Young jazz musicians are on the rise in Bengaluru: Jagadeesh M R

The guitarist is working on a collaborative album with musicians from across the world

With over three decades of experience as a jazz guitarist and educator, Jagadeesh M R, is the founder of MoonArra, an Indian classical, jazz and world fusion ensemble. He continues to be the only Indian musician to be nominated this year on the International Jury of the Seven Virtual Jazz Club Online Jazz Competition, featuring solo musicians and bands from around the world.

In a candid chat with Metrolife, he talks about his plans for International Jazz Day on April 30, the slow-growing jazz scene in India and more.

How were you first introduced to Jazz?

I was introduced to jazz music through Willis Conover, a popular radio broadcaster back in the day. He used to host Voice of America’s Jazz hour, that is what piqued my interest in this form of music.

What is the jazz scene in India like?

It’s good. It has grown and continues to grow at quite a slow pace. With the most popular music industry in the country being Bollywood for quite some time now, it took Jazz a little longer to penetrate into Indian crowds compared to its popularity among masses in other countries. Even today the jazz scene in India is quite a niche. Another reason for this might be that education in music, for jazz, specifically is pretty expensive and isn’t easily available to many across the country.

Do you see a potential for growth in jazz musicians in the country in the next few years?

Definitely. I believe the jazz scene will grow in India significantly in the next few years. There are already quite a few young jazz musicians blooming in the country, in Bengaluru especially jazz seems to be getting more popular among musicians. Indo-jazz is another genre that has been welcomed by Indians over the past decade or two and is still growing in popularity.

What inspired you to start MoonArra?

My wife Madhuri and I started MoonArra officially in 2009. It is basically an amalgamation of all that we are. We soaked in all the influences from our travels and other experiences, studied a bit about classical music and other genres and decided to start MoonArra with that knowledge and experience. We are not a band, we merely set out to create a space for collaborations among musicians, encouraging musicians across the country to come together.

What do you have planned for International Jazz Day?

Originally, we at MoonArra had a show featuring multiple artists spanned across three days at three different locations planned for International Jazz Day. But, sadly due to the rising cases everywhere and the government restrictions, the show has been cancelled. However, instead, we have organised various jazz artistes from across the world to come together to create an album to commemorate the occasion and display unity in the jazz community. The album will feature artistes from India, Austria, Japan, Hungary, Sweden, Italy, Singapore, the USA and Germany.

What is the one piece of advice you’d like to give to aspiring musicians?

Have no expectations. Just keep playing and creating music. If you truly enjoy making music and your hard work is shown in your work then things will fall into place eventually.