The musical story of a mother and a son

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The teachings of Lord Buddha are still relevant today, some two thousand five hundred years after his demise; Buddhism is regarded as the 4th largest religion in the world, with some several million practitioners. Amazingly, Lord Buddha was born, attained Enlightenment and died on the same day; Vaisakh Purnima. In many countries, the full week preceeding his birthday is celebrated as “Vesak”.

Prince Gautama left his palace at the age of 29 in search of The Universal Truth; found it 6 years later, when he became “The Buddha” ( The Enlightened One), yet He remained in His earthly body till the age of 80, travelling and teaching. After Enlightenment, according to legend, He said He would remain in touch with our world to help us, until each living entity, human animal and plant, attained Self Realisation. In the Hindu context, He is regarded as one of the 24 “avatars” of Lord Vishnu. Dr Achal Pandya of IGNCA said, “The message of The Buddha has spread all over the world; it is only fitting we remember His Life on the day He was born, attained Enlightenment and died.”

Traditionally, music has not been used in the Buddhist context, as it developed as an intellectual religion, focusing not so much on emotion to realise The Truth but on correct conduct and meditation.

In a unique innovation, to celebrate the life of this extraordinary being, unusually, IGNCA is holding a programme of music on 29th April, conducted by noted Carnatic vocalist, Bombay Jayashri and her team. Bombay Jayashri has carved out a unique niche for herself, distinct from her identity as a senior Carnatic classical vocalist. She is also a composer, author, ( she has co authored a book on the life of Prof Sambamoorthy, also one on Carnatic Masters called “Voices within”) teacher, environmentalist ( she is Ambassador for “Earth Day”)…. the list goes on. Her music reflects her multi dimensional persona; having an irresistible appeal. Direct, sincere, without artifice and utterly charming, it was a pleasure to talk to the singer about her forthcoming concert to be held at IGNCA, on Buddha Purnima.

Do you think there is a link between music and spiritualism?

“Yes the link between music and spiritualism is inseparable. Indian classical music evolved as a means of invoking the Supreme One through sound and initially was only performed in religious venues. In fact it is said in our texts that the aim of our classical music is to link the “Atma” ( Self) with the “Paramatma” ( Divine One). Our music is not only for entertainment. Personally, I have always revelled in singing compositions devoted to the Lord; in fact I have recorded several albums on this theme.

Are the different genres in music important; how do you feel singing on Buddha Purnima?

I don’t believe in the divisive boundaries of different music genres. I feel I was privileged to grow up being taught to love respect and relate to the notes, not the genre in which they were presented. Nowadays I feel the lines between genres is blurring anyway, with experiments like Coke Studio and “jugalbandi” concerts. That’s how it should be; music is music, the lines dividing the types of m u s i c have been made by us. It’s like seeing the earth from the moonyou just see the green earth and the blue earth; not the borders between countries.

I was surrounded by music from the time I got consciousness. I would wake up to the sound of music, when I went to sleep, I could hear the music class my mother conducted. I lived in this beautiful bubble of music, and hardly thought of anything other than music. It was never about what music I heard.

I do believe receptivity in a musician is very important, and that is developed by being in tune with your surroundings. You can’t shut yourself in as a musician, and say I will only be receptive to music, nothing else.

Singing on Buddha Purnima, in Praise of the Divine One should be a part of what I am capable of doing, what I have trained to do, to link people with their inner selves through music. In a sense, music is the bridge between the audience and the Divine; I am just the medium through which the music flows. I am not creating anything new, it’s all there.

For us as Carnatic musicians, the “sahitya” ( lyrics) is very important in our music, we are used to singing meaningful lyrics; I have worked out some chants that my disciples and I will be presenting.

This concert honouring Lord Buddha is indeed special for me. His teachings are relevant even today; I feel it’s important to remember Him through music. I will be accompanied by several senior disciples, and I hope we are able to create a truly uplifting ambience, on this beautiful full moon night, at this open air concert.

( Bombay Jayashri Ramnath and her team will be singing at I G N C A Amphitheatre, Janpath from 7: 30 pm onwards on 29th April)

Sitting on a long flight is never usually a pleasure, but as I have written before, it allows me to watch a film or two, if possible. I have watched some delightful creations in the past on flights, the last ones being a couple of breathtaking masterpieces by Satyajit Ray. This time over, out of fatigue and boredom, I stumble onto a biopic. Not often do you get a peek into the life of a singer through a film. The last such film I remember having watched was La vie en rose on the enigmatic singer Edith Piaf and the another on Bal Gandharva. Both films reminded one that star performers are human and by default come with a baggage of ups and downs.

In my childhood home, we used to own tapes with varied forms of music, one of them being the Beatles and one song that I liked, because I found it soft, soothing, flowing was Here comes the sun. So when I fell upon Nowhere Boy on the life of John Lennon, it was a return back in time to the first Beatles song I had heard and about a band that had rocked the world in the sixties and the seventies. Starting with a cheerful young Lennon, biking to school, chatting up with some girls, the film takes one through post- war austerity, the renaissance of culture, the birth of rock and roll amongst other elements. Two women dominate the film in their absolute contrast - Mimi, John Lennon's aunt who makes her best efforts to shape John into bourgeois values and his mother, the flamboyant, firebrand, unconventional Julia, who from oblivion comes back strongly into the singer's life. From an early life of hidden secrets and disturbing moments, is created a young man who nourishes the desire to make music. The radio in his aunt Mimi's living room is relayed to John's room via speakers that his uncle instals. Relics of the past, this brings John closer to music of all genres. The film, surprisingly does not show the charting of the musical genius that is Lennon. It dwells rather on the growing up of Lennon, his leaving home, the birth of the Quarrymen that will eventually evolve into the Beatles.

John's first banjo lessons from Julia, mother and son making music together are some of the touching moments of the film. And also slowly how those early fledgling lessions metamorphose into rock- n- roll and the joy of the first concert. In two instances or more, John pulls out a mouth organ, a gift from his uncle. Its quite sometime since I saw a mouth organ or remembered one. They used to be quite commonly found in the seventies. I owned one as a child. It was always around the house, a shiny silver body that over time aged a bit and wore a slightly golden tone. It was one of my prized posessions. Whenever I blew into it, it made music. That was sheer magic to me in my childhood. There were no false tunes, you could play the way you wished, place your fingers on the holes and blow away to glory. As a child, it gave me an immense sense of musical freedom. Then once, I lent the mouth organ to another child, several years later upon growing up, hoping that he would discover musical sound and marvel in it the way I did. Sadly, it never came back and was nowhere to be found either. The moral of the story is never to part with things that are dear to you unless you are doubly sure, they will be returned safe or cherished by the new owner.

To end with the Lennon film, behind every musician, there is a mother. A far- from- perfect one like Julia ( played by a flawless actress), a near- perfect one like mine, but a mother nevertheless. One who threw open the world of music, opened every window there was to get the best view and insights, toiled night and day to make music the breath of life. To mine, and to many mothers, fathers and mentors, musicians, music lovers, we owe the incomparable love for music.

For us as Carnatic musicians, the ‘ sahitya’ ( lyrics) is very important in our music, we are used to singing meaningful lyrics; I have worked out some chants that my disciples and I will be presenting

Dr. Vasumathi Badrinathan is an eminent Carnatic vocalist based in Mumbai. She can be contacted on vasu@ vasumathi. net