Carnatic music in spotlight

Contra Costa Times Posted: 10/21/2013 02:55:27 PM PDT Updated: 10/22/2013 01:47:12 PM PDT

In one of the more memorable and surreal scenes offered in a recent film, an Indian boy adrift at sea uneasily watches a menacing Bengal tiger, a fellow shipwreck survivor with whom his fate is inextricably tied. What immediately makes the tableau poignant rather than absurd is the haunting theme "Pi's Lullaby," delivered in Tamil by the renowned Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri.

For many in the West, Ang Lee's Oscar-nominated movie "Life of Pi" served as an introduction to Jayarshi's strikingly pure voice. But she has been a force in South Indian music for decades, both for her classical recitals and her genre-crossing collaborations. She makes her South Bay debut Saturday at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts following last week's historic performance in New York's Carnegie Hall (the first Carnatic vocal recital in that august venue since a 1977 performance by the legendary M.S. Subbulakshmi).

No stranger to working in film, Jayashri has contributed vocals to numerous Indian productions as a playback singer, providing vocals that actors lip-sync on screen. But "Life of Pi" composer Mychael Danna discovered Jayashri via YouTube and "called to ask if I would be part of the movie," Jayashri said in a recent phone conversation from her home in the southern Indian city of Chennai. "Of course I said yes."

Danna had already written much of the score, and they exchanged numerous emails discussing how to approach "Pi's Lullaby." The most important direction came from Ang Lee, who told Jayashri "the song should be the connection between Pi and his mother, and the movie and the audience. He wanted something very Indian and very soft. The most important thing was capturing that emotion."

The collaboration earned Jayashri an Academy Award nomination for best original song, the latest triumph in a career that got off to an inauspicious start. Born Jayashri Ramnath in Kolkata, she grew up in Mumbai studying South Indian classical music with her parents, accomplished musicians who held their daughter to a daunting standard.

"We practiced from 4 a.m. until school, and in the evening," Jayashri said. "My mother wouldn't allow me to do anything else. I did rebel. I used to practice very sadly."

As a teenager, she toured around India as a part of a group of 22 young vocalists who performed light classical music, travels that led to an epiphany at a concert in Chennai by the great Carnatic vocalist and composer Lalgudi Jayaraman. She started studying with him in 1989 and remained a disciple until his death in April at the age of 82.

"I had heard one concert of his and immediately wanted to pack my bags and be around him," Jayashri said. "For me, that was the truest blessing in my life, moving to Chennai just to learn from my guru. He made me love the music and believe in myself. After that even after singing for eight or 10 hours, I would love to sing some more, day after day without being tired. That is what he created."

Jayaraman also inculcated in her an open-minded approach to music, feeding her already keen interest in styles beyond the ancient Carnatic tradition. She spent seven years studying Hindustani classical music from northern India, and looked to collaborate with artists from outside the region. In recent years, she's performed with vocalists from Egypt and Senegal, while also singing ancient Tamil and contemporary Urdu poetry set to music by Finish composer Eero Hämeenniemi.

As far as Jayashri is concerned she's following in the footsteps of her guru, who "used to listen to all kinds of music, old Hindi film music and singers from Pakistan.

"One day I walked in and he was watching Michael Jackson on television, and he explained the magic of Michael Jackson. Everything that was lovely, all forms of beauty, touched his soul," she said.

Her international profile has been boosted by her association with Bhoomija, a Bangalore, India, based nonprofit arts organization recently launched by a mix of entrepreneurs, IT professionals, doctors and artists. Looking to present Indian classical music in major venues around the world, Bhoomija is responsible for Jayashri's Carnegie Hall and San Jose concerts.

She relishes the opportunity to reach South Asian audiences and recent fans who have discovered her through "Life of Pi." At Saturday's performance she's focusing exclusively on Carnatic material, accompanied by violinist HN Bhaskar, percussionists Satish Kumar Patri (on mridangam, a double-sided drum) and Giridhar Udupa (on clay-pot ghatam) and two Jayashri students on tamboura, a long-necked lute used to create background drones.

Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.

Bombay Jayashri

When: 5 p.m. Saturday Where: San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd. Tickets: $15-$55, 408-295-9600, sanjosetheaters.org/theaters/center-for-performing-arts