Now, the Bengaluru-born artiste is on a 17-city US tour with international band Snarky Puppy and will soon perform at Lollapalooza India in Mumbai. For Grammy-nominated singer and flautist Varijashree Venugopal, music is a journey of wonder: a way of listening, learning and discovering the threads that connect sounds from distant worlds. In a conversation with Bangalore Times, she reflects on staying rooted, learning through collaboration, and giving independent music room to breathe.
I’ve always been a curious learner, and a student of music for the past 30 years, long before I became a professional artiste,” she says. “Music was the first language I was introduced to, even before Kannada or Tamil.
We have to constantly think about how to represent them most tastefully and do justice to both,” she says. Yet, she says, the biggest takeaway is often what happens beyond the final performance or recording. In these experiences, I have come out with more lessons for myself than anything else,” she says.
Brought up by musician parents, Varijashree started learning music at a very young age. she has always been drawn to sounds beyond its boundaries While Carnatic music remains her primary training. “I am not trained in any form of Western music, be it Western classical or jazz. Whatever influences I have drawn have come through listening. I understand and decode them through the elements and fundamentals of Carnatic music. The raga and tala systems are my tools, and will be in my blood forever. For Varijashree, bringing together Carnatic music and other genres involves far more than experimenting with sounds. “Whenever a piece brings together elements from two or more styles of music, it is about understanding the intricacies and the soul of those styles. Even after years of performing, she sees this as a work in progress rather than something she has completely figured out. “The intention of a composer like Tyagaraja is different from that of someone like Chick Corea. Understanding that difference is the challenging part. You have to study how the music works, how improvisation is used and what makes a particular composition come together. There is no fixed syllabus for this. You have to write your own syllabus for the music you want to make,” she explains. Over the years, collaborations with musicians from around the world, including those working in flamenco, samba and bossa nova, have deepened her understanding of music. “I have always admired Snarky Puppy, and I have played with them a few times. I have also been part of their Family Dinner series and the Rabbit Hole music workshop residency in New York. On the ongoing US tour, she is performing her original music in a trio featuring Michael League and Bengaluru-based percussionist Pramath Kiran. Reflecting on the experience so far, she describes the month as a “volcano of inspiration. She shares, “The meeting between musicians offers so much more than just the song we make. It is something we carry with us for a lifetime. She points out that film music naturally reaches a larger audience while independent music often requires artistes to put in additional effort to find listeners. “It is not that music outside Bollywood is not good enough. It is just that it may not have received the same platform to be seen and heard. Whichever music gets more opportunities to be published, streamed and marketed will naturally become more visible,” she shares.
That early environment shaped not only her training but also how she listens to music today.