LEHER, a group of talented like-minded local artists, presented Shaam-e-Leher: an enchanting evening of timeless ghazals and geets on April 20, 2013 at the Diamond Middle school auditorium in Lexington, MA. Dr. Amal Jawa, LEHER team lead and show organizer said, “this was an excellent opportunity for the band to showcase their musical talents and help raise funds for the noble goal of opening 100 blind eyes in India via Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF).” Dr. Amal, and her daughter Raagini (co-organizer), longtime volunteers for SEF and head of Boston SEF chapter, along with the rest of the LEHER team were inspired by this wonderful non-profit organization’s goals of vision 20-20 by year 2020 and achievements of funding for over 1 million free eye surgeries of the underprivileged suffering with preventable causes of blindness in India.

JahaN rahega waheeN roshni lutayega,Kisi Chiraagh ka apna makaaN nahi hota!

The Shaam-E-Leher show began with eloquent emceeing by the well known and adored Mr. Syed Ali Rizvi, and Dr. Amal Jawa, show organizer and LEHER team lead, who spoke about the recent Boston bombings and lead the audience through a moment of silence in respect of all of the victims and families affected. This was followed by a short informational video about Sankara Eye Foundation, highlighting the gravity of preventable blindness in India, which was shot and directed by Alok Bhaskar and Malini Vardharajan of EyeSome studios. As the curtains for the stage opened, audience was dazzled by the colorful stage decorations courtesy of renowned Shobha Shastri of Alankar Decorators. One by one, the LEHER’s performers entered the stage and were greeted with loud applause and cheers.

The Shaam-E-Leher artists included:
Raj Alur (guitar), Chris Pereji (Keyboard and tabla), Dilip Acharya (harmonium and Tabla), Amal Jawa (vocalist), Raagini Jawa (vocalist and on Esraj), Sanjay Jain (vocalist), Samir Patel (Tabla and Dholak), Sunil Barot (Vocalist), Meesha Acharya (vocalist), Subhankar Choudhury (Tabla) and Shiva Ramakrishnan (flute).

The LEHER team members had brainstormed for months in order to pick the best collection of ghazals and geet for the show. The final list included a diverse range of beloved compositions from over 4 decades by renewed artists like Mehdi Hassan, Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh, Asha Bhonsle, Ustad Ghulam Ali, Hari Haran, Pankaj Udhaas, Runa Laila, and featured various themes: some comedic, while others were softer and nostalgic. After over 5 months of rehearsals and preparations, the LEHER team’s musicians and volunteers were eager to showcase theirwork!

Each artist with their unique styles contributed to the great success of the concert. Raj Alur with his magical strumming added melody to majority of the songs sung by the artist. Chris Pereji used his keyboard notes “sur”, “taal”, preludes” and interludes ,to string the beads of songs to adorn the evening. Subhankar Choudhury,  with his great tabla  skills was a one of the rhythm pillars of the evening. He shared the rhythm support with Samir Patel, whose passionate performance on Dholak and tabla, was well received and added excitement. Shiva Ramakrishnan, on the “bansuri, (flute) provided melodious accompaniment and accented some of the ghazals and brought in the original tune effect.

Sunil Barot, a known local vocalist, set the tone to the show with his captivating rendition of Jagjit Singh’s ghazal “Sarakti Jaaye hai Rukh se Naqab, aahista..aahista”.  Sunil surprised the Leher team as well as the audience who could not stop themselves from clapping along his entertaining singing of “Chaandi Jaisa Rang hai tera, sone jaise baal” a Pankaj Udhas special. To create a musical “dhamaka” in the auditorium, Sunil Barot sang Qateel Shifayi’s most popular and famous geet, “ghungroo toot gaye” which was a treat! The first segment of this fabulously crafted and conceived ghazal and geet evening ended with the evergreen, heart-touching geet originally sung by Jagjit Singh and Chitra singh in the voices of Amal and Sunil: “Yeh Daulat bhi lelo, yeh shorat bhi lelo,bhale cheen lo mujhse meri Jawaani.

Meesha Acharya, a well known singer from the New England area, pleased the audience with her melodious performance reflecting  Asha’s “khanak”. She brought life to ghazals and geets like,“Salona saa sajan hai, aur main hooN”, “Saawan beeto jai. Her renditions were applauded extensively by the audience . Meesha Acharya, and Sanjay Jain performed a duet and rendered another flawless ghazal, “Milkar juda huey to na roya karenge hum”.

