A detailed report on Balu/Chitra's musical concert (2008)

[schimata2]

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, 09/13/08 from 5: 00 - 9: 00 PM.


This is the second report I am writing on Balu's Telugu Musical Concert (pl. refer to the first one held in Sep, 2006 at http://www.chimatamusic.net/db/viewtopic.php?p=569#569). 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, www.ChimataMusic.com 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' 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.

Balu reminisced a Keeravani's joke on a mass song (that he was next going to sing) saying that people after 20 years from now would believe that "Balu tAtayya and Chitra nAyanamma" had sung a beautiful classical song. With a great enthusiasm, Balu and Chitra sang "bangAru kODi peTTa" song from gharAnA moguDu movie.

Balu then talked about a very ordinary man that came from a remote place in Tamil Nadu and gradually became an awesome music director not just only in the whole South India, but also got noticed in the North India. Balu and Sailaja sang "priyatamA.. nannu palakarinchu praNayamA" song from jagadEka veeruDu-atilOka sundari movie. Balu again spoke really high about Veturi's talent by mentioning the words in the songs such as "rAyalEni bhAsha lO enni prEma lEkhalO" and "vennellalE vachhi vEda mantramAyE".

Now Balu introduced all the Orchstra members (Venu Raju, Bala Raju, Murthy, Swamy, Ravi Sankar, Alexander, Srinivas, Praveen, Chinna etc). He complimented the keyboard Chinna that he has become an obvious choice for all Telugu Musical concerts held in the US and that he would better buy a house next to the White house to avoid the frequent back-and-forth travelling from India. Balu said that most of the audiences and orchestra are from Hyderabad and hence his sister was going to sing a song that would satisfy all of them. Sailaja then sang "nAmpalli Station kADa rAjA lingO" song from erra mallelu movie.

Balu then explained the meaning of the word "karNATaka" (karNa + aTaka = chevulaku impaina). Ilaya Raja proved that the classical music (sampradAya sangeetam) can also beautifully be adapted to the commerical movies and one such best example is a song from geetAjali. Chitra wonderfully sang "jallantA kavvinta kAvAlilE" song. Chitra was all smiley and energetic through out all her songs. Balu said that the audiences were probably wondering as to why he was showering so much praise on Ilaya Raja and Keeravani. He then questioned who else would be there to match such talent.

He then mentioned that there is one more "ANimutyam" other than Veturi in the present generation and that is none other than Sirivennela. Balu felt happy to learn that Sirivennela had recently (Aug, 2008) been felicitated in the Silicon Valley. Balu and Chitra sang "telusA manasA.." song from criminal.

Balu noted that Radha Krishnan is one of the very few talented young music directors and two songs were sung one after another from gOdAvari and Anand movies repsectively. While Balu sang "uppongE gOdAvari" song, Sri Krishna and Sailaja gave the chorus voice. Then Sri Krishna and Chitra sang "yamunA teeram.. sandhyA rAgam" song.

Balu and Sailaja sang "vEdam.. aNuvaNuvuna nAdam" song. When Balu asked the audiences if they needed a 10-minute break, most of them preferred to continue the show with no recess.

Balu quoted that there were a few instances that people got positivley inspired after watching the movies in the old times and that there is an argument today that the current generation movies are doing more harm to the society than any good. If we put such controvertial comments aside, we could still see a few songs that have highly inspired the people. Chitra beautifully sang "mounam gAnE edagamani" song from My Autograph movie.

Then Balu mentioned that Chiru did an awesome job for bangAru kODipeTTa song and one such song mass melody is "balapam paTTi bhAma vaLLO" song from bobbili rAjA movie. Both Balu and Chitra sang the song together.

Balu said it was time for a serious song and he sang (along with Sailaja and Sri Krishna as chorus), "mAtRu dEvObhava anna sUkti" song from pAnDu rangaDu movie. He mentioned that the lyricist, Suddhala Ashok Teja did an awesome job and complimented him on the usage of some pada prayOgam like "ammaku, brahmaku" in the song. Balu thanked K Raghavendra Rao to let him sing that wonderful song.

Sri Krishna then requested Balu to allow him to do some jalsA with the audiences. He then sang the vibrant Jalsa title song while receiving a big encouragement from the audiences.

