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October 1, 2006
What?
Balu's Telugu Musical Concert was organized by the local Telugu Association, BATA (Bay Area Telugu Association)
Where?
Foothill College Auditorium in the Silicon Valley (or popularly called the San Francisco Bay Area), California.
When?
Saturday, 09/30/06 from 6: 00 -10: 00 PM.
All tickets were sold out well in advance and the auditorium (over 1500) was completely full and the audiences well behaved through out the show. Balu profusely thanked the audiences and he wished he would have the same kind of audiences in other places as well. Audiences gave Balu three rounds of standing ovation during the entire program. Balu was accompanied by his sister, SP Sailaja and two younger singers, Mallikharjun and Gopika and of couse an orchestra with around 12 folks.
The show was almost on time and by 6: 10 PM, Vijaya Aasuri (of BATA) welcomed Balu onto the dias with an introductory speech. Balu said that it was a tiresome job to run from one airport to another along with 15 people with all the luggage, but it was the audience's encouragement that makes them forget all of it and that gets them ready to give a nice, memorable show to the audiences.
He invited SP Sailaja first and both sang the very first song, "OmkAra nAdAlu sandhAnamou gAnamE" from SankarAbharaNam movie. Then Mallikharjun and Gopika joined them (as chorus) for the second song, "jai jai ganESa" from Jai Chiranjeeva movie. Balu again went over the pieces of the song like "lOkam nalu mUlalA lEdayyA kulAsa" and co-related those lines with the current society in India.
Gopika sang the third song, "Sruti neevu, gati neevu" from swAti kiraNam movie. Balu eulogized the loyalty of Puhalendi towards his guru, KV Mahadevan and how Puhalendi worked on the movie as the music director and requested the movie director to put his guru name as the Music director, while KV Mahadevan was on the bed rest. Balu said that both of them played a very important role in his singing career and he politely paid tributes to both of them, who are no more.
Then Balu praised Ilaya Raja's contribution to the South Indian Music since the 70's and sang a song, "O pApA lAli" from geetAnjali. He read a few lines from the song such as "chiru chEpala kanu pApalakidi nA manavi" and commented that Veturi is a great lyricist and he wrote this song with apt meaning and a balanced Telugu vyAkaraNam. Next he mentioned that Athreya usually wrote the lyrics first and then the music directors used to make tunes for his songs. But one time, he had to write down the lyrics for Ilaya Raja's already-given tunes for a movie called "abhinandana" and he sang the fifth song, "eduTA neevE.. edalOnA neevE". After he was done with this song, he joked that he was really "niduraku dUram ayyAnu" because of hectic Telugu and Tamil almost-daily based concerts in the different cities in the USA.
Balu commented that once in a while a few melodies are coming even these days and one of them is from varsham movie and the melodious music rendered by Devi Sri Prasad, whom he quoted as a fast beat music director. Mallikharjun and Gopika sang the song, "mellagA karaganee renDu manasula dUram" from that movie.
Then Balu requested all the audience to give a big hand to Prof. Vemuri Rao garu, who is trying to get Telugu as a "bOdhanA bhAsha" at the prestigious local Univ. of Calif, Berkeley. He then praised the BATA's cultural and social work with out any selfish motives on many fronts like Sankara Eye Foundation, other noble fund raising tasks etc.
Balu spoke a few nice words for the great directors K Viswanadh and K Bala Chandar and he recalled how Viswanadh used to treat Bala Chandar as his guru. Manay people think that Viswanadh has a solid music back ground.. but he doesn't know any A,B,C, D's in music. Balu recalled how Viswanadh told him that how patient and great KV Mahadevan must have been to bear such an ignorant (in Viswanadh's words.. mUrkhuDu) like him (Viswanadh), as mAma used to give any kind of tunes that Viswanadh asked for with out any arguments or corrections. Viswanadh told these things to Balu when mAma passed away (a few years ago). Balu then sang a duet (with Sailaja), "mounamElanOyi.." from sAgara sangamam and a solo song, "kurrALLOy.. kurrALLu" from anadamaina anubhavam (and Mallikharjun gave the chorus voice for the second song). He praised MS Viswanadhan and quoted him as a music director who got into guinness book for his work in more than 1000 movies.
Mallik and Gopika sang a Chiru's duet, "maLLi maLLi idi rAni rOju" from rAkshasuDu movie and it was followed by another song, "vEdam aNuvaNuvuna nAdam" from sAgara sagamam movie and Balu and Sailaja sang this number. Balu said that there very few actors who can completely justify all his songs with a right mixture of emotions, feelings, dances, and body language and that Kamal Hassan is one of them.
Balu then said that there was another great lyricist, Arudra who could play with words and then Balu spoke some nice words on a combination of Bapu-Arudra-KV Mahadevan and sang a song, "sari kotta cheera.. UhinchinAnu" form peLLi pustakam movie. He compared mAma's music with Ilaya Raja's in terms of simplicity (former) and complexity (latter).
