Jayadevan (Jay Nair) is an Indian violinist who plays global genres

A violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical music tradition (Carnatic), nevertheless, he is equally at home with Western classical music genre as well. Also a confident instrumentalist with absolute control of the violin, his style has been billed as “Pure, restrained and a lot more delicate inflections.” Jayadevan is an IT Engineering graduate and migrated to Canada two decades ago, nevertheless, he never gave up his pet passion of playing violin. Currently living in Toronto in Canada, Jayadevan a.k.a., Jay Nair hails from Kottayam district in Kerala. The trained classical violinist’s renditions are inspiring as well as heartwarming.

Jayadevan hails from a renowned family full of illustrious people. His paternal grandfather, Abhayadev was a poet and lyricist in the Malayalam film industry. Abhayadev has penned lyrics in excess of 500 films and written dialogues for 25 movies in Malayalam. Abhayadev (original name Ayyappan Pillai) and his father, Karimalil Kesava Pillai who was also a renowned poet from Pallam near Kottayam. Abhayadev as born on June 25, 1913 and died in the years 2000. He was also the recipient of the prestigious JC Daniel Award. Similarly, Jayadevan’s father is a Business journalist with The Hindu and also have great flair for music and literature.

Jayadevan is among the busiest violinists in the contemporaneous times. So far, his journey is propelled by intense study, perpetual practice intense experience and self- evaluation. About how he found the true artist in him, Jayadevan says, “Only continuous Sadhana (Riyaz or Practice) brings forth the genuine artist in me.”

A real artist finds expressions in soul, cultural, political and a slew of other realms of human activity. A real and relentless pursuit for perfection creates a vision for a performing artiste. As a performer, Jayadevan has been successful in identifying a place for him in music and culture through a range of international events. What is more, Jay Nair has undertaken world tours with his accompanying artistes and visited all over Canada and the US and organised workshops, music
festivals and youth associations.

Jayadevan is the one artiste who took initiative in organising south Asian-Cultural Meet and Thyagaraja Festivals in that region and thus became a cultural ambassador of India. Jim Karygiannis, the Member of Parliament, Toronto in Canada had conferred Jayadevan a certificate of appreciation for his role in organising a Music Festival in Toronto under the aegis of the Government of Canada.

Persistent Performer

For the past two decades, Jay Nair had performed a gamut of solo violin concerts across India and in many overseas destinations that includes Austria, Bahrain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the UAE and the US.

Furthermore, Jayadevan had accompanied renowned artistes in their music concerts as a violinist such as Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, Dr KJ Yesudas, TM Krishna, P Unnikrishnan, Aruna Sairam, Neivelli Santha Gopalan, Soumya, Papanasam Ashok Ramani, Geetha Rajashekar, Madurai Sundar, V Dakshinamoorthi, Neyyatinkara Vasudevan, Sikkil Gurucharan, Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna among others.

Jayadevan has also associated with renowned instrumentalists such as Thiruvaroor Bakthavalsalam, Thiruvizha Jayasankar, Valayapetty Subramanium, Chalakkudi Narayanaswami, Mandolin Raju, Mysore Chandan Kumar and GS Rajan. Apart from that, Jay Nair has also performed in prestigious Carnatic Music Fetivals in India, Canada and the US including at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, Bharathi Kala Manram Thyagaraja Festival and the Salt Lake Music Festival, Kolkata.

As a much sought after violinist, Jayadevan has performed for films under the banner of renowned music composers of Malayalam movie industry including MB Sreenivasan and Jerry Amaldev. In the course of his involvement with the film industry, Jay Nair also worked with renowned choreographers such as Adyar K Lakshman and Guru Kalyanasundaram. A true artist finds expression in social, cultural and political activities. As a performer, Jayadevan has been successful in creating a niche for himself in the realm of music and culture through his involvement and engaged participation in many international events.

Genesis

The genesis of Jayadevan, the budding artiste began when he started learning violin at an early age under Guru Kalakshethram Mathew, a pioneer in violin instruction and the Guru of many eminent disciples. In fact, Kalakshethram, set up in way back in 1948, follows Gurukulavidhyabyasa, the traditional style of education which demands a stringent regimen of Sadhana (Practice). Guru Nedumangad Sivanandan did give Jayadevan the advanced training in violin making him comprehend the finer nuances of various genres of playing. Similarly, the renowned Carnatic vocalist, Dr. M Balamuralikrishna has mentored him showering blessings on Jayadevan and advised him from time to hone his violin skills.

Achievements

Continuing the journey in different realms of music, Jayadeven donned the role of a Conductor. It all started with a long association Jay Nair had with Kalakshethram, an institution based out of Kottayam with the stated aim of promoting Indian Classical Music, where he served as its Treasurer for more than a decade, when renowned Nagaswaram exponent, Thiruvizha Jayasankar was the President. It was at this juncture, Jay Nair had conducted many a music festivals thus bringing in the best of artistes from all across India. Also, Jayadevan conducted cultural events in connection with many charitable and social organisations.

