It has been said that Music is the voice of the soul.  The band Aaroh, (the title describes the ascending notes of the musical scale) is gearing up for a performance of Bollywood Hits at Dakshin Restaurant in Framingham on April 28th. The group, consisting of many performers from various musical backgrounds and styles has one thing in common: a shared love of music.

      I was part of one of their rehearsals at Vijay Mohan’s home on a sunny Sunday morning. Wires criss-crossed the floor, keyboards, dholak, drums, guitars occupied pride of place and instrumentalists and singers tuned up for the practice session. The members have been busy distributing flyers, providing online resources and spreading the word.

 Aaroh initially started with a group of like-minded music –lovers jamming together and gradually morphed into a performance group. Abhijit Bhadra, one of the singers says, “ The idea is to entertain the residents of the New England area with popular music and hopefully diversify into other genres”. “ We also want to bring the members of the Indian community together through our performances and provide an opportunity to introduce Indian music to the non-Indian community” says Vasanth Murthy.

      The musicians in Aaroh are also committed to performing for charity events and community projects. “ We want to use our passion for music to benefit deserving causes and make a difference!” says Lata Vasanth, the  manager of Aaroh.

      What can audiences expect from the upcoming program? “ We hope to provide 2 hours of high-powered Bollywood hits to get the audience off their seats!!” says Manish Kurup.  “ We enjoy performing and are looking forward to jamming in full force on April 28th”, says Vijay Mohan, the percussionist, who is from Trinidad.

       Somyendu Pal, the keyboardist adds, “ We have selected both popular foot-tapping numbers and melodious hits which will appeal to all members of the audience. You’ve got to check it out!”

      Aaroh’s performance is scheduled at Dakshin restaurant in Framingham( 672 Waverly Street) on April 28th at 6 PM. Please check out www.aaroh-usa.org for more details regarding the group and sulekha.com (look under Boston) for tickets.

The members of Aaroh are: Singers:  Vasanth  Murthy, Abhijit Bhadra, Suzana Naik, Shraddha Agrawal and Meena Sundaram

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