After snow packed roofs and negotiating ice dams, even before the daffodils showed up, Raaga-Rang announced the arrival of Spring with a bang! I was eager but didn’t know what to expect. Classical Indian meeting popular music ? Well, it was April 18^th at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, and I had finally made it.

I was looking around at the anticipating faces when Raaga Bageshri sprung out. I was transfixed as I saw young Sachi Badola glowingly invoke Sarasvati and also the memories of my own childhood learning aalaps and taans. That was a long time back and now Bageshri was resonating again with Raaga-Rang ensemble’s power-packed chaturang.

As I watched the melodies decorating the stage, Shuchita Rao lit the evening with her ‘Jyoti Kalash’ in Bhoopali and later enchanted us with ‘Nand Nandana Kanha’ in Raag Kedar. Sankar’s magnificent rendition of ‘O re piya’ was stunning and I was simply overjoyed to hear one of my favorite songs.

Shekhar’s and Pallavi’s playful and informative narrative kept rolling out raagas, rasas, taans, khyals, ghazals and bhajans keeping us on our toes. I was feverishly trying to remember the notes of Jaijaivanti when Sowmya started belting out ‘Man Mohana’ with her powerful voice, quickly followed by the exhilarating shower of the group taraana. My favorite star Meena Sundaram swept me away with her ‘Panchhi Banu Udati Phirun’ and also ‘Kahe Tarasaaye’ in Kalavati classic with sonorous Sowmya.

As I sat there exploring my own uneventful musical journey, Dilip blossomed with his ghazal in Lalit and the smashing ‘Kadi Aa Mil’ in Charukeshi with powerful accompaniment of the orchestra. His beautiful wife Meesha astounded us with her ‘Haye re woh din’ into the higher octaves. The elegance of Shubra and the infectious energy of Vijay added color to the vibrant springtime symphony.

All the buds and blooms in the garden of Raaga-Rang were flowering through the phenomenal team work of the orchestra:  Christy Mathew on keyboard, Sujeet Phanse on flute, Pranav Ghatraju on tabla, Hiral Parikh on octopad, Dilip Acharya on harmonium, Phil Scarff on Saxophone, and Anirudh Nagesha on bass.

My unfinished business with singing had faded into the past, but witnessing this vernal feast, I felt I was sprouting again. Raaga-Rang 2015 was nothing less than Superlative! It moved an anticipated gathering to the heart of melody! An evening of musical bliss! In architectural terms, it was a perfect building and graphically speaking, a masterly painted collage on the canvas of Spring.

"A colorful evening decorated by the best musicians of Boston area working like a single mind ... genius at work," said Andy Kalambi of Lexington.

Couple of years back, as I was designing the poster for Raaga-Rang, Creative Director, Shekhar Shastri had mentioned that, “Raaga-Rang is an aesthetic doorway to self-exploration”. Now I could personally feel it come alive and also in the audience around me that engaged with it so deeply.

"The tremendous amount of work put in, educated the audience about our deep musical heritage," said Samir Desai of Lincoln.

When the ensemble concluded with the original theme song ‘Raaga-Rang jan-man mein barase’, it was clear that indeed the hearts had been showered by melodious delight. It left our senses to a wonderful feeling of imagination and purposefulness in life.

For the third year in a row, Meru Education Foundation proved that the classical can indeed be melded with the popular to create the exceptional! I hope this mesmerizing journey will continue for years to come, nourishing and educating while it spreads the seeds of pure delight.

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