Nov 14th- Kerala Day celebrations at NBA

NBA-this association has nothing to do with basketball- but NBA as in Nair Benevolent Association at New York celebrated Kerala Day on Nov 14th. Thahseen and I got 90 minutes with Rajeev Menon and Kala Satish joining the fray. The audience seemed to have very refined musically tastes, for there was a request to delve into the raga for each song- a segment that was both entertaining and enjoyable. Rajiv Menon, apparently a hardcore Hariharan fan, was remarkable on Tu Hi Re. Another highlight was my impromptu opportunity to anchor a segment on the event for Amrutha-TV. The past few years has witnessed proliferation of US based segments on Indian TV channels with the Malayalam and Telugu channels taking the lead. Some of these are hugely popular in India but I have always wondered why we don’t have major productions like the ones in India. Sponsorship may be one issue-Getting buy in from Corporate America will surely help, perhaps. Any takers there ?

To view photos click http://picasaweb.google.com/kri.anitha/20091115Nov14thNBA_NewYork?authkey=Gv1sRgCMDO076YlLSHsgE#

Nov 7th 2009- Kerala Day Celebrations at Philadelphia

Nov 7th 2009 was an interesting weekend. I was at the Kerala Day celebrations at Philadelphia-was there to perform with Thahseen but we did not get to sing that many songs what with the slew of dances, fashion shows and other items and the usual late start. George Nadavayal, the president of the Tri-State Kerala forum sensed our disappointment perhaps, and invited us to judge the beauty pageant – which was a different experience. It was not one of those events, that would remain etched in memory for eternity but I still had fun catching up with Thahseen, who I was performing with after a gap of three years. It was almost like a rehearsal for our next event at Nair Benevolent Association at New York.

Click here to view more photos http://picasaweb.google.com/kri.anitha/20091108Nov7th2009_KeralaDay_TriStateKeralaForum?authkey=Gv1sRgCIrS9OGY8NDIXw#

Oct 31st 2009 Weekend...

Musical events in India happen almost everyday, including weekdays and weekends. I have even heard stories of celebrity singers in Chennai, singing a few songs at TTK hall then rushing to another venue to perform at another event! In the USA, most Indian events are limited to weekends. However, New Jersey seems to be fast crossing that threshold. This past weekend, I performed at three different events.

On Friday Oct 31st, I was at a reception dinner for Dr.Karan Singh, former Indian ambassador to the US. The invitees included senior business leaders in the NY area and the agenda was basically a get-together with Dr.Karan Singh. I was actually surprised to learn that Dr Singh had a very good knowledge of music and is a sitar player himself. Thanks to Mahesh Saladi for letting me be part of this event.

On Sunday Nov 1st, the North American Telugu Society (NATS) a newly formed amalgamation of Telugu speaking community from across North America had a kick-off fund raiser in NJ. NATS organized its first national celebration “America Telugu Sambaralu” in Orlando, Florida last year and will have the second in Edison, NJ in 2010. This event was the kick-off fund-raiser and a host of invitees from India that included Award winning Telugu ghazal singer Srinivas, TV singing competition winners Sreenidhi and Raghuram, Anchor and mimicry artiste and singer Simha. I felt honored to be one of the invitees. Thanks to Dr Madhu and Sireesha Korrapati !

Ghazals has its roots in the Persian region and for long has been a staple cultural artifact of Northern India. Changing audience tastes have led to its popularity in the South particularly around the Kozhikode region in Kerala. Ghazal Srinivas is hugely popular in Andhra Pradesh and he has a unique style of delivery. He uses just a Kanjeera for the rhythm, dwells on the lyrical beauty and walks you through a tale of emotion and passion and leaving you in a trance at the end. This was the first time I heard him and I was very impressed. What was also impressive was his insistence on the audience maintaining absolute silence during his performance which is a rare feat to achieve among Indian audiences.

That same evening I attended a Shirdi Sai Temple fund raiser event. This time I was basically part of the audience to watch a group from Mumbai perform. The organizer was known to me and he invited me on stage and I had a good time singing a song with a very competent team of musicians from India.

To view more photos click http://picasaweb.google.com/kri.anitha/20091031DrKaranSinghDamu?authkey=Gv1sRgCMXxrI72qbXdPg#