Contact:
Jayalakshmi Sekhar
C/o C.S. Krishnaswamy, 43, (20), Besant Avenue, Adyar, Chennai.
Ph: 91-44-24911049
Mobile: 91-98410 11637
E-mail: jlvina@yahoo.com Website:www.jayalakshmisekhar.com

Jayalakshmi Sekhar had basic music training from her father CS Krishnaswamy, then on to Pudukkotai Jayarama Iyer for formal veena training at age 13.
Her father encouraged listening to music of great vidwans like Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, KV Narayanaswamy, Padmabhushan Lalgudi G Jayaraman .

She learnt basics of flute from her father and also picked up the violin as she had the ability to practice music ‘by ear’ on any instrument at a very young age.
Acquiring a BSc degree in chemistry from Stella Maris College, Chennai, she was married TV Sekhar, an accountant living in Malaysia. He, a great lover of music himself, introduced her to the music of Padmabhushan Sripada Dr Pinakapani , from whom she advanced her repertoire and also picked up techniques of gayaki style of rendering using Veena Dhanammal’s style together with the vocal music.

She has had many other vidwans like S Rajam, Nookala Satyanarayana, Dr VV Srivatsa teaching her various compositions and has been fortunate that Vidwans recognize her music as very pleasing and absorbed a very good ‘way or vazhi’ as they would call it and therefore encourage her to be able to perform so many concerts to promote this beautiful instrument , the Veena.

Jayalakshmi has been very fortunate to have had the privilege of having learnt the varnams and thillanas composed by the violin maestro Padmabhushan Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman himself.
 
During the last two years, she has been recruitied to teach the children of Norh America participating in the projects for 'Sustaining Sampradhaya' in the Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana festival. she teaches both face to face and online too, using computer technology to its maximum
As most musicians are doing these days. She also performed a solo concert in this years Cleveland Aradhana festival apart from a few others in the US.

She has some students in Malaysia and has trained them to be independent enough to perform programmes. She teaches online when she s away to students in Australia, New Zealand, US And India.

Over these years she has proved herself to be a promising concert performer on the veena and has given several solo programmes during the Chennai December Music Festivals ,all over in india and abroad, like Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, US, Estonia, Berlin, Mauritius to name a few. She has also accompanied several vidwans on the veena and violin.

She works well with dancers , having attained a fair amount of knowledge on Bharatnatyam repertoire and therefore in demand by dancers in Malaysia with Ramli Ibrahim and Melbourne Australia s Bharatalaya , Director Chandarbhanu and many others.

She has a few prizes and awards to her credit from the Tirupathi Tyagaraja Festival , Sri Krishna Gana Sabha , Narada Gana Sabha etc and has recorded some cds too.

Jayalakshmi has been featured in the sa re ga ma pa programmes of Jaya TV, Chennai Conducted by the great musician Shri Neyveli Santhanagopalan recently.


Personal Interest 

Interested in promoting all aspects of carnatic music and repertoire studied under her guru, Dr. S. Pinakapani.

Jayalakshmi is a very outdoor person and loves anything related to nature, the sea, the mountains - she has attempted climbing the mountains from Lukla (from Khatmandu) towards Base of Everest and succeeded in reaching Namche Bazaar, 13,400 ft. in the year 1999.

 Says Guru Pinakapani...

Coming from a family of musicians, Smt Jaya Sekhar was trained in Veena - vadhan by Vidwan Pudukottai Jayarama Iyer of Madras.

Brought up in a tradition of pure Carnatic style of music, Smt. Jaya worked hard to achieve appreciable control of Veena Technique.

Her insatiable thirst to learn more and more helped her to a mass a large number of standard musical compositions which are at once educative and enlightening.

Having been exposed to hundreds of concerts, in Madras, of famous vidwans of two generations, Smt. Jaya came to the conclusion that cultivation of vocal style of music also on the veena would improve her technique and standard of play considerably. She promptly sought my help.

Spending in Kurnool as many as 6 months in a year during the past five years, she cultivated vocal style also on her veena and enriched her technique of play.

Smt. Jaya Sekhar has given quite a few veena recitals before discerning listeners in Madras and elsewhere, and is being recognised as a fine concert performer.

 Her ideal is to exhibit pristine Carnatic style of music before audience who can understand and look for it. She hates gimmicry.

Given enough opportunities to acquire adequate concert experience, Smt Jaya Sekhar is sure to go far and develop as an unforgettable veena Vidhushi."

Music Training: 

Initial carnatic music training from father, C.S.Krishnaswamy, on vocal and flute. 

Formal veena training from Sri Pudukottai Jayarama Iyer, Chennai (1969 – 1978) 

Advanced music training on techniques of veena play of Veena Vidushi Dhanammal applied to vocal style of rendering by Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Padma Bhushan Dr. Sripada Pinakapani of Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh (1994 onwards). 

Performances and works in the
field of music and dance: 

India: 

Jayalakshmi has been performing on the veena in Chennai since 1996 during the December Music Festivals and monthly programmes whenever possible during the year under the auspices of Sabhas and organisations like Nadabruhmam,

Suswara, Narada Gana Sabha, AIMA Chembai Centenary Celebrations, Hamsadwani’s NRI Festival, Indian Fine Arts Society, Karthik Fine Arts, Tyagaraja Vidwat Sabha, Nadopasana, Krishna Gana Sabha, Veena Balachander Trust Programme, Kapali Fine Arts, Nada Inbam and Delhi Educational Trust, Prayojana Trust, Nanganallur etc .

