Oru pon maalai pozhudhu

No, this post is not about that immortal classic by the Maestro but about a musical weekend that myself and few of my friends here in Seattle had few weekends back. This 4-hour musical orchestra program was organized by the Seattle-based orchestra called Geetanjali. It was one of the most enjoyable evenings of my Desi life. The entire proceeds of the evening went towards one of the projects that Asha of Seattle was sponsoring in 2 small villages back in AP and Tamil Nadu and so it was doubly satisfying that we were doing our bit to charity, while having fun at the same time. Anyway, the list of songs from the evening included:

Kannukkulle keluthi
Oru maalai ila veyil neram
Vennilave velli velli nilave
Dailamore dailamore
Aalankuyil koovum mayil
Karuppu thaan enakku pidicha color-u
Madai thirandhu
Thaaye Yasodhaa from Morning Raaga
Sippi irukkudhu muthum irukkudhu
Poove sempoove
Vellai pookkal

Some of the highlights from the evening

- Easily the best song of the night was rendered by one Preethi who sang the Aalankuyil song from Parthiban Kanavu. We were just blown away at her rendition. She sang that song ever so casually without straining a bit. Her voice resembled Harini's to the dot and hence she made us feel that we were listening to Harini herself. The biggest surprise waited for us until the end of the song when it was revealed that she was all of 13 years old. Wow...If she is in India, I am sure she would be singing for some music director by now.

- Two of the Maestro's most popular hits lived up to their expectations and everyone in the auditorium just lapped them up. First came the Madai Thirandhu number for which the response was terrific with the audience clapping in unison almost throughout the song (Having said all this, I felt that with the Yogi B remix version getting so much popular with all of us, they would have tried some similar rapping in between the charanams of the number). The next was one of Raaja's most melodious songs - Poove Sempoove to which the response was more mellowed down and in tune with the melancholic mood of the song.

- The MCs were one big bore. Every time he came on stage, there was a loud boo for him to get away and bring the next song in. He kind of sensed that too but the reason I am mentioning about him here is one remark he revealed. When the troupe was getting ready to play the 'Karuppu thaan enakku pidicha coloru' song, he was talking something about himself being dark. He said that he always says to his friends that Karuppaa irundhaalum naan kaLaiyaa irukken to which one of his friends commented back Nee kaLaiyaa irundhaalum karuppaa thaana-da irukka. That comment just brought the house down.

- Every time the MC was boring us to death with his unwitting remarks and kadi jokes, one of the guys from the back was using Thalaivar's oft-used punch dialog from Baatshaa to some very good effect with an applauding response from the audience "Ulle pO"

- The music band also consisted of 3 Americans and they played the flute, shenai and saxophone. Particularly impressive was the lady who played the flute and we started clapping even before the song started when she played the flute bit in the Poove Sempoove prelude.

- When the evergreen Sippi irukkudhu muthum irukkudhu song was sung, the video of the song was simultaneously played on a giant screen which kind of formed the backdrop for the singers. It was fun to watch the singers talk and sing like Kamal and Sridevi actually did in the movie. Except at a couple of points, they managed to pull off the impossible feat of not lagging or leading the actors in the video. Personally, I enjoyed this one the most, next only to the Aalankuyil song.

On the whole, it was an evening of fun and frolic. We all enjoyed it immensely and easily had one of the best times of my stay here in the US. Folks in Seattle (if anybody is reading this) who missed out on this lovely evening, please make sure to attend next year. This was one evening I will start looking forward to and no wonder that the storied House-full board was hanging outside the ticket counter of the auditorium, well before the show started.