Hi,I am Jyoshna La Trobe
My name is Jyoshna and I have loved music all my life. I listened to a wonderful variety of music when I was young thanks to my parents who had very different tastes, my father loved classical and brass band music such as Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Rachmaninov, and the French composers and my mother loved folk and popular music such as Joan Baez, Buffy Saint Marie, and much more. oyment in two private schools in London.
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Email :
Phone :
00353 834639315
Address :
Sunrise Farm, Derroren, Whitegate, Co Clare, Ireland, V94HY96.
Personal Experience
This along with my songwriting was my passion and continues to be to this day. I now see songwriting as a way of documenting my life’s journey and fighting for the rights of minorities and indigenous people.
The albums I have recorded form a musical diary of my life, including ‘Touched by the Sea’, Sounds of Silence, ‘Longing’, ‘Magnificence’, Unity Hours I, II and III, Avarta Kiirtan I,III and III, etc. In this process I have been able to collaborate with many wonderful musicians all over the world, including Amitabha (Erik) who is teaching at the Kiirtan Academy also.
Ethnomusicology
Then after an ecstatic supra aesthetic experience of kiirtan in Rarh (2000), I went on to research the ancient Kiirtan Tradition of Rarh for my PhD, being the first westerner to document this tradition.
As an ethnomusicologist I can help create bridges of understanding between people of different musical backgrounds. With the support of Janet Topp Fargion at British Library World Music Archives I have collated and housed my own audio visual collection called the Rarhi Bangla Kiirtan Collection (C1211).
In London I met Amitabha, we became friends and started playing and recording together.
The Sunrise Farm
It is here at Ananda Bharatii that I went through my greatest struggles and my greatest joys (Isabel was born here) and in August of 2020 I was motivated to instigate the Kiirtan Academy, inspired by P.R Sarkar, who has said, “now is the time to manifest the glory of kiirtan“.
Amitabha (Erik Azzopardi) and I are looking forward to sharing with you, all that which nourishes us and inspires us so that you can inspire others to do kiirtan. I also love to share my music as a singer/songwriter, and my research and experiences of the ancient Rarhi kiirtan tradition..
Thank you for joining us. I am excited to be with you as we expand our knowledge, and understanding of kiirtan, play kiirtan and enjoy each other’s company in the blissful kiirtan flow.
Qualifications & Skills
In 2010 Jyoshna La Trobe completed her PhD in Music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London on Marai Kirtan and the Performance of Ecstasy in the Purulia District of West Bengal, India.
Jyoshna’s research focuses on the music culture of West Bengal (Rarh), India and indigenous people’s music in general. She is the first person to complete a PhD on Kiirtan and has her own Collection (C1211) of audio visual material at the British Library World Music Sound Archives.
Jyoshna has worked with experimental such as Turiiya, From Scratch, Eastranzwest (NZ), and devotional music groups such as RAWA (UK), Matrika (Brazil) and Modhurasa (New Zealand) as well as with Prahla’d (France) on Prabhat Samgiit songs. Her music has featured on Brazilian TV, Norwegian TV, and more recently in New Zealand radio and films.
A prolific singer / songwriter and kiirtaniya, Jyoshna has authored many albums of both original and ethnographic material, including Unity Hours I and II, III and IV (2006-2021), Dharma Cakra (2014), Red Earth Fusion (2005), Magnificence (2001), Red Earth (2000), and more.
Jyoshna is presently living at Ananda Bharatii in County Clare, Ireland NZ with her daughter Isabel Kamalgiiti, working as a singer/songwriter and for the Kiirtan Academy.
“Her most recent album Unity Hours IV has received great reviews:
It’s just an absolute masterpiece, it’s so, so, so beautiful. ‘My Little Isabel’ I am deeply moved by, it’s incredibly raw and very courageous, and hugely personal. ‘We are Not alone’ looks at diversity. “If I could swim the ocean” it’s really beautiful, with its highly visual imagery adding to that sense of longing, every word, every chord has a place. Overall, I Iove the album, it’s very moving and beautifully enchanting, Jyoshna, and all the team, your best album yet.”
