Dazzling Maharashtra (डॅझलिंग महाराष्ट्र)

Dazzling Maharashtra (डॅझलिंग महाराष्ट्र)

Attended a concert titled Dazzling Maharashtra (डॅझलिंग महाराष्ट्र). Singers were Chaitanya Kulkarni, Sharayu Date, Juili Joglekar, Anandi Joshi, Adarsh Shinde & Rahul Deshpande. Musicians were Nilesh Parab, Prasad Padhye, Krishna Misal, Vijay Jadhav on rhythm. Satyajit Prabhu, Mangesh Bhadkamkar on keyboard. Manish Kulkarni, Kishore on guitar. Other instruments Datta Tawde, Bharat, Nagesh. Mangesh was also the music arranger. The program was conceptualized by music director Rahul Ranade. Anchors of this program were Sachin Khedekar and Mrunmayi Deshpande. This concert was organized by Government of Maharashtra and GMBF at Grand Hyatt, Dubai, on 19th Nov 2021. I attended with Aditi, Dada and Kamble, Patil, Thangaokar families.

This concert was arranged on the occasion of Expo 2020 as a celebration of Marathi art, culture and cinema. It was attended by Maharashtra ministers Subhash Desai, Amit Deshmukh and Aditi Tatkare. So, there were multiple breaks for speeches of politicians and officials during the concert. 

Concert started with 'Deva Shri Ganesha (देवा श्री गणेशा)' sung by Chaitanya. Then Sachin Khedekar recited Mudra of Shivaji Maharaj but conveniently omitted "Go brahman pratipalak". Sad!

The sequence of songs started with Marathi film industry and Prabhat and V. Shantaram's Rajkamal. Sharayu Date presented 'Latpat latpat (लटपटत लटपट)'. Chaitanya Kulkarni then presented 'Sanga Mukund Kuni (सांगा मुकुंद कुणी)' from movie Amar Bhupali and followed it without a pause with 'Are ja re hat natkhat (अरे जारे हट नटखट)' with Sharayu. Juili Joglekar sang 'Lagli kunachi uchki (लागली कुणाची उचकी)'. Sharayu and Chaitanya presented 'Shola jo bhadke (शोला जो भडके)' and 'Ina Mina Dika ( ईना मीना डीका)' back-to-back.

Chaitanya presented 'Shoor amhi Sardar (शूर आम्ही सरदार)' composed by Anandghan a.k.a. Lata Mangeshkar from movie Maratha tituka melwawa. What started with Dholki jugalbandi by Krishna and Nilesh, and a very good one at that, transformed invariably into kadak Lawani 'Resmachya reghani (रेसमाच्या रेघांनी)' by Anandi. This Lawani lacked thaska (ठसका) and appeared soljwal (सोज्वळ). Audience demanded once more for Dholki jugalbandi and got it.

Adarsh and Anandi presented 'Malyachya malyamandi (माळ्याच्या मळ्यामंदी)' and 'Hil Pori Hila (हिल पोरी हिला)' back-to-back commemorating Dada Kondke. Rahul Ranade and Juili paid homage to RD Burman with 'Piya tu ab to aaja (पिया तू अब तो आजा)' and 'Duniya mein logonko (दुनिया में लोगोंको)'. Juili was very good and Rahul only had to sing in strange voice of RD. That was interval. 

Post interval concert started with Rahul Deshpande. He presented 'Ravi mi (रवी मी)'  from Sangeet Manapman (मानापमान) followed by 'Dil ki tapish (दिल की तपिश)', probably least famous song of movie Katyar kaljat ghusli. He then capitalized his popularity of internet by presenting unplugged 'Woh sham kuch ajeeb (वो शाम कुछ अजीब)' and 'Jhuki hui nigah mein (झुकी हुई निगाह में)'. That was the start and end of Rahul Deshpande. More like a guest appearance. 

Commemorating Mangeshkar's, singers presented nonstop 'Kata laga (कांटा लगा)' by Anandi, 'Mungla (मुंगळा)' by Sharayu and 'Ai mera dil (ऐ मेरा दिल)' by Juili. Then Anandi presented 'Jambhul piklya (जांभुळ पिकल्या)'. Then Adarsh presented 3 lokgeete nonstop 'Khandobarayache (खंडोबारायाचं)', 'Doke firlaya (डोकं फिरलया)', 'Awaj wadhaw DJ (आवाज वाढव डीजे)'.

Two songs from Natarang were sung by Anandi and performed by Sonalee Kulkarni (now settled in Dubai). They were 'Apsara aali (अप्सरा आली)'. She danced without ghongroo. Her movements were fast and graceful. In fact, her dance on stage was better than in movie. This was followed by 'Wajle ki bara (वाजले की बारा)', sung by Sharayu and performed by Sonalee. Two continuous dances took their toll and she slowed a little bit and the second dance was a little easy.

Last two songs of the concert were by Chaitanya. First 'Zingat (झिंगाट)' where he went in audience while they were dancing without inhibitions. Audience loved the dhamaal so much that once more was inevitable. Concert ended with 'Mauli (माऊली)' again by Chaitanya.

Sharayu has a sweet voice. When Chaitanya sang Marathi songs his voice was on the forefront and music in background. But when he sang Hindi songs, his voice fell short and words were not clear. Nothing wrong with sur and taal. He carried bulk of the workload. Decked in Blue kurta a and ble dhoti, an unusual combination that suited him. Juili and Anandi were good. I was expecting more from Adarsh. Rahul was the guest artist. Saw him singing, while standing, for the first time. 

