Music of another day

A NEARLY wet dark evening. The sun sets earlier than usual. The streets are slushy, if not slippery. The previous day's experience indicated there would be a good shower that night. Good reasons for a lot of people to stay at home, though Rooplyn Music Circle was playing again.

Reason enough for the show to start way behind schedule. But those who did turn up, late or otherwise, had an evening to remember, an evening of golden memories. `Sunehri Yaadein' attempted to recreate the music of the Golden Era of Hindi film music. Beginning from the 50's and picking sterling compositions from the works of maestros like C.Ramachandra, S.D.Burman, Madan Mohan, O.P.Nayyar, Salil Chowdhry, Kalyanji Anandji, Husun Lal- Bhagatram, Madan Mohan, R.D.Burman, Shankar Jaikishan, Anil Bishwaas, among others.

Each song of the Golden era, rendered admirably, jelling together voice, music and lyrics much the same as it was done years ago. The usual troupe this time, however, with a few well deserved additions and a few deletions let the music of the past fill the auditorium of Rani Seethai Hall.

And as the audience waited, they were rewarded with choicest selections from the works of the above mentioned composers, though the general feeling was that a few more `jovial' numbers may have been included. After all in every show, there is something called catering to different sections of the audience.

This however, is not to take away from the grandeur of that evening's performance. Beginning with a composition from C.Ramachandra, Anitha and Prashanthi, debutants with Rooplyn, got the show going with `Gore Gore'. Rooplyn's `bachelor boy', Surojit Guha got into the act next with Hemant Kumar's `Naya Chand Hoga'. Jaishree, Rooplyn's `last show' find did a good job with those numbers that had a strong classical base, excelling in solos, `Mone Banghat Ki' from Naushad's collection deserving a commendable mention.

Anand Madhavan, Rooplyn's `conductor', had the appreciative audience crying for more with the sentimental number `Koi humdum na raha'. Could it have been done better, one wondered. But with Krishnan's `Kabhi Kabhi', one knew for a fact that it could have been better - much better. `Kabhi Kabhi' is much too familiar and much too impressive for the audience to do with something less.

Anand Madhavan, though should be commended for his detailed research into the lives of the composers. The booklet, `Tribute to the Composers of the Golden Era' released and distributed on the occasion is something a Hindi film music lover will go to great lengths to possess.

`Sunehri Yaadein' was an evening well worth the expense and effort. Also satisfying, was the fact that the proceeds of the show would be diverted towards the Rotary Club of Anna Nagar's T.P.Chathiram Slum project.

By Ramya Kannan

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Section  : Entertainment
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