Bombay Jayashri Ramnath – the award-winning vocalist, composer and teacher of music.

Bombay Jayashri Ramnath

“Bombay” Jayashri Ramnath, born into a family of musicians, represents the fourth generation of music practitioners in her family. Trained by Lalgudi Jayaraman and T R Balamani, she went on to become one of the most sought after Carnatic musicians today.

Born in Calcutta, Jayashri received her initial training in Carnatic music from her parents, Smt. Seethalakshmy Subramaniam and Shri. N.N. Subramaniam and was later trained by Lalgudi Jayaraman and T R Balamani. She also learned the art of playing the Veena from G. N. Dhandapani Iyer.

Jayashri received her training in Hindustani Classical Music as well, from K Mahavir Jaipurwale and Ajay Pohankar. Additionally, she also holds a diploma in Indian Music from the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi.

Jayashri learned Bharatanatyam under Guru K Kalyanasundaram Pillai of Shri Rajarajeshwari Bharatha Natya Kalamandir, Mumbai. She was also involved in theatre with the Amateur Dramatic Club, Mumbai.

Jayashri attended St. Anthony’s High School in Chembur and holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Economics from R. A. Podar College, Mumbai.

Jayashri performed her first concert in 1982. She has performed at various festivals and venues all across India and in over thirty-five different countries. In India, she has performed in all the major festivals. In New Delhi: The Rashtrapati Bhavan, Vishnu Digambar festival, Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha, India International Centre, Indira Gandhi National University and Bhakti Utsav. She has performed also at Saptak, Ahmedabad; The Music Academy and Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai; ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata;NCPA and Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha, Mumbai; Chowdiah Memorial Hall and Vasantha Habba, Bangalore; Kuthira Malika and Soorya Festival, Trivandrum, The Palace of Mysore and at the MatrimandirAmphitheatre at Auroville. Across India, she has performed for the Spirit of Unity Concerts for National Integration, SPIC MACAY Festivals, and All India Radio’s Sangeet Sammelan.

In the US, she has performed at the lincoln center for the performing arts, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Centre for performing arts World Music Institute – New York; University of Arizona – Tucson; University of Texas – Austin; MIT – Boston; University of Louisiana – New Orleans; Cornell University and Amherst College. She has performed in Sydney Opera house (The first Carnatic Musician to perform there).

Jayashri’s Europe tours have included venues such as Saddlers Wells and Queen Elizabeth Hall – London; Festival of Sacred Voices and Museum Rietberg– Switzerland; Vantaa Festival and The Russian Opera House – Helsinki, Finland; Théâtre de la Ville, Festival of Nantes, The Museum of Sculpture and Arts, Musee des Asiatiques and Citi de la Musique – in France; Casa da Musica a Porto – Portugal; Sala de Camera – Spain and at the University of Cologne.

She has also performed at The Royal Opera House – Durban, Monash University – Melbourne and Esplanade Theatre – Singapore.

On 19 September 2017, she performed at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as they gave the world premiere of Mychael Danna’s “Life of Pi” suite.

Jayashri has been supporting SPIC MACAY for more than three decades. She has traveled to many places in India including remote places in Uttarakhand, hill districts of Himachal Pradesh, Port Blair, rural and tribal areas of Wayanad and Idukki in Kerala, Goa and many other places to perform hundreds of Lecture Demonstrations to students, introducing them to the Indian classical music.

Jayashri has performed Jugalbandi concerts with Hindustani Musicians Ronu Majumdar, Shubha Mudgal, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Gaurav Mazumdar. She has dialogued with artistes in dance like Leela Samson, Chitra Visweshwaran, Alarmel Valli, Priyadarsini Govind^[8] and Shobana. Jayashri has sung Thirukkural and an Annamacharya verse in the prestigious audio autobiography – Wings of Fire of former President Shri Abdul Kalam.

Jayashri has also collaborated with Carnatic Musicians T. M. Krishna, Jayanthi Kumaresh and Abhishek Raghuram.

She performed in ‘Bhaire Baanvari’, the story of Meera, conceptualised and directed by Gowri Ramnarayan. She also was a part of ‘Mathemagician’ with actor V Balakrishnan and written by Gowri Ramnarayan. Jayashri also performed at the MTV Coke Studio(India) Season 1 with Ustad Rashid Khan and Richa Sharma.