Chorus was very good. I should make a special mention of them. There are some songs that sound good only if the chorus is good. This chorus was up to the mark.

Many of the musicians were known faces from TV shows (as were the singers) and all of them were good. TV shows have given recognition to the otherwise faceless musicians. 

It was a good concert. Enjoyable. A fresh breeze after the Covid gloom.

Deeparang (दीपरंग)

Attended a concert titled Deeparang (दीपरंग). Singers were Aniruddha Joshi and Rasika Joshi. They sang on pre-recorded tracks. This was a concert organized by Maharashtra Mandal Abu Dhabi (MMAD) at India Social and Cultural Center (ISC), Abu Dhabi, on 5th Nov 2021. I attended with Mihika, Aditi, Dada and Mane, Patil, Thangaokar, Oka families.

Concert started with vitthal nam. It was 'Abeer gulal (अबीर गुलाल)'. Aniruddha added his own variations while singing. It was followed by 'Maze maher pandhari (माझे माहेर पंढरी)' of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Aniruddha sang it in faster tempo compared to original. Rasika presented famous song composed by Lata Mangeshkar 'Airanichya deva tula (ऐरणीच्या देवा तुला)' from movie Sadhi Manse. It was followed by one of the most oversung song 'Mendichya panawar (मेंदीच्या पानावर)'. She went out of tune once in this song. Aniruddha then presented 'Khel mandal (खेळ मांडला)' from movie Natrang. Anuruddha drew applause the moment he began. Ajay Gogawle (of Ajay-Atul) had received best playback singer for this song in 2010. It was courageous to select this song, but Aniruddha did well and audience demanded once more although he didn't accede. 

They suddenly switched genre to Hindi. He first presented Sonu Nigam's  'Abhi muzmein kahi baki thodisi (अभी मुझमें कहीं बाकी थोडीसी)' from film Agneepath, composed by Ajay-Atul. It's a difficult song that he sung well. This time he agreed for once more but rather than playing track he asked audience to clap and provide rhythm. Rasika then presented Monali Thakur's 'Sawar lun sawar lun (सवार लूॅ सवार लूॅ)', composed by Amit Trivedi. She then jumped to Geeta Dutt's vintage 'Ae dil muse baat de (ऐ दिल मुझे बता दे). 

Aniruddha then sung the career defining song of Swapnil Bandodkar 'Radha hi bawari (राधा ही बावरी)'. Audience sang the mukhda of this song impromptu. Rasika and Aniruddha  then presented title tracks of Marathi TV serial 'Phulala sugandh maticha (फुलाला सुगंध मातीचा) and 'Online shubhamangal (ऑनलाईन शुभमंगल)'. They are the original singers of these tracks. Aniruddha then sang modern soofi song  'Mitwa (मितवा)' from film Kabhi alwida na kehna  originally sung by Pakistani singer Shafaqat Amanat Ali. Rasika presented 'Ruperi walut (रुपेरी वाळूत)' originally sung by Asha Bhosle and composed by her son Hemant Bhosle. It was followed by Lawni 'Reshmachya reghani (रेशमाच्या रेघांनी)' sung by Asha Bhosle and composed by Lata Mangeshkar. Ladies from the audience danced on this song. They presented a dhamaal duet 'Ashwini ye na (अश्विनी ये ना)' from film Gammat Jammat. Shantaram Nandgaokar had penned this special song without ळ and च, so that non-Marathi Kishore Kumar can sing it. Aniruddha yoddled well in this song. 

Sandeep Khare's Ganesh stawan in Kawwali, 'He lambodar gajmukh (हे लंबोदर गजमुख)' composed by Awdhut Gupte and sung by Farid Sabri was presented next. Towards the end of concert there was dhamal dance masti with a 15 minute medley of all kind of rhythmic songs. Audience enjoyed shaking a leg. 

Penultimate song was 'Deepawali manayi suhani (दीपावली मनाई सुहानी) because the concert was organized to celebrate Diwali. Grand finale was 'Mauli mauli (माऊली माऊली)' from film Lai Bhari sung by Ajay Gogavale.

Singers were good, song selection was good, however organization was lacking. The songs were not sequenced with any theme like time period, type, language, subject, mood etc.. They jumped from one kind to another as follows. Abhang - Old film song - new film song - new hindi songs- marathi song - marathi serial title tracks - modern soofi - again marathi romantic - kawwali - Diwali - Abhang. It appeared as if they were drawing chits and singing the song written on the chit. The thought process, theme, flow was lacking. Had this been properly thought and planned concert would have become even better.

All in all the singers (Aniruddha and Rasika) were well prepared. The music track did not have a glitch (Atul and Karim). The background visuals (Prachi) were pleasing. The two anchors (Akshay & Shreya) did their assigned job well and the script (Prashant) was well written and provided some unknown insights. If the anchors had recited Pu. La. Deshpande's 'Sanskruti mhanje kay', rather than reading, it would have been more impactful. 

Aniruddha interspersed his singing with small anecdotes about famous personalities. He also involved audience while singing and made the program interactive. He won hearts of audience. 

This program was special because it was a program after almost two years due to Covid. Members met after a long time so they took time socializing (while maintaining social distancing) causing inevitable delay of half an hour, but it was worth it.  

Aniruddha is winner of SaReGaMaPa and Sur nava dhyas nava. Rasika is also winner of multiple awards. 

A good concert. 

Disclosure: I am current trustee of MMAD.