Travelling over India, in Andhra Pradesh, she has performed in Sri Venkateswara College of Music and Dance in Tirupathi, given lecture demonstrations and recitals at Hyderabad, Secunderabad Music Colleges, Telugu University and Vishwa Kala Parishad and Warangal Music College, Music College, Warangal and Visakha Music Academy, Visakhapatnam.

She also performed in Sri Raja Rajeswary Kala Niketan, Bangalore, during Sri Rama Navami. 

In May 1999, she was given the opportunity to give a lecture cum recital of the techniques of veena play on an Endowment Programme in the prestigious Madras Music Academy. 

 A lecture demonstration and concert at Saraswathi Gana Sabha has taken her to Vellore and in the Delhi Educational Trust programme, the prestigious World Habitat Centre, and Delhi Tamil Sangam, in the Capital, New Delhi. 

The year 2002 has taken her to Kumbakkonam and Madurai Satguru Sangeetha Sabha.

 

Australia:
Jayalakshmi performed with Bharatanatyam dance exponent 
Dr. Chandrabhanu in Melbourne during the years 1989 – 1994, either on the veena, violin, flute or singing.

Malaysia: 
Jayalakshmi has been the musician and music consultant for Bharatanatyam performances for the past 13 years (on the violin, veena, flute, vocal, nattuvangam) for Sutra Dance Theatre, whose artistic director is Sri Ramli Ibrahim, renowned Bharatanatyam ,Odissi, Ballet and Contemporary Dance Exponent of Malaysia. 

Recently, she accompanied for the first time in Ramli’s successful, extensive Odissi Dance Tour in Malaysia with 5 other musicians from Orissa, India. 

She accompanies nearly all visiting musicians from India and Sri Lanka to Malaysia on the violin. Jayalakshmi also teaches vocal, veena, violin and flute for students in Kuala Lumpur. 



University of Pittsburgh, USA: 

She participated in the avant garde music compositions of Malaysian composer, Valerie Ross and performed in the Pittsburgh University during the year 1995. 

The year 2001, took her to participate in the Orient Festival held in Estonia, Europe and also The Tagore Cultural Centre, High Commission, Berlin, Germany.
---------------------------------------------------
 Reviews:

"Nadabruhmam presented a veena concert by Jayalakshmi - her raga alapanas were appealing.. "SVK - The Hindu, Friday, June 14, 1996.

"With Dr. Pinakapani as one of her foremost gurus, Jayalakshmi has acquired rare expertise in music" The Hindu, Friday, January 8, 1999, Hamsadwani Concert, December 1998.

"Jayalakshmi's veena recital at Karthik Fine Arts displayed the vocal style to the maximum... "Dina Thanthi - 10th December, 1998.

"Precise and fluent movement over the frets marked Jayalakshmi Sekhar's veena recital. She displayed in her art a perfect mix of talent and fingering felicity...." SVK - The Hindu, Friday, August 11, 2000. (Tyagaraja Festival, Tirupathi, July 2000).

 

"The recital cum demonstration lecture by Jayalakshmi presented glimpses of legendary Veena Dhanammal...",  The New Indian Express, Secunderabad - 21st May 1999.

"Jayalakshmi Sekhar gave a veena recital of extraordinary merit and vidwat.." 

K. Sundar Rajan - The Trinity Mirror, Friday, January 8, 1999.

 

Upcoming concerts:

Nov. 14, 2008 – Nada Inbam – Abhayamba Navavarna Kritis with Kalpagam Swaminathan .


Nov. 29, 2008 – 6. 45 pm – Ramana Kendra, Chennai

Dec. 5, 2008 – 4.30 pm – Inaug. prog of Naadhabrahmam – PS High School, Chennai


Dec. 22, 2008 – 3 pm – Indian Fine Arts, German Hall, Chennai


Dec. 27, 2008 – Veena Accomp For Vivadi Kritis presented by students of Vidwan S. Rajam


Dec. 30,2008 – 5 pm – Carnatica Festival, Tatvaloka Auditorium, Eldams Road, Chennai

Jan. 4, 2009 – 5 pm – GK Foundation , Sastri Hall, Chennai


Jan. 7, 2009– 6 pm – Nada Inbam, Raga Sudha Hall, Chennai


Jan. 9, 2009 – 6 pm – Pammal.


Concerts during January to October 2007:

Jan. 20 – Feb.18 –Melbourne , Australia, played veena for a series of Arangetrams for Dr. Chandrabhanu S Bharatalaya School of Dance.


Feb. 28 – Karthik Fine Arts, Monthly Prog.


Feb. 29 – US Trip to coach ‘Sustaining Sampradaya’ - Children of North America for Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana.


March 29 – Solo Recital In Cleveland,


March 30 – Aims School Of Music , New Jersey.


April 18 – Rama Navami Festival , Karpagam Gardens, Adyar, Chennai


July 4 – Chidambaram.Tvm V, Harsha.
July 10 – Satyamangalam.
July 11 – Nada Inbam, Chennai
July 20 – Ananya, Malleswaram, Bangalore.
July 26 – Music Edu Trust, Parvathi Illam.
July 31 – Silent Raga-Book Launch , Sections of Veena Included.
Aug 30 - Naadhabrahmam –Dhananjayans Felicitation , Inaug Prog.

Navarathri Progs in Kerala:
Oct 5 – Tekkan Guruvayurappan Temple, Near Trivandrum
Oct 6 - 9 am – Navarathri Mantapam
Oct 6 – 6 pm – Near Paripally – Quillon
Oct 7 – 7 pm – Nediyavila, Near Tvm
Oct 8 – 7 pm – Udayanur, Tvm