Sanjay Jain, a renowed local actor and singer, flawlessly sang popular ghazals like “Chandi jaisa rang hai tera and the nostalgic ”Chitthi aaye hai” which literally brought tears to some of the audience member’s eyes Ali Rizvi, in a lighter vein recited, “Khat likh raha hooN khoon se siyahee mat samajhna,Ek  Mareez ka sample liya tha, mera mut samajhna.” Yet another Sanjay special was one  with the softer side of love and romance was “HotoN se Choo lo Tum mera Geet amar kar do” and the beloved  Ghulam Ali ghazal “chupke chupke raat din, aansooN bahaana yaad hai”.

Dilip Acharya, a well known local vocalist and harmonium extraordinaire, adorned the mehfil with timeless numbers that were highly appreciated by the audience. He mesmerized the listeners through gracefully rendered ghazals that included “Dil meiN ik Leher see uthi hai Abhi”, “Ranjish hi sahi dil hi dukhane ke liye aa”, “Kaash aisa koi manzar hota”, Each one better than the previous one and left  the audience in a trans!

Raagini Jawa, a talented vocalist and Esraj player, won over the hearts of the audience as she has stood with her mother Amal, shoulder-to-shoulder, fully inspired to help the visually challenged in India. She sang“Phir le aaya dil, majboor kya kijiye” from film Barfi, Jagjitji’s “Hosh waalon ko khabar kya”. Her favorite ghazal of yesteryears, “Goriya, main Jaana Pardes” caught everyone by surprise. Originally sung by Reshma and Pervez Mehdi  over three decades ago, Raagini and Dilip gave this geet another lease of life. Beyond words….On public demand Raagini sang her famous number,” Aaj jaane ki zid na karo” and gave another star performance of the Farida Khanum style.

Amal Jawa , a trained and talented vocalist from the New England area, took us back in the classical genre of ghazals when she gracefully sang the Runa Laila version of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s popular ghazal “Baat Karni Muujhe Mushkil Kabhi Aisee to na Thee”. Amal put her Bel canto into  nother popular ghazal from the 70’s “Woh nahi Milta mujhe, iska gila apni jagah”, sung originally by Chitra.  Both Amal and Raagini came together for a duet of popular ghazal, “Tumko dekha toh yeh Khayaal aaya” with a unique harmonized ending which was appreciated by the audience. Mr. Rizvi then quoted: Tumko dekha to ke Khayaal aaya,Tamari saheli ko dekha, toh doosra Khayaal aaya, na woh inkaar karti hai, na who iqraar karti hai,kumbaqt mere sapnoN meiN aakar mere dost se pyaar karti hai.

Amal was the show stopper and ended the program following acknowledgements and vote of thanks , clad in Boston T-shirts along with her team in support of the Boston Marathon bombing victims. Amal’s mesmerizing performance of O lal meri pat –Punjabi Sufi dhamaal  was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience who rose to their feet and clapped along with the tune and danced to give an appropriate end to an awesome evening of ghazals and geets which kept the audiences spell bound for nearly 4 hours.

Throughout the show,  Mr. Rizvi skillfully kept the audience engaged with his wonderful Lucknowi urdu couplets and shayari with impeccable emceeing. His side splitting jokes and “Mazahiya” (funny) poetry kept the audience thoroughly entertained! During the show, 10 year old, Sana Patel, a 4th grader from Chelmsford Byam school, was recognized on stage as she generously donated her birthday funds to the Sankara Eye Foundation when she learned about the Shaam-e-Leher show. Shaam-e-Leher’s unique features included 2 Exhibition Acts- The first, a heart touching performance of a bhajan “Daras bin dukhan laage nainsook”-  by the students of Raganjali School of Music (Divya Bawa Shourik Choudhury, Ashwin Panda and  Sonali Razdan), accompanied by LEHER’s Dilip on harmonium and Subhankar on tabla. The song was introduced by Chief Guest Mrs. Ranjani Saigal, 2012 Woman of the Year and co-founder of Lokvani.com, who gave a touching address syncing the plight of the blind in India and how and what we can do to bring about a change in the lives of these needful souls. She quoted from the scriptures in Tamil and encouraged the audience to come forth and donate generously for this noble cause.

