Meet flautist Jay Thakkar

It takes years for a competent musician to master the nuances of the bansuri. So, when a flautist in his early 30s composes an album which uses only the flute to create a polyphonic soundscape that features ragas he has developed himself, it’s baffling. That he spent seven years training directly from India’s most famous bansuri player, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, comes as no surprise.
Jay Thakkar’s latest solo album Spandan has 11 tracks that bring the sensibility of Western classical symphonies to Hindustani classical music through multiple aural layers of the humble bansuri. “I wanted to explore the harmonic possibilities of Indian classical music,” says Jay, who gave up a lucrative career as an architect to pursue the life of a musician. “I wanted to be happy doing what I grew up learning,” he says about his move.
Born and brought up in Mumbai, he started learning Hindustani vocals when he was eight years old, from KR Dhamapurkar and later, the flute from Anant Patwardhan. He went deeper into the study of the flute under the rigorous tutelage of Pt. Chaurasia. Music took a backseat when Jay studied architecture, and began his practice. However, his heart and soul were fixed on finer pursuits, and after a few years he took a break from a flourishing independent career as an architect in 2008. Performances at various festivals and concerts across India followed. “I enjoy performing, composing and teaching music,” says Jay, who paints abstracts when he isn’t giving bansuri lessons to tomorrow’s musicians.
Alongside, Jay released three albums that were solo efforts in every sense of the word. His first album Prahar Pravaah features ragas apt for each part of the day’s 24-hour cycle. His ambitious second album Aadi Ragas went back to the roots; it featured six primeval ragas that are the purest form of Indian classical music. His third record Thumkan had a rich and varied collection of light classical music forms like thumri, dadra, tappa and dhun. Jay has taken a risk with Spandan, which is his most ambitious project to date. He says, “I have tried to do something new with classical music while keeping its scales intact. It is not fusion, it’s a new way of looking at our musical heritage.”