Auntie Jayanthi's Homies In Harmony

Teaching Artist: Jayanthi Rajasa AKA “Auntie Jayanthi”

Auntie Jayanthi Rajasa is an archivist songstress collecting songs that speak to her struggle and empowerment and ability to be, change, and move forward while honoring the unremembered changers and movers of yore. She sings for people passing worlds (new or old or hardly used—meaning births and children, hospice and funerals, free and incarcerated, loved or lost) and has been in more than 10 bands in The Twin Cities. She loves being a teaching artist to every age and holding song or poetry circles. 

For decades Jayanthi has been leading songs and sharing space with children circles, elder circles, mother circles, and inter-generational space. Mother to a 13, 14, 9, and a 3 year old, she relies on communicating with her children musically and through drawings often, and has seen it reach areas of their heart and psyche for healing, mindfulness, and deep connection in a way that mere words could not. Auntie Jayanthi works with the Million Artist Movement to dismantle racism and injustice towards people of color and dream collectively to produce actions for change and Black Liberation. She also works with Mama Mosaic on Minnesota Girls Are Not For Sale seeking freedom for women and girl sex slaves in Minnesota.