Tucked away on Prospect Street, in the town of Framingham, there exists an Aashiyana for music lovers. On Saturday July 31st, a discerning and responsive audience gave an unqualified thumbs up to the concert ‘Immortal Melodies’ held in this baithak style arena. The evening was made possible by the music group Kashish (www.kashishtunes.com) and its singers Meena Sundaram, Sudha Subbaraman and Shirish Nimgaonkar, who volunteered their time and their talent for a worthy cause. The Boston Pledge (www.thebostonpledge.org) a non-profit organization that promotes entrepreneurship at the bottom of the pyramid, organized the evening as a fundraiser, and served appetizers and drinks to thank the audience for their support.

It was a night to remember. Three singers sang their hearts out, facilitated by skilful compering that created the perfect mood within which to relax into beloved memories of yesteryear. The audience responded to the mood of the evening; immortal melodies, strung together within immortal lyrics. The compere for the evening, Dr. Kumkum Pareek Malik, strove to do justice to the immortal music on the one hand, and the talent of the singers on the other. The hands down winner was the houseful audience.  Dr. Malik described the evening thus: ‘when you have singers who rehearse each song as though they were polishing heere-moti, the audience gets a maala that dresses up their tan and man. We had a fantastic audience.’

The array of offerings for the evening ranged from the semi classical to the heart thrumming “light” melodies made famous by Asha Bhonsle and O.P. Nayyar.  A diversity of ragas were on display in the song sequence: Raag Charukeshi was elaborated in the Anamika classic ‘Baiyan na dharo, o balma.’ Raag Bhairavi was in evidence in the Manna Dey classic ‘Albeli naar,’ and Rag Khamaj was liberally interpreted in the Lata Mangeshkar classic ‘O sajna, barkha bahaar aaye.’ Perhaps the highlight of the semi classical section was ‘Kuhu kuhu bole koyalia,’ a song from the movie Suvarna Sundari. It has four ragas within it; Sohni, Bahar, Jaunpuri and Yaman. The qawalli “Nigahen milane ko” from Raag Yaman got the audience clapping and swinging. Romantic playfulness abounded in songs such as ‘Yeh lo main haari piya,’ with every bit of the verve that Geeta Dutt brought to the original number, while “Dum maro dum” inspired the dancing mood. The intensity of love’s longing expressed itself in songs such as “Sham-e-ghum-ki-qasam,’ ‘Lag ja gale,’ “Is rang badalti duniya mein” and others which reminded us that love is ultimately the highest spiritual path.  The joyousness and nashaa of love flowed and wound itself around the humming and whistling audience through songs such as ‘Shokhiyon main ghola jaaye phoolon ka shabaab,’  ‘Deewana hua baadal,’ and many, many more.

An immense range of artistic skills was evident this evening: classical skills, emotional expression and mastery of the melodies did not deter the performers from connecting with this appreciative audience: ‘Kajra mohabbat waala’ saw Meena and Sudha don a chunni and a hat respectively. The dynamic duo offered this playful parody as a homage to the original song sung by Asha Bhonsle and Shamshad Begum from the movie ‘Kismat.’ Shirish delighted the audience with a scarf a la Shammi Kapoor, raising up his shirt collar, and twisting to Baar baar dekho, hazaar bar dekho.’ He then repeated the performance by tying a ‘gamcha’ around his forehead a la Amitabh Bacchan, and belting out ‘Khaike paan banaras wala.’

Throughout the program, the skilful and well researched compering treated the audience to the context of the songs, the lives of the songwriters, and the shaayari expressed within the lyrics. Did you know that a well known song writer was also a football player? And he played for Mohan Bagan, no less.

Thank you Boston Pledge for turning an Aashiyana into a Maikhana. As the audience rose to depart, an infused member of the audience echoed “Abhi na jao chod kar, abhi yeh dil bhara nahin”. Perhaps the true test of enjoyment is the lingering effect of the performance on the audience.

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