In conversation with Violinist , song-writer and music producer .
Ajay Jayanthi
We had a chit chat with Ajay Jayanthi , who spoke to us about his entry into the music space , why he picked violin , his inspiration , his music and lastly his message for upcoming artists .
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How did your begin your journey in the music industry ?
A couple of friends in college wanted to put a band together and I was the only guy who could play the violin . Wasn ’ t good at it , but that was where it started . One thing lead to another and more and more people wanted me to play with them .
Any specific reason why you picked the Violin ?
I ’ ve got a lot of Carnatic classical musicians in the family . Amma ’ s a vocalist and an All India Radio A grade artist herself . She was apprehensive about training me in Carnatic classical vocals because with men , there ’ s always a fear that their voice might not be really suited for singing after puberty hits . So I was taught the violin for a bit . Never really liked going for violin classes as a kid . The day seemed to slow down for that 1 hour and my poor teacher had to put up with my indolence . I tried my hand at many different instruments and thoroughly enjoyed learning them . But somewhere around my 11th grade , I started liking the sound and the versatility of the violin and decided to get back to it .
What makes Ajay Jayanthi as a musician special ?
I ’ m still trying to figure that out . I guess what works for me is that I listen to so many different genres that I can blend in with any form of music . There are plenty of violinists out there who are much better than me as far as skill is concerned . I have indeed been very lucky to get so many opportunities and from such a wide variety of genres . A lot of musicians I know are biased against a particular genre or form of music . To me that ’ s weird because every genre has a certain situation , time and an emotion that only that particular genre can portray .
How do you reach out to the masses with your music ?
For me up until now it ’ s been more about playing shows for them live . Sure you could listen to the songs on mp3 but non-musicians especially might not be in a state of mind to listen to it the way you want them to . But when they ’ re at a gig , they ’ re in the atmosphere that you want them to be in and conveying whatever it is you want to through your music becomes way simpler . The next best way I feel to do it is through videos .
Which has been your best composition till date and why do you pick that ?
This song I haven ’ t released yet called ' ek kadam '. A friend and a very good poet I work with who goes by the name of Kunal Singh Chauhan sent me these beautiful lyrics one morning and we composed a song around it in a day ’ s time .
You are also a song writer and a music producer . How do you multi task ? What do you like doing the most ?
I think that ’ s the best and easiest part of my life . I have so many things to choose from . If I ’ m not in the mood for something , I can switch to doing something else . As a kid , I noticed that I get bored with things very quickly . Life so far had pretty much been a fight against boredom . Music is such a vast field that it doesn ’ t give you an opportunity to get bored . Now I ’ m almost always looking
Photo Credit : Shainky Thareja