Moving to a new country and trying to find your place in a new city is a scary prospect. Fortunately for musician and artist Jax Jay, he had already established a connection through his music. Since 2019, the musician has been visiting the Canberra region.

“Every year my band comes here from India to play in a cultural event for the Indian community … Navaratri. It’s a very big festival for Indians, it goes nine days continuously. We play for our goddess that music, and the audience do the dancing steps,” he says.

Networking at the event, Jay made a connection with a businessman who offered him a position as an interior designer at his construction company. Starting the role while still living in India, the pandemic put a halt on the visa process but didn’t dampen Jay’s eagerness to come to Australia, making the move to Canberra early last year.

Playing a range of genres including Indian classical, contemporary Bollywood, Western classical, blues and jazz, Jay was on the road to making a successful career for himself before the move. Since arriving in Canberra, he has been sharing his talents with the local community, to much applause. Though his main fan base is back in India, Jay hopes to continue building on his success here.

“Here in Canberra, I’m gathering an audience in the Indian community … The purpose of our band is for all communities; we don’t want to just stick with Indian band and Indian music, we want to explore every kind of genre and community.”

It was his father who initially sparked Jay’s love for music by his playing of the harmonium. Jay remembers listening to the music and wanting to try it for himself. At eight years old, he saw an opportunity to feed his curiosity when his father was out of the house.

“I just grabbed the harmonium and started playing something and suddenly he came, and he says ‘Are you interested in playing music?’, I said ‘Yes’ and he said ’Carry on’,” Jay smiles.

Inspired by musicians, music directors and teachers, Jay continued picking up instruments. By the age of 12, he was playing events and entertaining audiences. Jay went to undertake Western classical music training through two different college programs, studying under A.R. Rahman, a composer who has worked on films like Slumdog Millionaire.

“He’s an Oscar winner music director and Grammy winner. He’s been playing with Hollywood and Bollywood and other music cinema companies,” Jay says.

Working solo and with bands, Jay has recordings with the T-Series record label, which he says is one of the most recognisable music companies in his home country, most notably, the music created as the background score for a film called Second Mother, a regional film that was nominated for film festivals in India.

Wanting to continue writing scores, Jay has been lending his hand to scores for local theatre productions.

When not working or painting, Jay is involved in two bands. Back in India, one, in particular, has quite a following, Raag-The band. Starting out playing covers and uploading them to YouTube, they soon amassed a fanbase and have played with a number of celebrities. Still working with the band, Jay says they have plans to release new music and videos.  

“We record music, we are planning to do some with Indian classic and Western classical, we just want to blend it well and create some contemporary music and want to perform it all over Australia,” he says.

Performing solo or with bands local and afar, Jay finds inner peace when he plays music or creates art. He wants to share this gift with those around him, hoping it brings peace to them as well.

“Whenever I play music, I can see around me that ambience and everything, it feels so good. Whenever I grab my paper and pencil, I just forget about everything; doing my work is just that artistic feel and inner peace,” says Jay.

To keep up to date with Jax Jay, follow @jaxjay009 on Instagram.

Canberra Daily is keen to hear from you about a story idea in the Canberra and surrounding region. Click here to submit a news tip.