Jyoshna

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Jyoshna (Joanne La Trobe) aka Jyosna, Joshna, Jyotsna, is a singer/song writer and ethnomusicologist. Her name comes from Sanskrita and the meaning is "moon light".

Biography

She was born in England, August 11, 1956 into a musical family. Her parents Leslie Essex La Trobe and Toni La Trobe (aka Isobel Burton) and her elder sister Jacqueline migrated to Australia in 1958 where they had Lisa La Trobe. They migrated a second time to New Zealand in 1963 where they had Davide La Trobe (1964-1967) then James La Trobe. New Zealand became their home. Jyoshna began composing at an early age and was performing with her band The Livewires, at Greenmeadows Intermediate School, Manurewa. Her second band was Turiiya which included Daryn Long (aka Diipali Linwood) and Kim Wesney who performed, composed and recorded together between 1983 and 1990.

Kiirtan

As a musician and ethnomusicologist kirtan plays a major role in La Trobe's devotional and academic career. Many of La Trobe's music compositions are pada kirtan or 'devotional songs' and nama kirtan or 'chanting the name of the divine'. Her research into the background of kirtan lead her to Rarh, India, the homeland of the Giita Govinda by Jayadeva (11th century) where she spent 2005-2010 documenting the traditional kirtan performances. Her own kirtan compositions are a blend of western singer/songwriter genres and Rarh devotional music.

Rarhology

Jyoshna La Trobe's pioneering research work on the music culture of Rarh (1996-2010) is documented in her Masters Thesis Red Earth: the Music Culture of Rarh and her PhD Red Earth Song: marai kirtan and the performance of Ecstasy at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, London).[1] Over 120 hours of audio visual material is deposited in the British Library World music Sound Archives in her catalogue called the La Trobe Rarhi Music Collection. Music genres of Rarh covered in the PhD include: jhumur 'folk songs', Baul 'mystic songs', nacini nach 'dancing girls dance' and the Chhau 'masked martial dance of the ancient warrior' as well as a musical analysis and transcriptions of marai kirtan 'praise music' performance. Video footage also includes Prabhat Samgiita 'songs of the new dawn', composed by P. R. Sarkar. [2]

Selected Discography

Solo albums

  • 2012 Live in Brazil*
  • 2010 Unity Hours II, Sky Studios, London
  • 2007 Red Earth Fusion, Innersong, USA
  • 2006 Unity Hours I, London
  • 2004 Reddish Blossom, songs inspired by Prabhat Samgiit, Bengali love songs, Innersong, USA
  • 2001 Era Dynamic,* MoreFm Studios, Auckland, NZ
  • 2001 Magnificence, Outback Studio, Auckland.
  • 1999 Dancing Divinity, Acoustic Wave, Auckland, NZ.
  • 1997 Longing,* Q Studio, More Fm Studios Auckland, and Q Studios, Australia
  • 1996 Sounds of Silence,* More Fm Studio, Auckland, NZ.
  • 1993 Touched by the Sea,* Innersong, USA.
  • 1993 Beloved, Innersong, USA.
  • 1991 Reign of Love, Acoustic Wave Records, Auckland, NZ.

Group Albums

  • 2002 Lotus Beat, with EastranzWest, Visitors Records, NZ.
  • 1989 Waiting - the Album with Turiiya, Jayrem Records, Wellington, NZ
  • 1987 Daughters of the Flame, Harlequin Studios, Auckland, NZ 8
  • 1986 with From Scratch - Pacific 3,2,1,Zero Part 1 and 2 Live, with Philip Dadson, Don McGlashan

* kiirtan recordings

Selected Publications

Articles
  • 1997 "The Music Culture of Rarh", India. Unpublished MA.
  • 2000 Probe Magazine, Issue 2. Ancient patterns and Contemporary Expressions, Manukau Institute of Technology, Art SchoolPress, Auckland. Pg 16-21.
  • 2010 Gurukul Network Issue 31, "The Supra-aesthetic Science of Kiirtan", pg. 16-20.
  • 2010 "Marai kirtan and the performance of ecstasy in Purulia", West Bengal, India. Unpublished PhD.

References and Selected Reviews

  1. ↑ "Completed PhD Thesis 2009-2010". SOAS, University of London. Retrieved 24 January 2014. 
  2. ↑ Guides to World and Traditional Music: Asian ethnographic audio and video collections, REF: C1211. British Library Sound Archive Collection. p. 10. Retrieved Jan 2014. 
  • Uniao TV Channel, Presentation/live and studio concert of her music with over a million viewers, Brasília, Brazil, August 12, 2011.
  • NRK1 Television, Perspectiv, Norwegian TV Documentary on her music in London, April and November, 2010.
  • Robert Allen, “Unity Hours Review”, The Rock Society, June/July, 2008.
  • NRK TV Norwegian TV Documentary, Perspectiv, Nov, 2006.
  • Graham Reid, “Magnificence by Joshna”, New Zealand Herald, 10/03/2001
  • Nick Bollinger “Joshna, Magnificence”, NZ Listener, Feb 10th, 2001, p. 35
  • Jennifer Shennan “Leaping Lizards”, Listener, April 21, 2001 p. 55
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