Young stars rise to the challenge
October 5 2009
Sumitra Iyer may not have been able to make it to Dorothy Winstone Centre on Saturday night, but the show did go on.
And judging by the enthusiastic response of the audience, the Music Masti night was a success as far as value entertainment and a showcase of talent was concerned.
Sumitra, the Voice of India star, was the main drawcard of the night, but could not make an appearance at the programme held in Howe St, Auckland, because she was down with swine flu.
But her replacement, Manju Murthy, made sure great entertainment was had by all. Manju, of Pune, captivated the audience with her rendition of Naina Barse Rhim Jhim, Rhim Jhim . . . and also with many other numbers.
The absence of Sumitra also put the spotlight on the young local talent who rose to the occasion to deliver memorable performances.
Up and coming star Arpita Chanda more than held her own; and judging by her performance on Saturday, she is well on the way to establishing herself as the leading female vocalist in Auckland.
A confident Arpita performed with ease in solo and duets, and showed a growing maturity as a singer.
Asish Ramakrishnan led the charge for the male singers with fine performances and great entertainment was provided by young Rachit Bhatia who not only has a great voice, but is quite a mover on stage too.
Local radio personality Gopal Bhatia, as usual, gave a strong performance and also was co-host for the evening.
Young Siddarth also displayed a growing maturity and confidence on stage.
The programme was made even more special with the presence of master musicians from the Indian music industry – namely rhythm supremo Ajay Atre and keyboard specialist Mandar Deo. Local musician accompanying the stellar cast was bass guitarist Shivam.
Ajay is well known in Auckland as he is on his fifth visit for a performance and was the backbone of the show. He is known as the tech wizard in the field of music and a well known rhythm player who can play any kind of rhythm instrument ever made.
He is also known as the Master of the R-70 Rhythm Machine, there is no one at present that has a mastery over this machine as he does. A very humble and sincere person by nature, he can compose and arrange very intricate rhythm parts for any kind of music as required. He has been a very important member of all live shows of playback singers and celebrities.
He is a rhythm artist who can play the Rhythm Machine, Tumba, Dholak/Dholki, Tabla, Djembe and the pads simultaneously during a live show. An artist, most respected, talked about and constantly in demand for every musical event.
He also has his own musical group wherein he has been doing a lot of corporate shows, multi star events in Pune and Mumbai. He has his own recording studio wherein a lot of the new and latest musical ideas are born and recorded by him. In short, a versatile, tech savy, proficient rhythm artist, par excellence, he has no equals in his trade at the moment.
Mandar Deo has been playing the keyboard for the past 15 years and has accompanied almost all the singers/celebrities of today and yesteryears. He is most adept in playing anything on the spot without needing any rehearsals.
Today, he is one of the leading keyboard players who also does arranging, programming and composing. He has composed and arranged albums for Vaishali Samant, Avdhoot Gupte, Shibani Kashyap and is an intergral and important part of their live shows.
Both Ajay and Mandar have also performed with stars like Vaishali Samant, Avdhoot Gupte, Swapnil Bandodkar, Abhijit Sawant, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Amit Kumar, Sachin, the late O.P. Nayyar, Sudesh Bhosale, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Suresh Wadkar, Sadhana Sargam and Johnny Lever.
Show organizer Ram Iyer, of the Cultural Forum of India, put together the show to mark its 25th event in the five years since it came into existence.
Ram thanked the performers for the evening who had stepped up to the occasion to fill in for the missing Sumitra, especially Manju and lead guitarist Vijay Murthy.
Sumitra Iyer may not have been able to make it to Dorothy Winstone Centre on Saturday night, but the show did go on.
And judging by the enthusiastic response of the audience, the Music Masti night was a success as far as value entertainment and a showcase of talent was concerned.
Sumitra,...
Sumitra Iyer may not have been able to make it to Dorothy Winstone Centre on Saturday night, but the show did go on.
And judging by the enthusiastic response of the audience, the Music Masti night was a success as far as value entertainment and a showcase of talent was concerned.
Sumitra, the Voice of India star, was the main drawcard of the night, but could not make an appearance at the programme held in Howe St, Auckland, because she was down with swine flu.
But her replacement, Manju Murthy, made sure great entertainment was had by all. Manju, of Pune, captivated the audience with her rendition of Naina Barse Rhim Jhim, Rhim Jhim . . . and also with many other numbers.
The absence of Sumitra also put the spotlight on the young local talent who rose to the occasion to deliver memorable performances.
Up and coming star Arpita Chanda more than held her own; and judging by her performance on Saturday, she is well on the way to establishing herself as the leading female vocalist in Auckland.
A confident Arpita performed with ease in solo and duets, and showed a growing maturity as a singer.
Asish Ramakrishnan led the charge for the male singers with fine performances and great entertainment was provided by young Rachit Bhatia who not only has a great voice, but is quite a mover on stage too.
Local radio personality Gopal Bhatia, as usual, gave a strong performance and also was co-host for the evening.
Young Siddarth also displayed a growing maturity and confidence on stage.
The programme was made even more special with the presence of master musicians from the Indian music industry – namely rhythm supremo Ajay Atre and keyboard specialist Mandar Deo. Local musician accompanying the stellar cast was bass guitarist Shivam.
Ajay is well known in Auckland as he is on his fifth visit for a performance and was the backbone of the show. He is known as the tech wizard in the field of music and a well known rhythm player who can play any kind of rhythm instrument ever made.
He is also known as the Master of the R-70 Rhythm Machine, there is no one at present that has a mastery over this machine as he does. A very humble and sincere person by nature, he can compose and arrange very intricate rhythm parts for any kind of music as required. He has been a very important member of all live shows of playback singers and celebrities.
He is a rhythm artist who can play the Rhythm Machine, Tumba, Dholak/Dholki, Tabla, Djembe and the pads simultaneously during a live show. An artist, most respected, talked about and constantly in demand for every musical event.
He also has his own musical group wherein he has been doing a lot of corporate shows, multi star events in Pune and Mumbai. He has his own recording studio wherein a lot of the new and latest musical ideas are born and recorded by him. In short, a versatile, tech savy, proficient rhythm artist, par excellence, he has no equals in his trade at the moment.
Mandar Deo has been playing the keyboard for the past 15 years and has accompanied almost all the singers/celebrities of today and yesteryears. He is most adept in playing anything on the spot without needing any rehearsals.
Today, he is one of the leading keyboard players who also does arranging, programming and composing. He has composed and arranged albums for Vaishali Samant, Avdhoot Gupte, Shibani Kashyap and is an intergral and important part of their live shows.
Both Ajay and Mandar have also performed with stars like Vaishali Samant, Avdhoot Gupte, Swapnil Bandodkar, Abhijit Sawant, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Amit Kumar, Sachin, the late O.P. Nayyar, Sudesh Bhosale, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Suresh Wadkar, Sadhana Sargam and Johnny Lever.
Show organizer Ram Iyer, of the Cultural Forum of India, put together the show to mark its 25th event in the five years since it came into existence.
Ram thanked the performers for the evening who had stepped up to the occasion to fill in for the missing Sumitra, especially Manju and lead guitarist Vijay Murthy.
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