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27 April 2010
Hyderabad
What?
SP Balu's Bay Area Telugu Live-in-Concert
When?
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 5: 00 PM
Where?
San Jose Center for Performing Arts, San Jose Downtown
Organized by?
Bay Area Telugu Association (BATA)
Singers: SP Balu, SP Sailaja, Sri Krishna and Kalpana Raghavender
Orchestra: Chinna & Praveen (Keyboards), Srinivasachari (Lead Guitar), Caleb Alexander (Bass Guitar), Ravi Sankar (Flute), Swamy (Pads), Krishnamurthy (Pads/Dafli), Phani (Congos & the Orchestra manager), Paul Raj (Tabla/Dholak) and Venugopala Raju (Tabla).
SP Balu's Telugu Live-in-Concert, organized by the local Telugu Association (BATA), was a great success in a completely filled-in grand auditorium and as far as I know this is the biggest crowd (2000+) attending any Telugu concert hitherto in the Bay Area. Like all the previous five SP Balu Telugu concerts (held in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008), BATA once again had a privilege of presenting the 6th one to the Bay Area music lovers.
Vijaya Aasuri (Cultural Chair, BATA) gaaru was the Master of Ceremony (MC) for this splendid concert on the Saturday evening. She, with her everlasting pleasing smile, first greeted the audiences with a comment that the people usually get the "pushkarAlu" every 12 years, but the Bay Area folks get the "pushkarAlu" every two years (indirectly mentioning the Balu's bi-annual concerts). She added that we all should be very proud to say that we belonged to the SP Balu's era and then invited SP Balu gAru on to the stage. All the 2000+ audiences greeted Balu gAru with a standing ovation. Balu gAru felt that it would be very difficult to live up to the expectations for the viSEshaNAlu that Vijaya gaaru just used. He then humbly said that he was still a beginner and asked the audiences to forgive him and his troupe in a case of any mistakes. He complimented the BATA folks that every time he visited this place, they would never let him go out of the Bay Area with out performing in a Telugu concert (note: Bay Area is the only place in the USA that has a privilege to have a full fledged Telugu Concert every time.. but in the rest of the places, Balu shows would comprise the songs from all languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi). He then thanked all the prEkshaka dEvuLLu for supporting him for the last five decades.
He started introducing all the co-singers (SP Sailaja, Sri Krishna and Kalapana) one after another. Balu introduced Sri Krishna saying that he was a gem found in his own pADAlanundi TV program a few years ago and blessed him that Sri Krishna would have a very bright future in his singing career. Balu passed a compliment on Kalpana that she was a multi-faceted talented girl and a "camouflaged atom bomb".
Balu started the program with the Indian National Song, vandE mAtaram song with a chorus from the rest of the three singers. The second song was nAda vinOdamu from sAgara sangamam movie. Interestingly, this song ends with the pallavi of another popular song, kinnerasAni vacchindammA (which was later added in the movie, Sitara as a full song). He commented that this song was just of the many gems that were churned out in the combination of K Viswanadh and Veturi and added that the great musicians such as Mahadevan and Ilaya Raja made the music as a language.
He gave a hint on the third song that the original song was composed by Ilaya Raja, though Chakravarthi had to use the same tune in the Telugu remake, padahArELLa vayasu and hence the actual credit should go to Ilaya Raja. Kalana took Balu gaari blessings (for her first song) by touching his feet and she then sang the song, sirimalle puvvA effortlessly. Balu gaaru then recalled that the April 23rd (the day before) was S Janaki's BDay and he once again greeted S Janaki gaaru a very happy BDay amidst the audiences' claps.
Balu told the audiences that there were two talented technicians who brought the popularity to the Dafli/Dappu instruments in the movies and they were "Amruthayya" and his disciple, "Daasu". He then added that the great KV Mahadevan gave a heavy importance to the Dappu instrument in the movie, sirisirimuvva and we (audiences) all kept guessing what the next song could be... could it be jhummandi nAdam, gajje ghallumanTunTE or rA digirA! The moment the percussionists, Krishnamurthy and Swamy started off showing their awesome talent, we realized it is the rA digirA.. divi nunchi bhuvi digirA song. Balu wonderfully sang this song without missing any emotions from the original song. Reminiscing the song, Balu added the folks like Viswanadh (annaiah) and Chandra Mohan (cousin) were all related to him. He wondered who else could write such a song expect Veturi and he particularly went over the last line - SilavE ayitE pagilipO.. SivuDE ayitE ragilipO.
