JOIN USMusicians Jyotsna Srikanth, N Amrit and Shadrach Solomon treated Bangaloreans to an evening of classical fusion, called ‘Classical JAS Concert’ at Seva Sadan, Malleswaram, recently. Jyotsna was on the violin, Amrit on the khanjira and Shadrach Solomon on the piano.
It was a unique blend as the sounds of the instruments came together. The audience were all smiles and enjoyed the performance thoroughly. The freshness in the music was appealing.
The concert began with a varnam in attatalam and kalyani raga. The second piece was Thyagaraja’s rare utsava sampradhaya kriti. As the concert went on,
the audience requested the team to play some popular classical pieces like Saraswati Namasthuthe. Amrit explains why the concert was named so.
“JAS comes from the first letters of our names — Jyotsna, Amrit and Solomon. People usually tend to relate it to jazz. But that’s not the concept. We are playing the instruments in our own styles and there are no western elements in it. It is going to be pure Carnatic music.”
Jyotsna, veteran violinist and head of the band ‘Fusion Dreams’, says, “Tonight is all about Indian music but with a difference. The authenticity of classical music is definitely not lost. We are keeping it intact but will certainly make a few improvisations. We came up with the concept of ‘JAS’ last April and many people are encouraging us in this attempt.”
Shadrach Solomon adds, “We are going to experiment with the sounds of our instruments. We have elevated all the sub-instruments and brought them to limelight. Basically, the sound boundary created by a traditional classical concert is not seen here.”
The trio also shared a good rapport on stage and managed to make spontaneous changes on the stage.
Raghuvamsa Sudha was one of the highlights of the evening. The concert came to an end with the trio performing three melodious kritis. RV Raghavendra, managing trustee of Ananya, says that people need to be exposed to all genres of music.
“As a music lover, I encourage this attempt and any sort of experimentation with the music is welcome. We need to pave way for such artistes to create great music,” he adds.
Suresh, a professional and a music-lover, says, “I loved the concert, every minute of it. It was a nice experiment. It was well presented”.