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| Bollywood Live: A Musical Journery By Somen And Lopa |
Anil Saigal
02/29/2012
March 17, 2012 8:00 pm
Keefe Tech, Framingham, MA
http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/cal.php?stage=1&event_id=9076
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society joins hands with Somen Saha and Lopa, along with Dushyant Jhamb, to present A Musical Journey - Bollywood Live.
Lokvani talked to Somen Saha and Dushyant Jhamb about this event along with their mission.
Somen Saha
What motivated you to pursue a degree from Berklee College in music?
I really did not have a choice - since a very early age, I knew I would be doing something with music and the Grant that Berklee offered was enough for me to take the plunge.
Could you describe your earlier musical training?
Waking up with my mother doing her Hindusthani classical rewaaz and my father humming Beatles tunes, sort of sums up my early music training. I did attend classes (3 classes to be precise) for Ravindra Sangeet but could not really get too much into it. Later of-course I have learnt to appreciate Ravindra Sangeet. Formally, I have never trained to be a vocalist or instrumentalist.
You had a successful career in the corporate world. What made you quit a financially secure profession to seek a career in music?
Actually this was a very selfish act - I just did not want to be repenting not trying to do "something" with music when I would not be able to sing anymore. With my wife supporting me 100% - it was an easy choice to make - and in all honesty - I do not regret a single moment that it was the right choice - corporate world and music are just too far apart for someone like me to handle gracefully together.
You live in America yet you want to make a name in Bollywood music. What opportunities and challenges do you see?
Bollywood music has a very uncanny ability to break socio-economic and cultural barriers. I bet you anything that a good melodious Bollywood number will leave any American intrigued if not surprised.
With the proliferation of indian music and movie channels in the US along with the ever increasing immigration of Indians to this country - a great osmosis is taking place - Bollywood music is filling the gaps that only Bollywood music can fill and in turn Bollywood Music is showing increasing signs of influence of American music.
This is great news for performers like us where we can easily have a Bollywood Live concert and expect equal number of Americans taking part in it.
What kind of program can the audience expect at this event?
We already have an over-whelming response from ex-pat Indians and Americans. So far I would say its a 60/40 split between Indians and Americans. Thanks also to the great Indian menu for the event.
Why did you choose to support the Leukemia Society?
Dushyant Jhamb who is a dear friend of ours is running the Boston Marathon to benefit the Leukemia society - he has very close family members who have been affected by this terrible decease. He has been the driving force behind this event.
We as immigrants in this country have an opportunity to learn from American - the art of giving. As a performer, I have nothing greater to give than my art to this great cause.
Any special message you have for our readers?
I hope you will make it on the 17th - and here are three things that might help you decide:
1. Great Indian Food
2. Great Bollywood songs from the past and present - that you can sing to
3. Wonderful feeling that comes from giving to a Great Cause -
Let's make blood cancers history!
Dushyant Jhamb
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am the very definition of the Indian stereotype in the Boston area:
a computer programmer who came to the US on an H1B visa in the early
nineties with the intention of going back after working here for a few
years. Then the kids came and we ultimately decided to make Boston our
home.
What motivated you to organize this event in support of Leukemia Society?
My sister, who lives in Australia, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid
Leukemia in 2007. As a family we were devastated by the news and as
lay people felt quite powerless to do anything about it. My sister
went through several rounds of chemotherapy and ultimately the doctors
decided that she needed a bone marrow transplant to have any chance of
survival. Unfortunately for us none of her four siblings turned out to
be a match. Bone marrow matches are highly dependent on ethnicity.
There are 19 million listed donors in the international bone marrow
database but less than 2% are of South Asian origin. We could not find
a match in the international database either. I ran a number of bone
marrow donor drives at the time with the help of my friends. Even
though we managed to add a good number of volunteers to the database
we were not successful in finding a match for my sister. Still, the
good news is that she received a complex cord blood transplant and is
now officially a survivor, so this is a happy story.
What was glaringly obvious to me through our whole ordeal was that
there is a lot that still needs to be done. Survival rates
for people afflicted with blood cancers are extremely low and the
research needs are great. I identified The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
as a charity that is at the forefront of funding research on blood
cancers. They offer a program called Team In Training where you run
the Boston Marathon under their banner and help raise funds to support
the charity's mission. So I made my donation to the charity and also
decided to put in the physical effort to inspire my friends and family
to pitch in and do what they could to help in the fight against blood
cancers.
Hosting this event is my effort to go beyond friends and family and
get the larger Indian population involved in my cause.
What did you choose the music program by Somen Saha as the fundraising event?
I have been listening to Somen perform at Indian -- mostly Bengali --
functions in the Boston area over the past several years and have
always been mesmerized by his music. He has an impressive repertoire
of Hindi songs and I always thought he was doing himself and the
larger Indian population in the area an injustice by focusing his
energy only on the Bengali functions. So I broached the subject with
him after his most recent performance at a, no prizes for guessing,
Bengali function and he was ready in a heartbeat. I have known him for
quite some time and he has actually helped me organize bone marrow
donor drives in the past so his ready acceptance of my proposal didn't
really come as a surprise to me.
What are some of the facts South Asians should know about Luekemia?
Leukemia is a killer disease. In fact survival rates of patients
afflicted with blood cancers in general -- leukemia, lymphoma,
Hodgkin's disease, lymphoma -- are very low. the actual numbers in USA
for 2007 [most recent numbers available] were Myeloma-41%, Hodgkin
Lymphoma-86%, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma-70%, and Leukemia-57%
[http://www.lls.org/#/diseaseinformation/getinformationsupport/factsstatistics/].
What is important to appreciate in the South Asian context is that
these survival rates are for patients who have undergone treatment
which may include chemotherapy, stem cell transplants and bone marrow
transplants among other things. The average Indian making $3703 per
annum [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_India] cannot afford
even one round of chemotherapy so one cannot even talk about survival
rates for patients in India. The only way to address this is to find a
cure which even the common man in India can afford. The good thing
about medical research is that even if it is conducted in the US, the
whole world benefits from it.
Any special mesage you have for our readers?
Cancer touches everyone. Let us do our bit in this fight. Together we can!
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