The second Exhibition Act, the highlight of Shaam-e-Leher, was introduced by NEHM founder and author of “Mirchi-Cola” Mr Preetesh Srivastava who provided wonderful comedic relief for the show and beautiful introduced the group song: Haan maine chu kar from movie Black.  The group song was arranged by LEHER’s Raagini and Sudha Subraman was sung by Anusha Kulkarni, Sachi and Krithi Badola, Nimisha Patil, and Raagini all of whom were winners or finalists from local singing competitions. They were accompanied by LEHER’s Chris on keyboard and Samir on tabla. This Exhibition act had an everlasting impact on the audience who appreciated the effort and adorned black glasses handed out by the youth volunteers.

Other guests who helped hype up the audience and introduced ghazals and annouce about local events included- renowned Harish Dang-President of Sounds of India, Miss India New England 2013- Mansee Sangani  and Miss Teen Indian New England 2013- Krithi Nathan. During the intermission, the audience enjoyed a delicious dinner by Bollywood Grill and desserts by Bollywood Delights and got to shop for beautiful jewelry and fashions by Dhaya Embrace.

The 2nd Chief Guest, Dr Sanjiv Chopra, Professor of Medicine and Faculty Dean for Continuing Medical Education at HMS and Senior Hepatologist at BIDMC, gave a powerful talk on the finer aspects of
our lives and how we can enrich our lives. He emphasized to the audience that, the most importantance of supporting wonderful non-profit organizations like SEF and especiallyed prasied organizers Amal and Raagini as well as the rest of the  LEHER Team for superbly presenting a great program for a very noble cause. He said he was moved to see the commitment by this group in their own unique way of offering music to raise funds for helping the cause of blind and needy in India.

Overall, the Shaam-e-Leher show was a MASSIVE success despite all of the local turmoil that was happening in the Boston area just a few days prior. The audience was captivated by the musical genius of the performers, nostalgic ghazals, fabulous emceeing, local support by chief guests and guest presenters, and the down-to earth feel of the show. The LEHER team received an overwhelmingly positive response during and after the show from the audience, all of whom are eagerly awaiting future performances by LEHER! We are proud to say that through all of the support, ticket sales, sponsorship and donations via the show, the Shaam-e-Leher team surpassed their goal of saving 100 eyes and raised over $7000 for Sankara Eye Foundation. LEHER team had a wonderful time planning and excuting Shaam-e-Leher and we all look forward to continue bringing forth shows for a noble cause featuring all types of Indian music in the future!

Thanks from  LEHER team:
The success of Shaam-E-Leher can be attributed not only to the singers and instrumentalists, but to the following Voulnteers, Donors, Sponsors and Supporters and last but not the least our audience!

Emcee and Guests- Syed Ali Rizvi, Harish Dang, Preetesh Shrivastav, Mansee Sangani, Krithi Nathan
Chief guests: Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, Ranjani Saigal

Volunteers: Nimisha Barot, Sneh and Ajay Jaisingh, Alok and Malini of Eyesome production, Keyur Parikh, Nilu and Sana Patel,  Sunita Badola, Tommy Defranco, Nidhin Toma,Suresh Gidwani, Namita Miglani, Shardha Jha, Ruma Neogy, Praveen Misra, Smit and Shefali Kadakia, Harish Dang, Meera Gargi, Sudha Subbraman, , Madhavi Phadke, Sunita Badola, Hannah Morin, Anish Khanzode, Pankaj and Prathibha Shah, and all of the youth volunteers!
                                                                                                                    Donors and Sponsors/media partners: Shobha Shastry of Alankar decors, Smitha’s Boutique of Burlington, MA, Bollywood Grill, Bollywood Delight, Sounds of India, WUML Lowell, Lokvani, NEHM, Dhaya Embrace, Aapi, IMANE, PAGB, IAGB, UIA, VHP, Apna Bazaar, SEF Bay Area, Gopu Patel, Patel bros, Cafe India- Nashua, NH, Sita Harran team, MITHAS, AaloK Fashions, Neelam Wali of Printing and Graphing services, Vaids, Tandens, Hingoranis, Kevin McCarthys, Prashant Shivdasani, Dr. Deepak Sharma, Venkat Srinivasan (AID President), Dr Sanjiv Chopra, Urmila Bawa, Udgith Mankad, Swati Panda/Raganjali School of Music, Sumeet Sethi, Rohit Kochhar, Ramila and Praful Thakkar, Inderjeet Maniktala, Christopher Pereji, Aman Khurana, Sukhwinder Singh(Bollywood singer)

Special Thanks to:
Chris Pereji and Raj Alur
All of the Leher performers for your countless hours of rehearsal,
never-ending belief in the project
Diamond Middle School
Town of Lexington, MA
Governor Patrick

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