He then announced that the next song would also be from the same combination (K Viswanadh and mAma) and SP Sailaja did a complete justice to the song, jOjOlA lamma jOlA from sUtradhArulu movie.
Sri Krishna greeted the audiences and emotionally shared with the audiences that his dream of becoming a singer got materialized with Balu's "pADAlani undi" TV program and it was then he gained confidence in himself as a singer. Another dream was to come to the USA as a performer and it turned to a reality with Balu's blessings in his 2008 US tour and he also modestly acknowledged his gratitude to his mentor/music director, Koti and to the music director, Kalyani Malik for giving him the ashTAchEmmA title song. He then proudly announced that "Bay Area is my Area". He sang the the ashTAchemmA title song (that got him instant popularity a couple of years ago) and he received a lot of cheers from the younger audiences for this song.
Next, Balu and Kalapana sang the spicy song, balE balE magADivOy from the movie, marO charitra. Balu said that the movie ran for one full year in Chennai during those days and he emphasized that it was the straight Telugu movie, not the Tamil version (and added that it was never dubbed/remade in to Tamil, but was later remade in to Hindi as Ek Duje Ke Liye).
Balu and Sailja sang the song, veeNa vENuvaina from the movie, inTinTi rAmAyaNam. For this songs, the percussionists, Phani and Venu exchanged their places. Balu affectionately wondered what a melody it was from the combination of Veturi and Rajan-Nagendra!
Balu then went over a very generic opinion that there were hardly any good songs these days. He opined that there had to be good contexts in the movies to have the everlasting songs and such contexts would usually sharpen the music directors' brains and make them come up with wonderful songs that would last forver. One such song was from the combination of Bharathi Raja and Ilaya Raja. Then Balu wished that the beginning of the song (saakee) would soon apply to the singer Sri Krishna (wishing Sri Krishna's marriage soon). Sri Krishna then started the saakee "SatamAnam bhavati" of the song, mATE mantramO from the movie, seetAkOka chiluka. While Balu and Sailaja sang this wonderful song, Sri Krishna and Kalapana rendered an impeccable chorus to the song. After done with the song, Balu felt that a melody should be like this one in the sense that the singers should get the goosebumps (rOmAlu nikkaboDuchukOvAli) while singing the song.
Then Balu encouraged both Sri Krishna and Kalpana to come up with a teasing mass song. Both young singers enthusiastically sang the song, gOngUra tOTA kADa kApu kASA from the movie, Venky. A few people in the audiences were whispering that Sri Krishna was singing far better than the original singer that sang this song in the movie. Kalpana cheered up the audiences with her effortless rhythmic steps and towards the end of the song, she requested the orchestra to stop and encouraged the audiences to give the rhythm with their claps and the whole auditorium reverberated with the rhythmic claps for the last piece of the song. To the audiences' pleasant surprise, Balu also joined the two singers with a light step.
Balu put the audiences in a trance with a romantic song, mallelu pUse from the movie, inTinTi rAmAyaNam. He joked that some times a few of the songs that the singers wonderfully sang would just be wasted when picturised on some expressionless heroes. He complimented Ranganadh was a very good artist and that he did a complete justice to this romantic song. He then introduced the Keyboardists, Chinna and Praveen as the finest Keyboardists.
Balu and Kalapana sang another classic romantic duet, yamahO nee yama yama andam with a cheerful response from the audiences. Balu introduced the two finest Tabla players, Venugopala Raju and Paul Raj. Then Sri Krishna modestly announced that he would be singing one of the Balu's songs (note: he usually singer non-Balu songs in Balu's concerts) and he would be looking out for the test results like an excited student and Balu assured him that he already passed the test. Sri Krishna and Sailaja sang a soft romantic song, rAsaleela vELa from the movie, Adithya 369.
Sailaja sang the next song, jallanta kavvinta kAvAlilE from the movie, geetAnjali with a good applause from the audiences.
Then Balu and Kalpana sang the song, O priyA priyA from the same movie, geetAnjali. Now Balu introduced the rest of the Orchestra team - two guitarists (Srinivasa Chari and Caleb Alexander) and three more percussionists (Swamy, Krishnamurthy and Phani, who was the Orachestra manager as well). Followed by this song, Kalpana requested Balu to let her share a few words with the audiences. She then emotionally and tearfully told the audiences that she would gladly dedicate five years from her life to his Appa, SP Balu (she is the daughter of Balu's dear friend, Raghavender, an accomplished musician himself and Balu treats her like his own daughter) for his long life. Balu then comforted her that as long as she kept singing, she would indirectly increase his life span.
