampi, a Malayalam poet from the erstwhile kingdom of
Travancore. It became popular and remained the favorite lullaby of
mothers and grandmothers across Kerala even to this age. We can hear the
same lullaby in movie "Swathi Thirunal" released in the year 1987.
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