Naming any event aptly is always quite a challenge. It is doubly challenging to name if the event in question is a celebration of Maestro Ilayaraja's music!
"How to name it" - As this celebration was eventually named, made the evening of October 3, 2015 a mesmerizing evening to remember! Conceived as a fundraiser for Sankara Cancer Foundation, the event sure seemed to have kindled the artistic verve in many a New England enthusiast, and equally evoked a strong response from the discerning and giving community.
The first segment had a live orchestra performance by the team "Garam Masala". The team did justice to the intricate compositions of the maestro, and one had to witness the effort to understand how hard it was to recreate the melodies. One of the songs from the movie Sankarabharanam (composer K.V.Mahadevan) serendipitously reminisced a classic, the day before its producer Edadi Nageswara Rao passed away. There was a good mix of moods as well as languages in the selection. The instrumentalists could not have produced such intricate music without the exceptional understanding they demonstrated on stage. The gifted team consisted of:
Vocals:
Raju Thekaekara
Manju Elizabeth Abraham
Matt Shibu Chacko
Sunil Nambiar
Sanjay Mathew
Instrumentalists:
Vinphin Varghese - Keyboard
Sujeet Phanse - Flute
Harry Alexanian - Bass Guitar
Jacob Biju Joseph - Rhythm pads
Lecheng Zhang - Rhythm guitar
Sanjay Mathew - Cajon
Rajesh Pai - Tabla
Vijoy Abraham - Lead guitar
The second segment, of Karaoke performances, started with a bang after a brief interlude where the social atmosphere was bright and festive and included an electrifying set of youth doing bake sales and a young mehndi artist raising funds for the cause. The mood inside the auditorium was also immediately set with scintillating performances in succession. Each performer brought in different flavors of presentation, with the same energy and enthusiasm. It was a rich mix of compositions over a significant period of the maestro's career, craftily put together by the team under the able guidance of Aparna Balaji, the cultural advisor to the foundation and the artistic director of the event. The chosen pieces covered moods from upbeat to melancholic, romantic to desolate, and in all the four south Indian languages and Hindi.
One could not have hoped for a more committed set of performers than those on the evening's lineup. Cool camaraderie, deep commitment to the original composition, high energy, high fidelity and a knack to reach the audience were the hallmarks of each performer. It talks volumes of the performers' versatility that they could easily take on and produce on stage, the top picks from "listener's choice" solicited via social media. The accomplished list of performers included:
Priya Anand
Vandana Anand
Radhika Dixit
Vijay Kumar
Sunil Nambiar
Nirmal Ramu
Shuchita Rao
Srisai Seethamraju
Suman Seethamraju
Indu Subramanian
Mohan Srinivasan
Shrilakshmi Srinivasan
Karthik Srinivasan, the sound engineer, was instrumental in the performances not only reaching the audience, but also amplifying the impact of those performances. This was particularly evident in his customizing based on the performers voice characteristics. The audience, which had turned out in good numbers, was really appreciative of the quality of the performances. They welcomed every nuance with generous applause, which fed into more such quality moments. In all, there was a great chemistry between the audience and the performers, which enhanced the ambiance of the evening. As the program host, Anu Chitrapu, ably assisted by Krithi Nathan, kept up the interest of an already interested audience with lively recounting of highly contextual anecdotes and tit-bits.
Rajesh Vaidheeswarran, President of the foundation, shared a brief introduction of the work of Sankara Cancer Foundation and reminded that in this volunteer-driven organization, where non-service expenses are miniscule, a substantial part of every donated dollar reaches the beneficiaries and requested people to donate generously. As much fun the event turned out to be, the audience was amply reminded of the purpose of the gathering making the event a grand success in all respects.
Rajesh Vaidheeswarran gave the vote of thanks, expressing his gratitude to the outgoing cultural advisor Aparna Balaji for her years of service to the organization.
Everything came together with great involvement from a lot of volunteers, a task that was the result of the able and silent efforts of Deepa Rajesh, the treasurer of the foundation. The community truly came together and made this event happen as was evident from how things fell in place making this a truly remarkable evening.
Credits:
Backdrop - Sanjana Krishna
Decorations - Pavithra Giridharan and team
Flyer design - Saravanan Meyyappan
Photography- Jeyakumar Sathyamurthy
Food - Volunteers of Sai Ruchira (Non-profit)
Bake Sale - Pranav Krishna and team of awesome kids
To donate via check, make it payable to “Sankara Cancer Foundationâ€
21 Stratton way
Northborough, MA 01532
Follow the foundation’s work online:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SankaraCancer
|
