Interesting ideas!

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/04/06/stor ... 580300.htm

Her honesty is refreshing even if I don't completely agree.

Even an agnostic can't be untouched by the Bhakthi bhava in a Thyagaraja composition although it is certainly possible to appreciate his compositions without being aware of his devotion.

These articles help us give a glimpse into the minds of a performer, and that's all. A conversation with an artiste is carried home, on a tape recorder, I would think, and is randomly quoted, dependent upon the interviewer's impressions, the word count allotted for the article by the editor and so on. I have heard musicians complain that they were misquoted, there were errors in information, not much attention given to what they really meant and so on.
But publicity is publicity and the negative aspects of it should be taken in stride by the
'publicized' ones, I suppose. I bet Jayshri herself felt the same way when she came across her being quoted as speaking of God and music in the way it came out in print...

A careful reading of Jayasi's views will reveal that she DID NOT MEAN that she did not love God but only that she loved Him/Her only as much as she loved music. That is NOT agnosticism.

A famous set of entries of Graffiti on a rock
(Source - A very old Readers Digest)

Day 1
TIME IS GOD ------ Sd Einstein
Day 2
GOD IS TIME ------ Sd Tolstoy

After a few days , the next entry was seen.

COME SUNDAY TO MY CHURCH , AND I WILL SHOW YOU GOD

Sd Billy Graham


Immediately the next day , the final entry came up.


WHO IS BILLY GRAHAM ?? ----- Sd GOD

Time is linear and leads to greater disorder since entropy is time's arrow---- Modern Science.

Time is cyclic and will lead to order through disorder--after the deluge new creation comes up---- Hindu religious edict.

God is NOWhere as time passes by.

I totally agree with Sundara Rajan's view. I am a great fan of hers. I am sure as time goes by, even her rhetoric would change. raga is God, god is Raga.

Whatever they say or are quoted as saying, so long as Jayshri and other able practitioners of CM deliver the music that pleases us, why delve into an interviewer's interpretations?

Cool,
If only they knew the service the unknown warrior has been rendering them, Reader's Digest should have rewarded you handsomely for spreading the word about their publication. Your amazing memory and apt quotes make me want to confer a title on you: sAramum (even of the essence) uNDumizhum (one who ingests and brings out) viththagar (expert)

Sub,
Yes, the NOW (especially from my vantage point)!

Hi all,

As the someone who actually wrote the article that is being discussed here and also as a student and family friend of Smt Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, let me state that all that was there in print was what she said. I dont subscribe to Arasi's views on journalistic filtering---atleast not in this case! And as Shri Sundara Rajan and others have pointed out, there is nothing too iconoclastic about what she has said and neither has she mentioned that she is an atheist. She just meant that the music is more overbearing for her than the deity in whose praise the composition may be composed. As it is how many musicians really go into the depth of the lyrics, their meanings or pronounciation to actually feel the way a Thyagaraja Swami felt for Lord Rama? What about instrumental music? arent the notes more important there than the words? That was all was the message conveyed...and i have not misquoted or added my own interpretation to the same!

Wish we spoke less derisively of journalists and interviewers not everyone has agendas to follow!

Regards
Vikram

Arasi,

There you go, into trouble again. You have good intentions in your thoughts, but your output manytimes comes across as plain wrong...

for eg:

"Whatever they say or are quoted as saying, so long as Jayshri and other able practitioners of CM deliver the music that pleases us,"

what does this really mean?

Me and my big mouth and my poor expression!
First of all, since you personally know Bombay Jayashri, Vikram, convey my apologies to her if I came across as being insensitive to her thoughts or art. The same to the writer, if I was not clear in conveying my thoughts.

Coimbatore rasigan,
Thanks for stopping me in my tracks. Sometimes, my enthusiasm gets carried away. In this instance--now, without any disrespect to interviewers and writers of articles (I was one of them, years ago)--all I meant was that there are plenty of articles written about musicians (not as many as those written about film stars, though there are signs of 'filmy' writing slant of late in articles about young vidwans and vidushis). That is why I take some of the writing with a pinch of salt. I have absolutely no idea about BJ's thoughts other than what the writer says. I merely meant that I do not take all that I read to be gospel truth. That's all. As a woman too, I am proud that Bombay Jayashri has established herself as a first rate vidushi who has a beautiful voice and is capable of investing her rendering with such emotion. And some day, she would even sing one of my songs, I hope

Hey thats perfectly fine Arasi...just wanted to point out that not all writers are as hideous as is made of them!!...

and since you missed out again--let me restate that the writer of this article was 'yours truly' and somehow i dont like to ascribe hideous motives to myself and what i write in my view neither was she trying to belittle the devotional aspect of CM, nor was i trying to put words in her mouth...what u see is what she said and she beleives in...and i guess we all need to respect another's freedom of speech irrespective of whether it contradicts our beliefs or not!

regds
Vikram

Vikram_sampath
YOu have created history where you have written an article in THE HINDU, realized that there was not enough space in print media to reclarify , where you could come to internet media .

Welcome onboard gentleman!This subtlely means that we@rasikas.org have achieved a significant milestone . I welcome you to write more and more....

Vikram,
You mean, I missed out in 'tense'? Well, I meant second person though I said it in third (!) and you, the first person acknowledged it. Great!

Really, it shouldn't matter to god (if he/she/it exists) whether we believe in it/her/him.
Unless it's the anthropomorphic version of this entity that's so popular amongst the religious.

Jayaram,
Did you inadvertantly post this here? Looks like it belongs to the gender and brahman thread...

arasi - I was responding to the chatter about Jayashri loving god or not...

Jayaram,
Interesting--how everything is connected

Some ehoes of these thoughts in GK Chestertons words


If we were only real enough , we should all talk in Rhyme.Such a beautiful thought !!

how cum there r no concerts of jayashree on sangeethapriya??? very surprised...

Jayashree is one of the artist who is very conscious of copyrights, hence you can't see her concerts online..

Exactly! She is very conscious about people buying her albums. They have to be commercially hits and I do not see anything wrong with that....

albums i can understand, what about live concerts? 90% of live concerts are not recorded/commercially released anyway...

i totally agree with that statement, the raga and the way he has designed his compositions just makes it as mesmerizing.

Samrakshana

I think the operative word is "believe". Some believe in God. Some believe in music (the rAgA). Many others believe in themselves ...their hard work and effort.

As long as they believe passionately in something, I think it is irrelevant what that "something" is. It is that passion that shines through from musicians. Rasikas in the audience view that through their own lenses - bhakthi, bhavam etc.

11 Years ago I started a thread on RMIC (during the usenet days) called Gnana & Bhakti to discuss this conundrum - Can one fully appreciate Carnatic music without Bhakti? At that time, my stance was that, Yes!, we could. But I am not sure any more. I think that there is this mystical level of appreciation that one gets if he or she, in addition to all the Gnana, has Bhakti in his/her heart. I've personally heard the great Shrimathi DK Pattammal speak about this to me and my family and the way she explained with an example, I couldn't argue it.