Sailaja sang "manasA.. tuLLipaDakE" song from Sreevaariki prEma lEkha movie. Balu recalled that Jandhyala was a director with a great music taste.

Then Balu and Chitra sang "abba nee teeyani debba" song, while Sailaja and Sri Krishna joined them in the chorus.

Balu opined that a song picturization means a lot to elevate some songs. If we have an excellent combination of a great writer plus music director plus singers and if such songs are picturized beautifully by directors with good taste, they would be alive forever and one such example is "O priyA.. priyA" song geetAnjali movie. Balu and Chitra sang this song.

Chitra and Sri Krishna then sang a song, "paDDAnanDi prEmalO mari" from Student # 1 movie.

Balue requested the audiences not to take his request (of solacing their kids and thereby not diverting the singers' concentration) in a wrong note. When a few Chiru fans shouted for Chiru Songs, Balu humbly said that he would never go by the artists' list, but only by the song list. Balu and Chitra then sang "ennO rAtrulostAyi kAni" song from dharmakshEtram movie.

Now Vijaya Aasuri gAru came on to the dais requesting the audiences for a small break to felicitate the sponsors of the event. All sponsors were called on to the dais and each of them was hand-shaken by SP Balu gAru.

Soon after this sponsorship-recess, Sri Krishna and Sailaja sang an old classic, "himagiri sogasulu" from pAnDava vanavAsam movie. I should say Sri Krishna did a fairly good job in singing such a difficult classic.

Then Sri Krishna asked the audiences as to how many of them liked "rains" and how many did not. He assured them that whoever didn't like the rains hitherto would start liking after listening to this song. Chitra and Sri Krishna together sang "innALLaku gurtochhAnA vAnA" from varsham movie.

Balu sang this ever-green vibrant song, "kurrALLOy.. kurrALLu" song from andamaina anubhavam movie by pumping all his energy into the song. This song received the most thundering applause from the audiences. He then said that with this song we commemorated Athreya as well.

He then inroduced the sound engineer (who was not on the dais), Asif Mohammad to the audiences and thanked him for his wonderful job. He then thanked all the Telugu people for letting him sing for the last 42 years (including singing for the 4th generation) - "talli tanDrulu kani penchitE, meerantA vini penchAru".

The final song in the concert was "antaryAmi.. alasiti, solasiti" song sung by Balu from annamayya movie. Balu and all his team thanked the audiences.