Coincidentally, the next song was a sentimental song, muvvalA navvakalA (from the movie, pournami) sung by SP Balu and Sailaja with the starting aalapana by Sri Krishna. Balu complimented that Sirivennala wonderfully penned down this song and Devi Sri Prasad was equally good in coming up with an apt tune for the song. If the situation demands, Balu said, Devi Sri Prasad can come up with these kind of soft melodies as well, apart from his regular branded songs. Balu said that the present-day music directors would still approach him for a right song (though he himself put restrictions on the songs he would sing) and this song was one of them.
Next one was one of the most popular mass songs from the 90's and it was muThAmEstri title song. When Sri Krishna started off the beginning part (OyirabbA.. OyirabbA) and Balu sang the song with his thundering voice and the auditorium reverberated with whistles and cheerful claps one more time. In the end of the song, Kalpana teasingly said "SP Balasubrahmanyam", instead of "muThAmEstri".
Then Sri Krishna and Kalpana came up with one of the recent songs from the movie, pOkiri and the song was chUDoddanTunnA.. chUstUnE unTA receiving the cheers from the younger audiences.
Balu and Sailaja sung a soft melody, jAmurAtiri jAbilammA from the movie, kshNakshNam. This was followed by the Felicitation to the Sponsors by the BATA executive committee and the prizes distribution by (SP Balu himself) to the winners in the SP Balu's Songs Singing competition that had jointly been held by BATA & PravasVani (the popular local Telugu Radio Station, headed by a local entrepreneur, Raghu Malladi) a week before this event. Vijaya gaaru invited two local philanthropists, Dr. Hanimi Reddy Lakireddy and Jayaram Komati (TANA President). Hanimi Reddy gaaru reminisced that Balu first came to the Berkeley city in the Bay Area in the early 80's during his first US tour and he enthralled the then-audiences with the wonderful songs from SankarAbharaNam movie. He wished that Balu gaaru would sing a song from that movie during this show as well.
Some one from the audiences shouted for a song from the movie, unDammA boTTu peDatA movie and Balu gracefully responded with the pallavi of the song, rAvammA mahAlakshmi. Then Balu mentioned about the next song saying that the people hardly knew this movie, but the song was very dear to him. He then sang the song, kadilE mEghamA from the movie Laila (relased in 1989 and had Suresh as the hero). Balu asked the audiences to give a big round of applause to the great composer, MS Viswanadhan.
Balu said that Kalpana would like to ask the audiences some question now. Kalapana sang the song, andamgA lEnA from the recent movie, gOdAvari.
Then Balu expressed his condolences for the recently passed away veteran actors such as Gummadi, Padmanadham and Kantha Rao, who used to act in the films with pure diction and natural performances. He then introduced Veeru Uppala (Gummadi's daughter's son and the Joint-Secretary of TANA and a member of the Advisory Board of BATA) to the audiences that Balu had attended Veeru's parents' wedding and complimented that Veeru was a thorough gentle man, who would always take care of Balu and his troupe during their visits to the Bay Area. Then Balu mentioned that Gummadi gaaru used to love a particular song sung by Ghantasala gaaru (jaya jaya SreerAma from NTR's Jayasimha movie) and Balu sang the pallavi and dedicated it to the late Gummadi gaaru.
Balu and Kalpana sang one more nostalgic song from the 70's and it was mrOgindi kalyANa veena from the movie kurukshEtram. Balu comically imitated how S Rajeswara Rao used to speak during the rehearsals and told the audiences that NTR and Krishna made two movies with awesome songs composed by Pendyala and Saluri respectively and Balu felt that he was fortunate enough to sing in both memorable movies. When one fan from the audiences requested for a padhyam, Balu immediately wonderfully sang a padhyam from the pAnDavOdyOgam episode (a request to the Dhrutaraastrudu).
Then Balu called Sailaja to join him in the next song. Sailaja reminded him that they came to the US in 1985 to celebrate the success of Ananda Bhairavi with an Orchestra of just 5 technicians (with Madhavapeddi Suresh on the Keyboard, Sivamani on the Drums etc) and then narrated how they got the idea there for the movie, paDamaTi sandhyArAgam. Balu and Sailja sang the song, ee tUrupu.. aa paSchimam amidst a big applause from the audiences.
