It can be surreal to have a conversation with a voice that once echoed through CD players. This writer experienced the same during his conversation with Bombay Jayashri Ramnath. The Padma Shri-awardee will take the stage at the NCPA alongside her son, Amrit Ramnath, for the first time in a concert called Citi – NCPA Aadi Anant: From Here to Eternity. “This city has a warm, receptive audience that is also very discerning and sure about their music,” she says. She should know, having spent much of her formative years in the metropolis that earned her the epithet. But this time, the classicist’s performance in town brings to fore the legacy of four generations before her, as well as the future.

Twenty-four-year-old Amrit Ramnath marks the next generation. Having learnt Indian and Western classical, the singer is already making his way through the independent music scene. “Preparing with my mother was a challenge because there are so many dynamics involved. There are different levels of experience, but also a lot of fun and discovery,” he says. His mother explains that they are also fellow students. “We are son and mother, but we have grown together and learned under the same guru — Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman,” the singer points out, adding that the concert’s title feels perfect in this scenario. “It implies the beginning and the continuing future.”