Balu then encouraged Mallik to come up with a hushAru song ("ika danchu" in his words) and Mallik and Gopika the duet, "naDaka kalisina navarAtri" from Hitler. It was followed by a devotional song, "antA rAma mayam" from Sri rAmadAsu movie. Before he sang this song, he went over the current mass movies and heroes (who single-handedly kills 50 people with a sword and walks on the bombs and comes out unhurt etc) and how Raghavendra Rao made this movie, far from the curernt trend.
- A 15 minute BREAK was announced here and it went up to 25 minutes -
The first song soon after the break was by Gopika and the song was "sakhiyA vivarinchavE" from nartanaSAla. It was followed by a devotional song, "adigO alladigO.." from annamayya movie and Balu sang it, while the rest of the three singers joined as chorus. Here he had some nice words on a few Telugu Music directors, in particular on Keeravani.
Balu commented that there are a few North Indian Music directors (such as RD Burman, C Rama Chandra, Naushaad, OP Nayyar etc) who worked on some good Telugu songs and he said he likes one such song very much. He sang (along with Sailaja) that song, "ninu veeDaka nEnunDalEnu" from neerAjanam movie.
Balu said that even some good songs/movies need some lobbying to get the National awards, in particular, it is a bit difficult to the Telugu movies otherwise. For the first time, P Suseela and S Janaki (Tamil version of sirimalle pUvvA song) got national awards for two Tamil movies, but "sitAra" is the first Telugu movie in the mid 80's that fetched a national award to Janaki with no lobbying efforts at all. He said that the young director, Vamsi did a fabulous job, though it was the second movie for him. Sailaja sang that song, "vennellO gOdAri andam" from that movie. After the song was done, Balu told the audience that's why Janaki got the national award for that song.
Then Balu entertained audience with the song, "tALi kaTTu Subha vELa" from antulEni katha and he did all the mimicry pieces that come in the songs with no orchestra help and he received a mind-boggling applause from the audience for this song. After the song was over, he was recalling how the lyricist, Athreya and the music director, MS Viswanadhan came up with a right song for the complexed scene that was given them by the director.
Then he sang a nostalgic song, "E divilO virisina pArijAtamO" from kanne vayasu movie. He said that until this song happened to him, people used to call him "EmOy Balu", "Aey Balu", but after this song they started being respectful to him with palakarimpulu like "hello Balu".. after SankarAbharaNam movie, people started calling him "EmanDi Balu gAru"
In the break period, I had passed on a piece of paper to Balu with a list of some Sathyam's memorable hits (E divilO virisina pArijAtamO, O bangaru rangula chilaka, kalisE kaLLa lOna, pUchE pUla lOna, toli alapE teeyanidi, madhumAsa vELalO, kurisindi vAna) and now Balu came back on to the dias with that piece of paper in his hands and he first apologized for not being able to sing all those songs, as the troupe was not prepared for them. But he sang the pallavis of all those songs and I felt really happy for his kind gesture. He quoted that Sathyam was a great music director and that it would be un-grateful on his part, if he did not pay tributes to Sathyam for the songs he gave him.
Then Balu said that many people are mistaken for some one else's song as Sathyam's song, as Sathyam is a default music director for those movie makers. The movie maker is Chalam, the movie is sambarAla rAmbAbu and the genuine music director is V Kumar. Balu narrated a funny incident during this movie making. They were recording for the Balu's song, "mAmA chandamAma" in Arunachalam studios and P Suseela happened to pass by and listened to that song while it was getting recorded. She was so impressed with that song that she became adamant that she would sing that song instead. Then Chalam came up with an added scene to the heroine, Sarada and he accommodated the female version song in the movie. Balu quoted that Chalam had great music sense and that he was nice enough to accommodate Suseela's request without hurting her. Before this program, Mallik also requested Balu that he would sing this song. So Balu started off with the first line of the pallavi and Mallik sang the whole song perfectly. Another funny thing is that Balu corrected the way Mallik stood while he was singing. After the song was over, Balu commented that Mallik was about to sing that song in a way he usually sings Chiru songs.
Then Balu introduced the rest of the orchestra members, one by one.
After this, Mallik got a right opportunity to show off his greatest skill.. his dancing prowess. He sang his own song, "manmadhA manmadhA.. mAma putruDA" from Tagore along with Gopika. He exactly brought down Chiru's steps and he received a huge applause from the audience for that. Balu later commented that Mallik is god-gifted with that kind of combination (dancing and singing).
Then Balu had nice words for Ravi Sankar for his flute playing skills and he sang the song, "virinchinai.." from sirivennela. He praised Hari Prasad Chaurasia (who did the flute work in KVM's music direction) and Sirivennela Sastry.
For the first time (as far as I know), he sang three songs from the same movie, sAgara sangamam.. he sang the song, "takiTa tadhimi.." and chorus voice was rendered by Sailaja and Gopika.
