Jayati's love for music under the spotlight
Though virtuoso Indian singer Jayati Chakravarty's forte is Rabindra Sangeet, she is equally expert in rendering Nazrul Sangeet, folk songs, adhunik numbers and more. Following her performance at the Bengal Sangskriti Utshab, the singer shared her views on music in an interview with The Daily Star. What sets her apart is that she sings for love and peace. Excerpts:
“Alongside talent, proper training and blessings from Gurus and practice are important to sing well. Specialisation is equally important. Music is meant to touch hearts as melody has that power. If I am satisfied with my rendition, I can then satisfy the audience.”
“I have learnt and lived on music from my childhood days. With precision of melody and focusing on the depth of lyrics, I try to perform Tagore songs. I learnt Tagore songs from Subhash Chowdhury who would interpret the song and suggest that I read the songs several times to comprehend the inner meaning, to visualise the song. Doing so, a singer can feel the song of his own. An emotional aspect of a song comes from there.”
“The aesthetic elements of Tagore songs involve the game of melody. The playing of instruments makes a song alive. Say for example, I would sing the song 'Sakhi Bhabona Kaharey Boley' in my childhood with khol, because we were habituated in that way; later, when I recorded the song for the film 'Ekti Tarar KhoNje', I found a complete different interpretation. Again, when I perform the song on stage, I discover new things as different instrumentalists play different melodies every time. Literary quality is another thing with which melody has little affiliation. Yet, we cannot think of composing or arranging music for a song without thinking of aesthetic elements or literary contents of a song.”
“Tagore songs contain classical aspects like dhrupad, khayal, tarana and more. An influence of Bishnupur Gharana is noticeable in Tagore songs. In our 2015 album 'Raag-er Aaloye Rabi', Prattyush Banerjee arranged music and played classical sarod for the album while I recorded several Tagore songs themed on diverse classical ragas. We cannot include any Tagore song on a specific raga, if I think those on a classical note. But, the bard internalised the essence of classical music and created songs of his own. That's why; we don't find the pure form of Behag, Yaman, Bageshree, Natmalhar and others in his songs. It has rather become the Behag or Yaman of Tagore. So, we cannot mention Tagore songs based on melody. These are rather based on bani (lyrics).”
“Any sort of songs entail a particular rendition style and message. Prior to performing any number, I seek the specific artistic traits of the song. Open-mindedness to any sort of music is prerequisite to become an artiste. I can mention just two names -- Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, who performed all types of song. They are our great inspiration.”
The artiste's latest album “Ekantey”, featuring modern poems and adhunik songs, is now available. Jayati, who greatly appreciated Bangladeshi audiences' tastes and love for music, has already started working on opulent Bangladeshi folk music.
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