Asha romances with Sydney at the Opera House

Asha Bhosle at the Sydney Opera House

 

By Neeru Saluja

Listening to Asha Bhosle live is always a mesmerising experience. And when she’s performing at Australia’s cultural icon, Sydney Opera House, it becomes the memory of a lifetime. Sydneysiders and music lovers were left spellbound at Ashaji’s matchless performance at the age of 82!

Asha Bhosle at the Sydney Opera House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her descent on the stage was no less than a queen. Dressed in a light blue and gold saree, she was warmly welcomed by the audience with a standing ovation. Inaugurating the concert with a religious hymn, she opened the concert with the evergreen song ‘Aaiye Meherbaan’ from the 1958 movie Howrah Bridge. It felt as the ambience in the hall suddenly lit up with the charming song.

Ashaji soon moved to the next song ‘Yeh mera dil pyaar ka deewana’ which she acclaimed has been remixed around 50 times. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m singing someone else’s song, now you can tell me which is the real song,” told Asha to the audience. With a voice that was young and bubbly to put any of the younger singers to shame, the singer did tell the audience to reverse back her age!

With song after song, her energy and diversity as a singer exhilarated. She sang the classical songs ‘dil cheez kya hai’, in aankhon ki masti and a qawaali song ‘Nigahein Milane Ko jee chahta hai’ for the first time in a concert. If she stole the heart of the audience with ‘Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko’, she also managed to engage with the audience with ‘jhoomka gira re, Sydney ke bazaar mein’. Her fans sang with her, clapped with her and a few could not resist in shaking a leg.

Asha Bhosle at the Sydney Opera House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asha Bhosle at the Sydney Opera House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The legendary singer was also accompanied by her granddaughter Zanai Bhosle who beautifully sang ‘Sun raha hai’ and performed a kathak dance. Ashaji also dedicated a song to her father Deenanath Mangeshwar who was a known classical singer. And of course, none of her concerts are complete without a few songs dedicated to RD Burman whom she fondly called Pancham. Recounting her experience of how Pancham da composed ‘Do lafzon ki hai’ on a boat, she took us through a romantic journey when she sang this beautiful song.

The diva’s final act was left to the best – her zesty pop numbers which made her famous as a singer. “The next song I’m going to sing is difficult. You have to sing from your stomach. Now don’t focus your eyes on my stomach and I know you will add this on Facebook,” chuckled Asha. The audience couldn’t stop laughing, though in her 80s, her sense of humour was intact! There came the sultry ‘piya tu ab to aaja’ and the intoxicating ‘dum maaro dum’ which did involve a lot of stomach work and sent our hearts aflutter!

Asha Bhosle at the Sydney Opera House

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asha Bhosle at the Sydney Opera House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asha exited the stage by saying ‘I love you’ to her fans but had to come back on popular demand belting out the all time favourite ‘yeh mera dil’. Her youthful and energising performance left a big smile on the faces of the audience. Her concert will go down in Sydney’s history to be one of the best concerts for a music lover. The queen of Bollywood music did not only capture the versatility of Indian music, she showed us the soul of our music. At age 82 she was at her best. Imagine what she could be if she was actually 28!

 

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