CHENNAI: Shannon Donald, who lives in Mumbai, doesn't mind going for a Carnatic concert these days. And that's not because she grew up listening to south Indian classical music. "I love the singing style now," says the singer, who was amazed to see musician Bombay Jayashri being a picture of composure at MTV's Coke Studio a year ago.
"I was a backing vocalist on the episode in which she sang with Bollywood singer Richa Sharma. Though we had a long day, when it came to shooting her parts, she nailed every note effortlessly," says Donald about Jayashri, who was nominated on January 10 for the 2013 Oscars for writing a Tamil song, 'Pi's Lullaby', for Ang Lee's fantasy epic, 'Life of Pi'.
For many like Jayashri, collaborating with artists from other fields is not just about covering more creative ground. Notching up unlikely fans for classical music is one of the benefits that Jayashri and other Carnatic artists treasure while jamming with world musicians.
"After the Coke Studio episode, more people know me and come for my concerts. It's a win-win situation," says Jayashri, who has worked with Egyptian singer Hisham Abbas, done jugalbandis with Hindustani musicians Ronu Majumdar and sung for Bharatanatyam dancer Leela Samson's performances.
"I do collaborations because I like doing new things," says Jayashri. According to fellow artists like flautist S Shashank, it could have been Jayashri's love for experimentation that helped 'Life of Pi' director Ang Lee zero in on her for the Oscar-nominated project.
"I got to work on guitarist John McLaughlin's album 'Floating Point' because I work with world musicians. The album was nominated for a Grammy award in 2009," says the flautist, who will release an album, 'Here and Now', with Danish guitar maestro John Sund.
What draws western musicians is the ability of Indian musicians to improvise, says Shashank who has worked with legendary Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia and with jazz musicians. Shashank loves the freedom to explore the flute outside the traditional concert format of Carnatic, which is a text-laden system and favours the vocalist. "It is a great learning experience. Also, as India is flooded with film music this is the only way classical musicians, especially instrumentalists, can carve a niche for themselves and establish commercially."
These artists still face the criticism that they are diluting pure music. "When, the late Pandit Ravi Shankar did jugalbandis, he was accused of doing the same. Now, jugalbandis have become the norm," says Jayashri.
To mandolin player U Shrinivas, collaborations mean more recognition for classical music. "My audience is bigger. My students come from all over the world to learn to Carnatic music," he says. And to Shrinivas, who is happy and proud of Jayashri's Oscar nomination, this could well be the best time for Indian classical music.
Carnatic music: Classic collaborations work
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