Graham Reid | | 1 min read
If I Could Swim the Ocean
Expat singer and ethnomusicologist Jyoshna has travelled some interesting musical, spiritual and literal paths since she first came to attention in the late Eighties with the short-lived group Turiiya.
Currently back in New Zealand briefly but living in East Clare, Ireland with her young daughter Isabel (the latter the subject of a lullaby here), she has specialised in the devotional singing style of kiirtan, did her doctorate in the music culture of the Rarh region of India and has released a number of albums influenced by those styles.
But she's also taken her shimmering high and distinctive voice to a kind of spiritual dance music (as on her Dancing Divinity album of '99).
Elsewhere has always found time to listen to her (and is invariably impressed) and this new album – part of a series – exists between the spiritual (Dharma is my Life with music and lyrics by Pandit Ranjan Sarkar, Consciousness) and the secular (Whatever Happened to Our Love, Sing a Song Holiday, We Are Not Alone, Stand Up For Those Who Can't).
La Trobe's concern is love, of the spiritual kind, as it manifests itself in life (She Who Abides in Love, Under Her Spell for her daughter) so when she sings “in my life I am yours” it isn't necessarily about a relationship but something on a more spiritual plane.
Coupled with that wonderful voice and simple but empathetic arrangements for guitar, banjo, sarangi, piano, cello and percussion, this music gently soars with a folk-cum-hymnal quality.
The sheer length of some of these songs – 10 of the 13 run past the 5 minute mark – mean she takes you on an aural journey yet the songs never outstay their welcome.
A unique talent who draws from Western and Eastern musical traditions with rare confidence.
.
You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here
Elsewhere has a profile of Jyoshna here
post a comment