Jamunar Nila Joley is an ancient Brajavali folk song about finding God in the turbulent blue waters of river Yamuna. Composer Vishal J. Singh’s accomplishment with this moving interpretation is finding a natural harmony between the vastly differing forms of traditional folk and contemporary world music. Set to release on the fest of Krishna’s birth, the track is fittingly voiced by Vishal’s mother Kasturi Nath Singh, while also featuring vocals from the versatile Siddharth Basrur with Ajay Jayanthi on the violin and Andrey Sazonov on woodwinds.
About the conception, Vishal J.Singh says, “Me and my mother Kasturi Nath Singh wanted to release a new modern folk version of ‘Jamunar Nila Joley’ but we never thought that it would become a beautiful collaboration between us, Siddharth, Ajay and Andrey. This song is very personal to me. My mother used to sing it to me as a lullaby when I was a child. This is a very honest and beautiful collaboration and I hope people from all over the world can connect to it.”
“Working on Jamunar Nila Joley was definitely a one of a kind experience for me. I knew I already had great songwriting chemistry with Vishal, but to jam with his mother and find that all 3 of us shared the same chemistry was even more amazing. It was also the first time recording violins for me, and although we ended up doing it at home, Ajay Jayanthi really nailed it. We did some crazy stuff, including running Ajay’s violin through a whammy pedal and making it sound like a Cello. The icing on the cake was definitely Andrew Sazonov’s woodwind section that really brought this track together,” adds Siddharth Basrur
This track is an attempt by a very diverse group of contemporary musicians to connect to their roots. While Mrs. Singh is a trained Hindustani classical and folk musician, Andrey comes from a western classical background, Ajay has been tutored in Carnatic classical music, and Vishal and Siddharth are well known for their avant garde and alt rock music respectively. Here is a song where five artists from contrasting backgrounds have poured out their hearts in delivering a work of beauty that almost seems effortless.
About Vishal J. Singh
Vishal J.Singh is a renowned multi-instrumentalist, film music composer and producer, known worldwide for his multi-genre band “Amogh Symphony”. He has worked as a music director and composer for many Bollywood films, capped by his work on Anurag Kashyap’s legendary Gangs of Wasseypur series where his contributions included hit tracks like “Womaniya”, “Keh ke lunga feat. Amit Trivedi” and “Bahut khub”. Vishal has also composed experimental music for a number of European art-films and featured in several tracks by international artists like Mark Hawkins(USA), LVM Trio(USA) with Luke Jaeger, Mad Essence(Ukraine), and more. His remarkable guitar solo which he performed as guest guitarist with Marty Friedman in the song “Celestial” by famous Djent act “Skyharbor” has earned him wide acclaim by the fans of modern progressive metal.
About Kasturi Nath Singh
Kasturi Nath Singh is an author and a classically trained musician and a dancer. Her first book “Progotikhil Jibon, Mon aru Byoktitto” was published in 2000. As a singer, songwriter and music composer, Kasturi Nath Singh has collaborated with many versatile musicians from across the world, including Jimmy Pitts from the USA, Andrey Sazonov from Russia, Vishal J.Singh (her younger son) in styles of World fusion, Lite songs, Jazz, Progressive Rock and Experimental music. She mostly sings in the style of lite classical, semi classical, traditional and modern Assamese, traditional ‘borgeet’ singing and bhajans. The Bollywood Film ‘Mirror Game’, released in 2017, marked her debut as a film music director in collaboration with Vishal J.Singh.
About Siddharth Basrur
Siddharth Basrur is an Indian vocalist, composer and a playback singer. He entered the indie music scene with his first band, Kinky Ski Munky. The frontman of Mumbai’s Punk band RUNT and Punk/Alternative band THE LIBRARY, Basrur has contributed to many Bollywood movies like Haunted 3D, Players, David, and URI.
About Andrey Sazonov
Andrey ‘Orochi’ Sazonov, from Moscow is a trained in Western Classical musician, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and designer involved with a host of modern metal bands including Dawn Sanctum, Abstract Deviation, Robots Pulling Levers, Amogh Symphony, Mad Essence and many more.
About Ajay Jayanthi
Ajay is a Violinist, composer, producer, singer-songwriter, percussion enthusiast, professional noise-maker and hobby artist. After fundamental training from his uncle and former guru M. Srikanth, he received advanced training under the tutelage of his aunt who happens to be one of India’s foremost Carnatic classical violinists- Padma Shri Kalaimamani A Kanyakumari. Having actively played the violin since 2012, apart from working on film projects and ad jingles, Ajay has had successful live concerts in various cities across the country like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Kharagpur, Gwalior, etc.
