CHENNAI: From being a sabha-hopper who would sit silently in the corner of auditoriums, to performing with eminent artistes on stage, Chennai-based flautist JA Jayanth has come a long way. The 25-year-old is among the few youngsters who’ve taken up music as a full-time career by forgoing their highly-paying job opportunities. “Never did I have the smallest of doubt about taking up music full-time after completing my engineering degree in electronics and instrumentation. I have been quite busy with concerts, teaching and tours throughout the year. There’s a lot of learning, practice and re-learning in terms of content and technique that goes in through rest of the months apart from our peak season of Margazhi,” said Jayanth who is currently training under renowned vocalist Sanjay Subhramanyan.
Music and flute have been JA Jayanth’s obsession since he was four years old. He started learning flute formally from his grandfather instrumentalist TS Sankaran at the age of five and vocals from his grandmother VS Sundari. Did coming from a family of legends set certain expectations on him from rasikas? “Yes, it certainly does. But not necessarily a burden. Both my gurus have played an important role in moulding me and my music. I always look up to them. With my grandfather, it was like a gurukulam since we lived together most of the year. I aspire to perform better than him some day.” Jayanth received a grade A from All India Radio and Doordarshan when he was 21. “The sound of the flute has always attracted me. It’s an organic/natural instrument with no elements attached to it like a string for instance. Isn’t it wonderful how a natural piece of bamboo can produce such beautiful music,” he said.
In December 2004, Jayanth made his debut in Margazhi. It was for Naada Inbam in Ragasudha Hall with Vellore Ramabhadran, Akkarai Subbulakshmi and BS Purushothaman. “I played Nee Padamule in ragam Bhairavi and still remember how happy SVK mama of Naada Inbam was. Though I had already given over a dozen performances before this, I was absolutely excited to share the stage with big names not knowing much about the significance of Margazhi season concerts,” reminisces Jayanth, who has also performed in concerts abroad. Attending Mandolin Srinivas’s and TN Krishnan’s concert at Music Academy is an annual ritual for him.
Talking about the growing population of youth pursuing music as a career, he says, “Social media is a blessing for the new-age audience and artistes. I always dreamt of performing extensively and taking my flute recitals to many people across the globe. Laser-like focus, hard work and the quest to learn more are some of the tips I would want to share with younger musicians. I believe in competing with myself, and I think that’s the only way to progress,” he said.
Performances
Jayanth will be performing at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at 6.45 pm on December 17; at Brahma Gana Sabha at 6 pm on December 19 and at The Music Academy at 1.30 pm on December 29
