Shobha Raju, the singer from Andhra Pradesh known for her Bhakti Bhava in her rendition of songs and who performed briefly at a recent concert organized by Soundraya Lahiri gave an analogy of her predicament to the audience who were waiting to hear her sing. Her narration was thus, “At a recent concert, a person from the audience came up to me and said: When I heard you sing, I had a picture in my mind of the way you would look but I was mistaken” he told her. With a lilting laugh Shobha said, she replied to the man “ Never mind the way I look, as long as you are not disappointed in my singing, that is what really matters” She then turned to audience that were present and said, “today I say the same to you “ A sore throat infection halted her giving an entire concert but summoning up her courage and her voice she sang briefly two Annamarcharya Kirtanas, one of the favorites, Hari nama sankeertana 'Adigo Alladigo Sri Harivasamu' to the delight of the audience.

The true stars of the evening however who stole the show and turned the disappointment to one of sheer enjoyment were artists; Durga Krishnan on the Veena, V. K. Raman on the Flute, Rajesh Pai on the Tabla and Gaurishankar Chandrasekhar on the Mridangam. Annapurna Krovi, who presented the program gratefully acknowledged their instant participation and graciousness at such a short notice. The foursome delivered exquisite pieces of carnatic music with some popular compositions some of them in Telugu. The artists shared their comments on the evening program.

Flute Raman's

Yes, it was a great experience for me & I enjoyed the concert. The sound system, the acoustics of the theatre was very good The audience was so responsive & i received much good feedback thru e Mails.

Durga Krishnan:

I really had a good time last Saturday playing for your organization. Everybody was very courteous, genuinely nice and took care of every one of our needs and treated us with at most respect. I was a bit worried about the audience when I was approached by Sri Subba Rao garu and Sri Rangam, because I thought people will be coming there expecting to hear somebody from India singing Annamaiah kritis and how are they going to re-act seeing two local artists on the stage instead. But the audiences were great. They didn't hesitate to let us know how much they were enjoying the program. I am very happy to help you all out and glad to see such a nice turn out for the program.

Rajesh Pai (Tabla Artiste)

It was a great evening filled with enchanting musical vibrations. The audience were encouraging, auditorium was beautiful. The combination of melodious flute play by Sri Raman and the catchy Veena tunes played by Durga. K made that evening worthwhile. It was a treat to watch Sri Gaurish artfully playing Mridangam for this mainly Carnatic event. It was great fun and a deserving experiment to blend this music with Tabla which is primarily a Hindustani music accompanying instrument. It was a first time experience for me and I enjoyed playing tabla and learnt a lot while accompanying these great artists. Thanks to Soundarya Lahari for this opportunity.

The recent concert of Shobha Raju was the inaugural series of concerts organized by Soundaryalahari to raise funds for Lalita Peetham with an icon of Goddess Lalita Tripura Sundari, Yagyasala and Dhyana Mandiram.

Mr Subba Rao Kompella of Soundaryalahari said that the group was founded to promote spirituality and to revive the Vedic rituals in the community. Satsangs are held every Friday where Lalita and Vishnu Sahasra Namam is chanted, and Suktas are recited. Community religious functions like Ugadi and Dasara are celebrated in a big way with participation from several Indians of New England. Devi Kalyanam, Sahasra Jyotirlangarchana draw huge crowds every year. A 24-hour long Parayana of Lalita and Vishnu Sahasra Namam has also been conducted many times in the past few years. Homams have been conducted on Mt. Washington and in Durham, NH with 108 Homa Gundams arranged in the shape of Sri Chakra.

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