Festival: TIMES BANDRA FESTIVAL 3

It was Pankaj Udhas' ghazals on Monday, September 28, 2009 on Dassera day. Venkat and I were really looking forward to it and reached the MMRDA Grounds along with Pooja and Maya quite early to get good seats.

We reached there and got into the fourth row too and were mighty excited. The programme began with Udhas singing the song Zamana karaab hai. It was nice and after this he spoke about how he has been singing for over thirty years. He also explained the lyrics before every song and gave due respect to the poet who had written them.

I liked best the explanation he gave about Nazam - stories that are written in the form of poetry in Urdu and sometimes in Hindi. It contains four verses or bandh. The first speaks about daada-pardaada, the second about the father, the third about oneself and the fourth about the forthcoming generation. The nazam that Udhasji sang for us spoke about the first generation living in mud houses and working on the farm while leading satisfied lives. The second generation lives in brick houses and worked in offices. The present generation lives in bungalows and races by in huge cars but are not so happy with their lives. The poet hopes that the future generation would lead a happy, peaceful and satisfied life. All this came across in the lyrics as Pankaj Udhas sang Dukku sukku ek sabka... ek o bi tha zamana, ek yeh bi hai zamana. It was beautiful.

Jiyo tho jiye kaise... bin aapke is what I liked the best. The artist did sing the much-awaited and eagerly-looked-forward-to song Mohe aayi na jug se laaj main itna zor se naachi aaj, ki ghungroo toot gaye but the background music was too loud and Udhas' voice was buried under. Sad!

Overall, the show was good with the flautist and tabla-artist playing exceptionally well.

Festival: Times Bandra Festival 2

On Sunday, it was singer KK who rocked the stage at the Times Bandra Festival. He began at 8.20 pm and went on for two hours without a break. I was amazed at the energy exuded by KK while he entertained the audience throughout the show. It was awesome just to watch him jump all over the stage from one end to the other – it appeared as if he had flubber fitted to his shoes.

We were highly entertained by all the songs that he sang – both fast and slow. Dard me be …hum muskura jaathe hain, O hum dum suniyo re, Bandha ye Bindaas hai, Yaaron dosti badi haseen hai, Kya mujhe pyaar hai… yah, Ek nazar me hi pyaar hota hai… meine suna hai, Pal… hum rahe naa rahe, Aankhon mein teri ajab si and more were wonderful listening to. The crowd went crazy with the performance and had fun.

KK also spoke about how he had remained with the same band-members for ten years now since 1999, about his first chance in Bollywood - Thadap thadap ke ek dil which he sang beautifully with the thadap very much in tact.

A lovely evening that ended with dinner at Rasna Punjab in Matunga along with Pooja and Jeetu.

Festival: TIMES BANDRA FESTIVAL 1

On Saturday, September 26, 2009, Venkat, Vinitha, Pooja and I attended a light music concert by Hariharan as part of the Times Bandra Festival. Wow, what an experience!

This blog I must surely dedicate to Dorai Thatha and Rajeswari Chitti. I have heard so much about the two of them attending concerts during the Chennai music season over the years. Somewhere deep down in my subconscious, I had made a decision to attend live music concerts too.

So far, I must have attended about half a dozen throughout my life. If I had the time and the inclination, the tickets would not be available or vice versa. But this weekend, it feels as if I have won the lottery.

My daughter, Vinitha, got us passes for four concerts at the Times Bandra Fest - the best time as it is a long weekend with the Monday off for Dassera. Yesterday was the first one with Hariharan – the man with the golden voice – on the stage.

Blessed I feel living in the same era as this music maestro. He was FANTABULOUS, to put it in one word. I am not too knowledgeable about the many nuances of music, but have a good ear for it. This man’s range is awesome. His voice swings from one end to the other, from the upper to the lower and again to the highest levels in a matter of seconds. It’s God’s gift, nothing less.

The show was on for about two hours where Hariharan had the audience hanging on to the edge of their seats, swinging to the music and rhythm of his songs, feet tapping, hands clapping and some of us out of our seats, dancing away. He held us all enthralled as the mice bound to the pied piper.

Hariharan began the concert with Bharat humko jaan se pyaara hai from Roja and from that moment on we were totally hooked. Without a single break, the concert went on for two full hours – a dream come true for me.

Some of the songs that we all enjoyed were – Mohe rang de – how many ways would it be possible to sing a couple of lines – amazing!

Roja jaane mann that flowed into Dheemi dheemi
A song from the Wonder Wars by Hariharan’s younger son Karan – very nice
Then there was Priyasiiiiiiiiiiii…. nahi saamne ye alag bath hai from Taal – I realised that there is no limitation to this musician’s pitch
Chanda re from Sapnay peppered with Hariharan’s own ups and downs – my favourite song
Vennilave – Tamil of above – loved it
Nilaa Kaaikiradhu, neram theikiradhu – another Tamil number, simply superb
O Hansini Meri Hansini – an old Kishore Kumar favourite
Medley from Colonial Cousins – along with his elder son, Akshay – the bestest
I am the one so crazy about you – along with both sons – the audience went crazy along with them
Chappa chappa – a wonderful finale to the evening.

Hah – a wonderfully satisfying evening that we finished off with a lovely dinner at Himalaya, Sion along with Vignesh and Pooja’s son Jeetu.