Musical magic

The old and young, rich and the not so rich, lovers and non-lovers of music, were all compelled to shed their egos, inhibitions, become speechless and let their hands and legs talk for one evening. It was a magical "musical" beginning to the week-ahead. To all those who wanted to reminisce those days of pre-Mungaaru Male era, it was a perfectly made occasion, thanks to the Kannada Koota of Northern Calfiornia who took painstaking efforts in what was considered one of the best programmes ever arranged. Once again Padmashri Dr. SP Balasubramanyam and his troupe proved that there are only two kinds of people in this world - lovers and non-lovers of music. If there are non-lovers of music, then yesterday had been the day of enlightenment for them.

    As always, the Indian organizers in the Pacific time zone proved their strict adherance to Indian Standard Timings. The fabulous evening kick-started at 4:50p.m. which was 25 minutes beyond SPB's plan. But, there was absolutely no sign of impatience or anger given his preference to begin a program atleast five minutes before the start of Raahu Kala. A true patriot, SPB started his concert with Vande Mataram, joined by his singer-sister SP Shailaja, Kalpana, a talented singer from Tamil Nadu and Sri Krishna,music based reality show winner from Andhra Pradesh. The sleep-deprived team after having performed in North Carolina, the previous night, travelled to California over night, and with less than two hours of good sleep, they were back on the stage for an excellent performance.

    SPB and his troupe went on deliver some of the best songs ever made in the Kannada film industry. Some of the old unforgotten songs like Maamaravello Kogileyello, Jeeva Veene, Madikeri sipayi were a tribute to the recently departed Kannada super-star Dr. Vishnuvardhan. The artists on the instruments performed brilliantly with the co-singers doing more than justice to the original singers, though SPB stole the thunder. If one thought, he or she was blessed to watch the God of Indian music perform, the God himself surrendered to the ultimate supernatural power, when he removed his sandals while singing Pavadisu Paramaatma Sri Venkatesha from Sreenivasa Kalyana. The concert also included some of his ever-green hits from the movies Geeta, Bandhana, Nammora Mandara Hoove, recent hit Nenapirali. The ardent fans unfastened their seatbelts to dance for the song from Nenapirali.

    The singing troupe had less than three songs of the post Mungaru Male era. The budding singer from Andhra Pradesh Sri Krishna got an opportunity to realize his potential when he sang what is apparently considered the second Kannada Anthem Anisuthide from Mungaaru male as a token of appreciation for the "AmeriKannadigas" who boast of the renowned Bay-area based music director Mano Murthy. Kalpana, another budding singer from Tamil Nadu, sang on the Kannada stage for the first time. She proved her prowess singing some of the best hits of the South Indian singer Chitra. Her solo performance of the song Nadheem Dheem Tana from the recent Kannada flick Gaalipata was mind-blowing. SP Shailaja, undoubtedly did justice to S. Janaki by co-singing with SPB and singing a few solo songs.

    At the age of 65, the living legend cast a magical spell on the insatiable music lovers not just by his wonderful rendition, but also by his mild and timely sense of humor. The mesmerized house-full audience had nothing in return other than ovation, and saying "once more", "awesome", "excellent", "superb" and "come back again". The audience seemed relentless to even let the organizers share stage and wanted only SPB and his group to make maximum use of the three hours. This short, beautiful, triumphatic musical evening came to an end with the much awaited song "Santhoshakke haadu santhoshakke" from the movie Geeta.