Now Balu sang a medley of some pallavis and charaNams of songs such as abhinava tAravO (Sivaranjani), E divilO virisina (kanne vayasu), Adibhikshuvu (siri vennela), mabbE masakEsindilE (vayasu pilichindi), ArEsukObOyi (aDAvi rAmuDu), balapam paTTi (bobbili rAjA), vEdam aNuvaNuvuna (sAgara sangamam), adivO alladivO (annamayya) and SankarA.. nAdaSareerAparA (SankarAbharaNam). After done with the medley mix, Balu thanked the audiences one more time for injecting energy to him and to the Orchestra with their cheerful applauses and Balu thanked his Orchestra one more time.
Balu and Sailaja sang the grand finale song, antaryAmi.. alasiti from the movie, annamayya. Balu then said all good thing had to come to end and expressed good wishes to every one - "sarjEjanA sujanObhavantu.. sarjEjanA sukhinObhavantu".
List of all songs performed in the concert:
1. vandEmAtaram (National Song) --> SP Balu (Chorus: SP Sailaja, Sri Krishna and Kalpana)
2. nAda vinOdamu (sAgara sangamam) --> SP Balu & SP Sailaja (Chorus: Sri Krishna & Kalpana)
3. sirimalli puvvA (padahArELLa vayasu) --> Kalpana
4. rA digirA.. divi nunchi bhuviki digarA (sirisirimuva) --> SP Balu
5. jOjOlA lamma jOla (sUtradhArulu) --> SP Sailaja
6. ADinchu ashTAchemmA (ashTAchemma) --> Sri Krishna
7. balE balE magADivOy (marO charitra) --> SP Balu and Kalpana
8. veeNa vENuvaina (inTinTi rAmAyaNam) --> SP Balu & SP Sailaja
9. mATE mantramO (seetAkOka chiluka) --> SP Balu & SP Sailaja (Chorus: Sri Krishna & Kalpana)
10. gOngUra tOTa kADa kApu kASA (Venky) --> Sri Krishna & Kalpana
11. mallelu pUsE (inTinTi rAmAyaNam) --> SP Balu
12. yamhO nee yama yama andam (JVAS) --> SP Balu & Kalpana
13. rAsaleela vELa (Aditya 369) --> Sri Krishna & Kalpana
14. jallanta kavvinta kAvAlilE (geetAnjali) --> SP Sailaja
15 O priyA priyA (geetAnjali) --> SP Balu & Kalpana (Chorus: Sri Krishna & SP Sailaja)
16. muvvalA navvakalA (pourNami) --> SP Balu & SP Sailaja (Chorus: Sri Krishna & Kalpana)
17. muThAmEstri title song (muThAmEstri) --> SP Balu (chorus: Sri Krishna & Kalpana)
18. chUDoddanukunnA chUstUnE unTA (pOkiri) --> Sri Krishna & Kalpana
19. jAmu rAtiri jAbilamma (kshaNa kshNam) --> SP Balu & SP Sailaja
20. kadilE mEghamA (lailA) --> SP Balu
21. andamgA lEnA (gOdAvari)--> Kalpana
21 a. jaya jaya SreerAma (a pallavi from NTR's jayasimha movie, dedicated to Gummadi)
22. mrOgindi kalyANa veeNa (kurukshEtram) --> SP Balu & Kalpana
23. e tUrupU.. A paSchimam (paDamaTi sandhyA rAgam) --> SP Balu & SP Saiaja
24. Pallavi/Charanam Medley Mix of abhinava tAravO, E divilO, Adi bhikshuvu, mabbE masakEsindilE, ArEsukObOyi, balapam paTTi, vEdam.. aNuvaNuvuna nAdam, adivO.. alladivO, and SankarA nAdaSareerAparA
25. antaryAmi.. alasiti (Annamayya) --> SP Balu (chorus: SP Sailaja, Sri Krishna and Kalpana)
Overall, it was once again a life-time memorable concert from the SP Balu's team. BATA did an awesome job one more time in choosing a top-notched auditorium (that must have pleased every one) and in organizing the show with no glitches at all. I personally wish a great success to the singers, Sri Krishna and Kalpana and I am sure that they would have a very bright singing carrer ahead of them.
Srinivasa Rao Chimata
ChimataMusic.com
chimata.music at gmail dot com
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