Balu said that he likes one of the melodies that was sung by other singers and Mallik and Gopika sang that song, "urikE chilukA" from Bombay movie.
Then BATA committe came onto the dias and gave mementos to all of the troupe, including Balu. Balu was felicitated with a SaluvA and Vijaya Aasuri read the memento out. Audiences gave him almost a 5 minute long standing ovation.
He then said that all the audiences are his "priyatama"lu and he sang a song, "priyatamA.. nA hRdayamA" from Venkatesh's prEma movie.
For the first time, Chiru fans in the audiences (including me) did not hoot for two songs, "ee pETaku nEnE mEstri" or "bangAru kODipeTTa", as the program was too good and that's why we probably did not care for one of these songs in the concert. That's why Balu complimented that he had the best audience this time and he thanked us for just listening to all the songs with no complaints.
As the grand finale (as always he does in other Telugu concerts), he sang the great patriotic song, "puNya bhUmi nA dESam namO namAmi" song, while the three other singers gave the chorus voice.
List of all the songs:
1. OmkAra nAdAlu sandhAmou gAnamE song from SankarAbharaNamu, by Balu and Sailaja
2. jai jai ganESa song from Jai Chirnajeeva, by Balu (Chorus: Sailaja, Gopika, and Mallik)
3. Sruti neevu, gati neevu song from swAti kiraNam, by Gopika
4. O pApA lAli song from geetAnjali, by Balu (Chorus: Sailaja and Gopika)
5. eduTA neevE song from abhinandana, by Balu (Chorus: Mallik)
6. mellagA karaganee song from varsham, by Mallika and Gopika
7. mounamElanOyi song from sAgara sangamam, by Balu and Sailaja
8. kurrALLOy.. kurrALLu song from andamaina anubhavam, by Balu (Chorus: Mallik)
9. maLLee maLLee idi rAni rOju song from rAkshasuDu, by Mallik and Gopika
10. vEdam.. aNuvaNuvuna nAdam song from sAgara sangamam, by Balu and Sailaja
11. sarikotta cheera.. UhinchinAnu song from peLLi pustakam, by Balu
12. naDaka kalisina navarAtri song from Hitler, by Mallik and Gopika
13. antA rAma mayam song from Sri Ramadasu, by Balu
14. sakhiyA vivarinchavE song from nartanaSAla, by Gopika
15. adivO.. alladivO song from annamayya, by Balu (Chorus: Sailaja, Gopika, and Mallik)
16. ninu chooDaka nEnunDalEnu song from neerAjanam, by Balu and Sailaja
17. vennellO gOdAri andam song from sitAra, by Sailaja
18. tALi kaTTu Subha vELa song from antulEni katha, by Balu
19, E divilO virisina song from kanne vayasu, by Balu
20. mAmA.. chandamA song from sambarAla rAmbAbu, by Mallik
21. manmadha..manmadha song from Tagore, by Mallik and Gopika
22. virinchinai.. song from sirivennela, by Balu and Sailaja
23. takiTa tadhimi.. song from sAgara sangamam, by Balu (Chorus: Sailaja and Gopika)
24. urikE chilukA song from Bombay, by Mallik and Gopika
25. priyatamA.. nA hRdayamA song from prEma, by Balu (Chorus: Sailaja)
26. puNya bhUmi nA dESam song from Major Chandrakanth, by Balu (Chorus: Sailaja, Gopika, and Mallik)
The show exactly ended at 10: 00 PM and my BATA friends let me know that Balu would be available for a brief period of time at the Swagath restaurant for dinner in Milpitas. By the time I got out of the traffic from the parking lot and got to the restaurant, Balu was about to leave and he was so sleepy that he had to leave for the hotel (his viDidi) right away. Albeit I was very disappointed that I could not meet Balu personally, I sat along with the members of the orchestra for about one hour (flute Ravi Sankar, Synthesizer Chinna, Tabala Venu etc) and shared many happy moments with them. They asked me to let them know in advance (by email) what kind of songs the audiences would love to have so that they have enough time to practive them. When we were talking about the 70's music directors, they told me that Sathyam ruined his career because of his excessive "tAguDu" and Chakravarthi got benefited because of this and also because of his "manchi tanam" and because of his two terrific assistansts, "Krisha-Chakra". They told me that Balu always raves about the song, "nA dAri eDAri, nA pEru bikAri" song. They rated Ramesh Naidu as a very highly-talented music director. Finally when I was heading to my home in Fremont, I gave lift to three of them in my car to their viDidi hotel, which is just 3. 4 miles from my house.
As a whole, it is a great concert.. this is the fourth Balu's Telugu concert for me (earlier ones are in 1997, 2000 and 2004) and I consider this one as the best one hitherto. We again appreciate BATA's efforts of giving such a spectracular show from Balu to the Bay area people. As a Telugu melody lover, I am very happy with the concert and I can not complain more about it!
Thanks,
Srini
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