Joanne La Trobe (born 11 August 1956) known professionally as Jyoshna (also spelled Jyosna, Joshna, or Jyotsna) is a British-born New Zealander Kirtan singer-songwriter and ethnomusicologist. Her stage name comes from Sanskrit and translates to "moonlight".
Biography
Joanne La Trobe, was born in England on 11 August 1956 into a musical family. Her parents are Leslie Essex La Trobe and Toni La Trobe (a.k.a. Isobel Burton). The family migrated to Australia, then to New Zealand in 1963, which 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 named Turiiya, which included Daryn Long (a.k.a. Diipali Linwood) and Kim Wesney, and performed, composed and recorded together between 1983 and 1990. Since then, Jyoshna has performed as a solo artist and recorded many albums. She is always looking for new ways to express and explore music and spirituality from both western and eastern prospective, fusing sounds of traditional Indian music with western sensibility, taonga pūoro and singer/songwriter styles.
Jyoshna on stage, Hobart, Tasmania, 1995
Jyoshna's music has taken her to many countries of the world and at each place she has collaborated with local musicians: in India with the Mahato Kiirtan group and the Rarhi Chhau dance musicians; in London with the RAWA group; in Vermont USA with local musicians Tina Tourin and friends and in Brazil with Matrika (Cecilia Valentim, Sergio Leone, and Ramon Soza and friends). Her music has featured on Brazilian TV, NRK Norwegian and NZ TV. As an original composer, Jyoshna has authored many albums of both her own, as well as ethnographic material, including Red Earth Song (1996), Magnificence (2001) and Unity Hours I (2008), Unity Hours II (2010), Unity Hours III (2019), Unity Hours (2022). Jyoshna has composed music for the New Zealand feature film Stars in Her Eyes (2016, Dir. by Athina Tsoulis) and completed a new album called Dharma Cakra, Sanskrit songs for Meditation. Jyoshna is presently working as an itinerant lecturer, music teacher and composer at Bethells Beach in Auckland. Her other passion is ethnomusicology, and in 2010 she 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".[citation needed]
Jyoshna's research focuses on the 'praise music of West Bengal (Rarh), India, as well as Maori and indigenous people's music. She also has her own collection of audio visual material housed at the World Music Archives, British Library (C1211).
Kirtan
As a musician and ethnomusicologist of eastern devotional singing, kirtan plays a major role in La Trobe's musical and academic career. Many of her music compositions are pada kirtan or 'devotional songs' and nama kirtan or "chanting the name of God". Her research into the background of kirtan led 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 on stage with full band and Indian dancer, Hobart, Tasmania, 1995
Dr 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 (University of Auckland) and her PhD Red Earth Song: marai kirtan and the performance of Ecstasy at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. 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.
Selected discography
Solo albums
2022 Unity Hours IV, Malbay Studios, Milton Malbay, Ireland