His devotion to popularise classical music by coordinating many interactive sessions throughout Kerala was really laudable. Jayadevan is also credited with taking the initiative to establish the well regarded South Asian Cultural Meet and the Thyagaraja Festival in Kerala. The violin maestro attended many music programmes that were organised in 2005 to help the tsunami victims in India and neighbouring Sri Lanka, thus getting billed as Cultural Ambassador of India. Jayadevan’s influence in the sphere of music performance in Canada is legendary. The Varasidhi Vinayaka Devasthanam honoured Jay Nair by conferring a title: Sangeetha Vidwat Shiromani in recognition for his contribution.

Jayadevan arranged and conducted fusion music programmes with western artists for the prestigious Toronto Jazz Music Harbor Festival in 2002, in the Toronto Music Garden of 2003, with Mosaic Has No Boundaries and at the IIFA Bollywood Awards. Jay Nair also won accolades for his performance with a fusion band named Viswamitra that included artists from all over the world. Jayadevan performed for INCA and SLCA in Calgary, Canada, which gave him standing ovation from the multi-racial audience.

As a conductor, Jayadevan actively participated in organising the Indian Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations in Toronto. Also involved with Nruthanjali, the most popular programme of the South Asian Arts and Cultural Organisation in 2004, Jayadevan conducted Kalanjali, a couple of years later, to promote various art forms of Kerala such as Kathakali and Mohiniyattam.

Continuing his initiatives, Jay Nair conducted back to back in 2009 and the following year he organised and performed Jugalbandi concerts with Pandit Ramesh Narayan at various venues in Canada. In 2012, Jayadevan arranged concerts and music workshops in Toronto with the illustrious flautist Mysore Chandan Kumar to promote classical music awareness among the younger generation diaspora crowd. And that is not all. Jay Nair is also an active member of the Indian Panorama since 2004. Founder and Director of SACCO and founder of SARIGA, a Canadian School for Indian Music, Jayadevan leads a hectic lifestyle, a life full of beans.

Composer

Known for his exploration of new horizons in Carnatic, Western and Fusion music genres, Jayadevan is also the front-runners of blending classical and western styles with traditional folk styles is yet innovative in the stream of violin performance. In fact, the international community has recognised Jayadevan’s compositions as the new gateway to world peace.

Jay Nair has composed signature tunes and title music for Canadian television channels such as TVI and Radio programmes like Madhurageetham. The multi-facted personalities’ jingles are popular in that region and had elicited wide appreciation in the advertisement arena. Jayadevan has also composed albums for Invis Multimedia in Thiruvananthapuram. In 2005, Invis Multimedia launched its first classic violin solo album of Jayadevan in which, renowned Mridhangam maestro, Thiruvaroor Bakthavalsalam accompanied him. Four years later, Jayadevan also launched his album, Raganubhava in which he played violin with the accomplished sitar maestro, Pandit Debojith Chakraorthy. Back in 2013, Jayadevan’s new album, Entwined was released in Canada by none other than the Carnatic music legend, Mangalampally Balamuralikrishna. In this album, Jayadevan plays duet with the Santhoor Vidwan, Pandit Sandip Chatterjee. Moreover, his newest album is a recording of Jayadevan’s new classical solo performance in violin accompanied by Neyvelli Venkatesh on the Mridangam and Tripunithura Radhakrishnan on the Ghatam.

Teacher

The most sought after name in Canada for being the scholarly teacher of music, Jayadevan is a highly inspiring Guru for hundreds of budding talents. Without doubt, Jayadevan’s instructional style is traditional and the crux of his methodology is based on Indian concepts and ideologies. As a founder of Sariga Music, Arts and Creations where students master the complex, sensuous and soothing styles of violin, Jay Nair strives hard to find something new from the complex web of music. In 2013, the fist student of Sariga graduated and successfully completed his music Arangetram (Formal entry) and he now accompanies many prestigious artists including P
Unnikrishnan in their concerts. In 2014, another student, Vishnuga Kulasingam completed her Arangetram, an occasion that drew attention from the audience, other artists and the public, due to sophistication and complexity of the pieces that were performed. Vishnuga has also since then continued to perform at concerts and continue her musical career with verve.

Last, but certainly not the least, rarity and purity are the twin qualities which place Jayadevan in the hearts of millions of music aficionados across the globe. Jay Nair has undertaken world tours with accomplished and eminent artists and he has also visited the nook and cranny of Canada and the US by organising workshops, music festivals and youth associations. A true artiste, The Indian.News wishes a long and fruitful music journey to Jayadevan alias Jay Nair, a violinist par excellence and a composer extraordinaire.