Topic Bombay Jayashri

There is nothing comparable to meeting high school and college friends and spending time recollecting the good old times. The same goes with listening to sweet old melodies - singing them with complete strangers and making new friendship. I haven't had much of a music discussion with anybody in a long long time. Then I met this person in a wedding at NY. She had a very soothing voice and a oh-wow classic style of patantharam and kelvi gyanam. With one song, we struck the chord. We immediately quipped who had rendered that song in album and arrived at the topic Bombay Jayashri.

Then we sat together and sang one song after another, enjoying between us the ragas and BJ's stamp of sangathis.  BJ's Karnatic Classical album from Sangeetha Music stands out even to this day, two decades after it was released. Her rendition of those kritis are deeply emblazoned in one's consciousness that no newer version is acceptable to the mind. We started relishing BJ's "Uyyalalooguma", "Gowri Manohara","Thamatham Tagadaiya" and her tillanas. Then came the album "RareBlend" and then "Anubhavam" for discussion. 

Evergreen voice, evergreen melody, evergreen raga renditions. Those sangathis are unique and I haven't heard that transcendental shift from anyone else. It was the most memorable home run from BJ. 

ஒரு பெண் திருமணமாகி வெகு ஆண்டுகள் கழித்து பிறந்த வீட்டிற்கு வந்தாற்போல் ஒரு feeling. Wah.