Sydney enjoys Unity through Music and Saaz

     

By Neena Badhwar

When one attends a ”˜Unity Bollywood Concert’ the feel is totally different. It is held at Worker’s Club in Blacktown. One walks through the dining hall with hundreds of people, families, children eating, drinking together from a buffet that offers over two dozen variety of dishes, a Chinese restaurant next door, as you enter on your right, people are standing in rows near the drinks corner, ordering liquors of their choice.

With drinks in their hands, they enter the diamond Showroom, where the Saaz Band is in full swing, producing music, Avi Kumar Bobby on keyboards, Manoj Veettil on tabla, Raveen Maharaj on drums, Shalendra Nand on guitar, Shiven Sen on Congas and Dholak, Vinesh Kumar on Guitars.

Some of these musicians have been the founding members of Saaz such as Shalen and Vinnie, others joined in later but their music prowess is fully on display on this night of February 29, some of the members have been into music since their childhood. They love being in the Band, with Manoj also acting as the audio engineer, they have been practicing hard for the night, the concert has repertoires and the singers ready to pelt numbers from the nineties.

Nitin Madan, Rdio Sur Sangam host, Emcees the evening, inviting singers, introducing them on stage as the night is on the roll for all to see, witness and hear enchanting music.

”˜O Re Piya’ by Pritpal, ”˜Dil cheez kya hai aap meri jaan lijiye’ by Devashree, ”˜Bahut Pyar karte hai’ by Pallavi, ”˜I am Disco Dancer’ by Sajay has some local disco dancers coming and shaking a leg on the stage, with few, shy ones, just happy to dance on the floor though they have crowded around the singer, thoroughly enjoying every song.

Khushboo’s medley takes you into another era with ”˜Lambi Judayi’, ”˜Naam Gum Jaayega’, ”˜Aap ki nazron ne samjha’, ”˜Piya tu ab to aaja’ ”“ a nostalgia recreated for the audience and then suddenly Rajeev Kapoor takes you to the Rajesh Khanna’s ”˜Ye sham mastaani’ and then back to ”˜Chura ke dil mera goriyan chali’ by Parmesh and Deva and Heena’s ”˜Tu Maane ya na maane’ is another delightful delivery. Pritpal and Shambhavi’s ”˜Tere bin nahi lagda dil mera dholna’ is another winner. Dancers of the Swastic Institute of Dance are energetic and superb performers dressed to dazzle and entertain along with the singer.

Manjit Singh Chopra, the organizer under the banner of Fame Events which stands for Festival, Art, Music and entertainment thanks all the supporters and advertisers for the success of the Unity Bollywood Concert.

Manjit has provided this platform to the singers who have performed professionally in their own right in well known concerts, on TV, in stage shows abroad, trained under a maestro, though Khushboo credits her mum as her guru, some of the singers are child prodigies having started singing from the age of six, says Manjit, “We have sourced some of the talented singers for Unity concert from the Swar Taj competition and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. There was a lack of good classy shows and Fame Events has brought out the best of Sydney talent.”

Surely, one can say that Unity can be seen, heard and enjoyed, demonstrated through an art that is music, of Bollywood that we all dearly love, sitting so far away from India.

Short URL: https://indiandownunder.com.au/?p=14975