Bombay Jayashri - Shravanam '2023

Tracks list

One of classical Indian vocalist “Bombay” Jayashri Ramnath’s
most mesmerising works. Born into a musician family steeped in the south Indian
tradition of vocal music, the Mumbai-raised singer took advantage of the
city’s cosmopolitism to study northern Hindustani disciplines, one of the
few vocalists to train in both. Now revered as one of the greatest living
exponents of Carnatic music, she received an Oscar nomination for her work on
Ang Lee’s Life of Pi.

Within the first minute of opener Sada Bada (Slokam), Jayashri’s
intensely spiritual vocals give a clear indication of why she has been
increasingly embraced by a new generation of western listeners who’ve
made the natural leap from ambient soundscapes to new age and devotional music.
Accompanied on the following Bhajeham Bhajeham by a hypnotic rhythmic backing of
mridangam drums, bells and the drone of a tambura, over its epic twenty-minute
length she stretches her voice into a variety of spellbinding forms – her
softly enunciated dedications to Shiva enveloping you with their immersive
warmth and cosmic beauty. Kalimaheshwari’s gently undulating rhythms form
a similarly entrancing undercurrent, over which Javashri delivers a jaw-dropping
performance of melodic Sanskrit chants which evoke a variety of different names
for the sacred feminine.

One of the album’s new-found devotees is label boss Kay Suzuki:
“every time I listen I’m amazed at how such a small ensemble can
create such a deep musical landscape. The incredible production plays a big
part. That intricate percussion sounds so clear and sits in all the right
pockets rhythmically and sonically. Just by following this groove I’m put
into a timeless zone, but when her voice hits on top of that gorgeous drone
sound and I focus on the details of her small melodies within melodies, my heart
centres and I find myself in a blissful place.”

As professor of cultural and political theory Jeremy Gilbert states in the
album’s liner notes, the mesmerising sincerity and deep spirituality of
these songs present an intense and spiritual charge that will appeal to an
audience well beyond believers and devotees of Hinduism.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Bombay Jayashri - Sada Bala (Slokam) (1:43) 
1.02 - Bombay Jayashri - Bhajeham Bhajeham (19:37) 
1.03 - Bombay Jayashri - Kalimaheshwari (21:02) 
1.04 - Bombay Jayashri - Keshvaya Namaha (10:11) 
1.05 - Bombay Jayashri - Raghavam (9:46) 

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