Jayashri also conceptualised ‘Listening to Life’ – A concert that features the journey of a musician as a lover of music.

Film Music

Jayashri is also a playback singer whose film music includes Collaborations with M S Vishwanathan ( Tampathigal),Ilaya Raja, A.R.Rahman, M M Keeravani, Oesappachan, M Jayachandran,Ramesh Narayan, Haris Jayaraj,Shankar-Ehsan-Loy,Imman,Yuvan Shankar Raja, Govind Vasantha. Her song for Harris Jayaraj won her the Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil for the popular song “Vaseegara” from the Tamil film Minnale.She sang the song “Zara Zara Bahakta Hain” (the Hindi version of “Vaseegara”) in the movie Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein with music composer Harris Jayaraj.She sang in Mahesh Dattani’s ‘Morning Raga’ for the music of Amit Heri. She has a sung in various films in Hindi, Tamil,Bhojpuri, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalamlanguages. She collaborated with composer Mychael Danna on “Pi’s Lullaby” from the film adaptation of Yann Martel‘s book Life of Pi in 2012.

Awards and recognition

• 2020 – True Beauty Recognition Award along with Alarmel Valli and Suhasini Maniratnam, by Naturals on their celebration of 20 years
• 2020 – Asianet award for the Best Playback for the film Mamangam_(2019_film)
• 2019 – Academy of Music Chowdaiah Award 2019, by Academy of Music, instituted by Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Bangalore
• 2019 – “Mangalampalli BalamuraliKrishna Award” conferred by the Government of Andhra Pradesh^[21]
• 2019 – “Rama Gana Kalacharya” conferred by the Sree Rama Seva Mandali, Bangalore
• 2015 – “Sangeetha Vedantha Dhurina” from Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, Bangalore
• 2015 – Sangeetha Kala Sagara from Kalasagaram, Hyderabad
• 2014 – “Kamban Pugazh” award from All Ceylon Kamban Kazhakam, Sri Lanka
• 2013 – The Fourth Indira Sivasailam Endowment Medal Award
• 2013 – Nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song (Oscar) for Pi’s Lullaby from Life of Pi, 2013
• 2012 – Vani Kala Sudhakara by Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha at their inaugural function of the December Music Festival
• 2011 – “Nada Ratna” award from Nada Sudha, Velachery
• 2011 – Sangeetha Vishwa Kala Bharathi Award from Bharath Kalachar.
• 2009 – Honorary Doctorate – Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa), awarded by Mother Theresa Women’s University, Kodaikkanal
• 2009 – “Sangeetha Saraswathi” from the South Indian Cultural Association (SICA), during its Golden Jubilee Year
• 2008 – Vijay Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song ‘Yaaro Manathilae’ from the movie Dhaam Dhoom
• 2007 – Sangeetha Kalasarathy award from Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Chennai,conferred by the Vanamamalai Mutt pontiff Ramanuja Swamigal
• 2007 – “Kalaimamani Virudhu” from the Government of Tamil Nadu
• 2006 – “Shanmukha Sangeetha Shiromani” from Shanmukhananda Sabha, Bombay
• 2006 – “M S Subbulakshmi Puraskar” from Vishaka Music Academy, Visakhapatnam. Conferred By Shri Nedunuri Krishnamurthy
• 2005 – Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer
• 2005 – ‘Sangeetha Choodamani Award’ from Dr. A C Muthiah from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai in the presence of her Guru Lalgudi Jayaraman
• 2003 – “Atma Vanishri” from Poojya Shri Shantananda Swami of the Temple of Fine Arts at Varanasi, in the presence Tabla Maestro, Pt. Kishan Maharaj
• 2002 – ‘Mani Makudam’ by Rajalakshmi Fine Arts, Coimbatore
• 2002 – ‘Kalki Award’ from Cine Director K Balachander, on behalf of the Kalki Krishnamoorthy Trust
• 2001 – Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil for the song ‘Vaseegara’ from the movie Minnale
• 2001 – ‘Naadabhooshanam’ by Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha, New Delhi
• 2001 – ‘Asthana Vidhushi’ of the Shringeri Mutt
• 1997 – ‘Isai Peroli’ by Dr. P Chidambaram, Union Minister of Finance, on behalf of the Karthik Fine Arts, in the presence of Music Maestro Balamurali Krishna
• 1992 – “Yuvakala Bharati” conferred by Bharat Kalachar, Chennai

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