Anybody who did not make it to the Avondale College Auditorium for the Krazzy Tunes – Tadka Maarke concert last Sunday surely missed a fabulously entertaining gig that had the audience riveted to stunning performances by so many talented Aucklanders.
Krazzy Tunes brought together a bouquet of Auckland’s talented performers, some well known and some performing for the very first time. The artistes’ ages ranged from teenage to mature – but everyone of them performed with great elan.
Providing the musical backbone and embellishing the dozen singers’ performances was the talented and experienced members of the Desi Fever band led by bass guitarist and band director Shivan Padayachi.
Arranged by veteran lead guitarist Vijay Murthy, the ensemble showed great virtuosity from the word go, starting up with R D Burman’s unforgettable background title score of the immortal Bollywood potboiler Sholay.
Also in the band were Shalend on traditional percussion (table and dholak) and as many as three Kishores – Anup Kishore, Vimal Kishore and the young Nigel Kishore on keyboards, octopads and the Congo respectively.
Featured for the first ever time in a Bollywood musical concert in Auckland, were two instruments that have been part of Hindi film musical landscape for decades – the accordion and the saxophone. Senior artiste Frank Stephens played the accordion and the young Aura Irani regaled the audience on the saxophone.
The dozen singers were a mix of known Kiwi Indian voices and some new ones, some even performing for the first ever time. Among the new were Kavinesh, Moushumi, Priya, Shashi, Karam Veer and the baby of the team Shirley, performing for the first time on a concert platform.
But the manner in which they held forth on the stage rendering their numbers, the audience would never have guessed that these were new performers. The numbers presented were an excellent mix of genres and ranged from several periods of Indian cinema from the black and white days to the latest films.
Kanik, Sneha and Auckland’s longtime favourite Ashish along with guest singers Manju and Viraj were among the known voices that have regaled audiences before. A tinge of emotion that crept into the show since this was Ashish’s last performance for a while in New Zealand.
The talented young singer has just secured admission into the prestigious A R Rahman School of Music back in India and is leaving to study there in less than a month’s time. Ashish’s performances will surely be missed by New Zealand audiences but we do wish he will come back time and again with his sharpened talents.
Mention must be made of Viraj’s rendition of Mukesh’s classics – the first, which was dedicated to the people of Christchurch and Japan who lost their lives in the earthquakes and tsunami.
A highlight of the proceedings so very well and professionally organised by Cultural Forum of India Events was the perfect synchronisation of the tastefully designed audio visual backdrop as the performances unfolded.
The graphics were superb, understated enough not to take the attention away from the main performances on stage and went off without a glitch, something that happens all too often in performances here. Kudos are due to Ravi Nyayapati for this awesome achievement and to Akshay Gupte who managed the lighting adroitly.
Audience reaction to most of the performances was spontaneous and peppered with clamour for ‘once more’ after many songs. The accompaniment of the experienced band and the manner in which they subtly encouraged and supported the young singers is indeed commendable.
Show comperes Sneha Shetty and Suneet Rangarajan glued together the diverse items of the show with their skillful commentary and navigation.
Ram Iyer and his Cultural Forum of India Events must be commended for bringing together such diverse talent irrespective of age, experience and standing on a single platform to present such aesthetic fare in such a seamless, elegant style.
Krazzy Tunes – Tadka Maarke is one gig that deserves to be scaled up. Don’t miss subsequent performances – of which there will be many, to be sure. Indian Weekender was proud to have co-presented the show last week.