What?
SP Balu's Telugu Musical Concert was organized by the local Telugu Association, BATA (Bay Area Telugu Association)
Where?
Chabot College, Hayward in the Silicon Valley (or popularly called the San Francisco Bay Area), California.
When?
Saturday, 09/13/06 from 5: 00 - 9: 00 PM.
I am fortunate enough to be part of this program (as a co-sponser of the event). Before the show started, Prof. Rao Vemuri gAru (of Univ. of Berkeley Telugu Studies Initiative Program) and I introduced ourselves to SP Balu on the back-stage. I was pleasantly surprised to know that SP Balu is well aware of our web site, ChimataMusic and that his team often visits our site for some rarely available melodies. He then, in turn, introduced me to his orchestra.
People were allowed to come inside the auditorium right on time at 5: 00 PM. It took almost 30 mintes for all audiences to ensconce in their seats and the show started sharply at 5: 30 PM. The auditorium was completely full. Vijaya Aasuri gAru (of BATA) greeted the audiences in her ever-charming audience-friendly way and welcomed all the Orchestra members and the singers one after another on to the dais in the amidst of the audiences' huge applause. She introduced Sailaja, Chitra and Balu as the great singers that have been singing for the last 30, 25 and 42 years respectively. This time a new upcoming singer, Sri Krishna joined the Balu concert team.
Balu first started the concert with our national song, "vandEmAtam" song, while the rest of the three singers joined him in the chorus. After the song was over, Balu spoke a few words on our motherland (by quoting the gEyam, E dESamEginA, endu kAliDinA). He expressed his special thanks to Mrs. Kala Iyer (who happens to be the classical music teacher for both my kids in Fremont, CA) for co-ordinating his US concert tour. He requested all the parents in the auditorium to take care of their infants/kids so that they would not cry and disturb the singers' concentration.
Balu then mentioned that SP Sailaja was going to sing a song for which she, in fact, danced in the movie. Sailaja sang, "Om namaSSivAya" song from sAgara sangamam movie. Soon after the song was over, Balu addressed some technical issues related to the mouth pieces' volume levels and got them fixed before moving on to the next song.
The third song was "antA rAma mayaam" song from Sri Ramadaasu movie. While Balu sang the song, SriKrishna and Sailaja rendered the chorus. He quoted that Keeravani is one of the very few best Telugu music composers that we have today. He then invited Chitra and complimented her that she has "vidya plus vinayam" and she took only 10 years to achieve six national awards, while himself and Yesudaas took 30 years to get the same number.
Balu then joked that Chitra was going to start her first song with a lie and the audiences got puzzled with that comment. After she started singing a beautiful classical song (Thyaaga raaja keertana), "pADalEnu pallavainA.. bhAsha rAni dAnanu" from Sindhu Bhairavi movie, we all realized why Balue commented so.
He then mentioned that Sri Krishna was a winner from his Telugu and Kannada TV Song-Competition Programs and that he is currently working as an assistant to the music director, Koti. Balu praised Veturi that he not only puts apt words as per the tune and meter of a song, but also inserts some meaningful and informative history into the lyrics. Sri Krishna sang Veturi's "yamahO nagari" song from chUDAlani undi movie. Balu noted that Sri Krishna is turning up as a nice singer and he wished he would sing many more songs in the near future. He also requested audiences to watch the recent movie, ashTA chemmA and give blessings to Sri Krishna for his two songs in the movie.
Balu then said that recently a few music directors started giving musical concerts by dancing in the programs (probably alluded to Devi Sri Prasad's recent shows). He joked that if singers like him and Chitra started dancing on the stages, the daises would be of no use for the next day. Balu then told that Chitra was going to sing such a song that no other female singer would ever be able to sing it. Chitra sang a beautiful classical melody, "yE SwAsa lO chEritE" in the amidst of audiences' huge applause. After the song was over, Balu asked Chitra to speak a few words to the audiences on the songs she sang and he quizzed her about the movie, lyricist and music director names and she rightly answered them (nEnunnAnu, Veturi and Keeravani respectivley) with a smile.
