Musician Varijashree Venugopal on her latest single ‘Jaathre’

For Varijashree Venugopal, the stage has been a second home since the age of four. “Music runs in my blood,” says the Grammy-nominated musician. With the release of her first single ‘Jaathre (Live)‘ from the album Vari (The Live Sessions), Varijashree reflects on her musical journey so far.

“This album is a spin-off to my previous album Vari, which was released last year. That was my first original music album,” she says. “After we played a few live concerts, we decided to record and film the sound and energy of the performance.”

Top of the crop

The upcoming album is a live performance curation of seven selected songs from Vari, arranged for a six-piece band, of which ‘Jaathre’ is the seventh track. “The song is quite dear to the team,” she says. “We received a lot of lovely responses, especially for this song.”

On the choice of the term jaathre, which generally refers to a village carnival, Varijashree explains, “This song is a meeting between the Carnatic raga Hemavathi and Indian grooves. We always enjoy playing it live.” The album, Varijashree says is more than a project. “It is a memory that documents the entire journey.”

Live energy is so different from what is produced and recorded, says Varijashree. “It has to be condensed, restructured, and formatted into a live group set.” The band was directed by Grammy-winning artiste Michael League and includes a stellar lineup of musicians including Pramath Kiran (percussions and co-arrangement), Jayachandra Rao (mridangam), Apoorva Krishna (violin), Vivek Santhosh (keys and synths), and Praveen Rao (harmonium).

Firm foundation

Varijashree describes her relationship with music as ‘organic’ and considers herself lucky to have been raised in an atmosphere that turned her passion into a profession. “Both my parents are musicians. That is where it started, and I am blessed to have such a strong foundation in Carnatic music.”

Apparently responding to music when she was 18 months old, Varijashree says, “I’ve been told that I would repeat musical phrases, even though I couldn’t speak properly. By the age of four, I was giving little stage performances.”

A curious student of music, Varijashree says her willingness to explore beyond boundaries has helped her constantly rediscover her voice. “I believe an artiste’s growth lies in how much they are ready to reinvent and experiment.”

This latest project is the result of that mindset, Varijashree says. “It’s a way of expanding while staying rooted in our Indian classical structure.” Her exploration has led her to jazz and vocal-instrumental styles, where the voice acts like an instrument. “That fascinated me.”

Joint effort

On working with Michael League, she says, “I love his child-like passion. Michael is contributing to the history of music development in many ways. When we met, we realised we had similar instincts. He is quite open to learning different musical cultures.”

Having had the honour of meeting some of the most brilliant musicians from different cultures, Varijashree says they have connected over a single thread — our passion for music. Even if we’re from different geographical spaces, we are all traveling the same path. The universe has a beautiful way of bringing like-minded people together.”

Varijashree performed in Abu Dhabi for International Jazz Day, where she was the only Indian artiste to be featured.

Being an independent artiste in India is a challenge, Varijashree says. “It is a struggle to build both an audience and a space, apart from the need for financial and logistical support. Even after all that, you don’t know how it will be received. Live concerts are one of the few ways independent artistes can be heard.”

Jaathre (Live) was released on April 11, while the album Vari (The Live Sessions) is set to drop on June 20 under the label GroundUp Music.