List of all Songs in the concert:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1. vandEmAtam song (National Song --> All four singers
2. Om namaSSivAya song from sAgara sangamam --> Sailaja
3. antA rAma mayaam song from Sri Ramadaadu --> Balu (Sailaja & Sri Krishna as chorus)
4. pADalEnu pallavainA.. bhAsha rAni dAnanu song from sindhu bhairavi --> Chitra
5. yamahO nagari.. Culacutta puri song from chUDAlani undi --> Sri Krishna
6. yE SwAsa lO chEritE song from nEnunnAnu --> Chitra
7. bangAru kODi peTTa song from gharAnA moguDu --> Balu and Chitra (Sailaja & Sri Krishna as chorus)
8. priyatamA.. nannu palakarinchu praNayamA song from jagadEka veeruDu-atilOka sundari --> Balu and Sailaja
9. nAmpalli Station kADa rAjA lingO song from erra mallelu --> Sailaja
10. jallantA kavvinta kAvAlilE song from geetAnjali --> Chitra
11. telusA manasA.. song from criminal --> Balu and Chitra
12. uppongE gOdAvari song from gOdAvari --> Balu (Sailaja & Sri Krishna as chorus)
13. yamunA teeram.. sandhyA rAgam song from Anand --> Sri Krishna and Chitra
14. vEdam.. aNuvaNuvuna nAdam song from sAgara sangamam --> Balu and Sailaja
15. mounam gAnE edagamani song from nA Autograph --> Chitra
16. balapam paTTi bhAma vaLLO song from bobbili rAjA --> Balu and Chitra
17. mAtRu dEvObhava anna sUkti song from pAnDu rangaDu --> Balu (Sailaja & Sri Krishna as chorus)
18. Jalsa Title song from Jalsa --> Sri Krishna
19. manasA.. tuLLipaDakE song from SreevAriki prEma lEkha --> Sailaja
20. abba nee teeyani debba song from jagadEka veeruDu-atilOka sundari --> Balu and Chitra (Sailaja & Sri Krishna as chorus)
21. O priyA.. priyA song from geetAnjali --> Balu and Chitra
22. paDDAnanDi prEmalO mari song from Student # 1 --> Sri Krishna and Chitra
23. ennO rAtrulostAyi kAni song from dharmakshEtram --> Balu and Chitra
24. himagiri sogasulu song from pAnDava vanavAsam --> Sri Krishna and Sailaja
25. innALLaku gurtochhAnA vAnA song from varsham --> Sri Krishna and Chitra
26. kurrALLOy.. kurrALLu song from andamaina anubhavam --> Balu
27. antaryAmi.. alasiti, solasiti song from annamayya --> Balu
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The show exactly ended at 9: 00 PM. I met Balu and the Orchestra team at Swagath Indian Restaurant, Fremont CA. I had a more than 60 minute liesure chat with Balu on all 70's melodies and it was my dream-come-true. He was pleased to know about me and my passion on his old songs and he wondered why I did not meet him during the last concert (Sept, 2006) itself. We had a very good chat on music directors such as mAma, Puhalendi, Sathyam, Ramesh Naidu, Rajan-Nagendra, Chakravarthi and JV Raghavulu. When I reminded him such songs as "suprabhAta sundrari neevu", "ee kOvela neekai velisindi", "okE kulam, okE matam", "nEla meeda jAbili", "toli sandhyaku tUrupu erupu", "chUSAnE Olammee", "kalalOni UrvaSi", "praNaya rAga vAhini", "pADAlanE unnadi", "andarAni chandamAma nAkenduku?" etc etc and they certainly raked up all his nostalgic memories and he fondly went over those songs. It is still an unquenched thirst for me.. I felt like sitting with Balu for hours and hours to discuss and know all his comments on all his wonderful 70's/80's songs.

[Surya]

Wonderful Srini!!

I guess you are on cloud nine

[NANDAKISHOR K]

srini,

Kaalamila aagiponi- anipinchi untundi kada when u were speaking to balu...

I too had the same feeling when I met balu in bangalore.....


Kishor

[schimata2]

I asked him on the blatant copy of "manasE jatagA pADindilE" (nOmu movie) tune from Hindi (http://www.chimatamusic.net/playcmd.php?plist=5515), when we were talking about Sathyam.

Balu clarified that AVM folks directly took the tune and remixed with the singers' voices with no interference of Sathyam. He emphasized that Sathyam never did that song. It seems there are so such instances and the poor music directors take the copy-cat blame.

[NANDAKISHOR K]

srini,

Full details abt ur discussion with balu is most wanted than the writeup of the prog...


Kishor

[schimata2]

[Hemasri]

Yesterdays Balu's Telugu concert was heart touching. Before it even began, I was worried that it will come to an end...and then I thought, the only way I can listen to the songs I like is through this website.

Thank you Srini for this website and your time and effort in creating the wonderful site.

Keep up the good work.
-Hemasri

[nirvenu]

Hi Srini,

Maa Kalla mundu Balu gari gana sabha ni saakshaatkarincharu.

Mee kide maa abhinandanalu.

Prati roju mee site patala to ne naa roju prarambha moutundi.

Virus lu leni patala site chimata matrame.

Thanks again,
venu

[raviflute]

Srinivas garu

Its excellent review!!!

This is Ravi, Musician from SPB Orchestra.

Thank you

Ravi

[nishigandha]

Hi Srini gaaru,

fantastic review.. kallaki kattinattu varninchaaru!!! Balu gaaru & orchestra tho digina pics emainaa unte upload cheyandi please

regards
Nishigandha

[schimata2]

[mantrala]

Since I read the last article (Sept 06 one, should I call it experience?? I think so), I know I am in for another sumptuous 'musical' meal again. Like the site, as ever, Chimata did not let my expectations down. Icing has been to learn that he was able to spend 30 GOLDEN minutes with Balu (in my opinion, even 1-sec of our time with our dear Balu is invaluable).

Even after all this also, two things are pending
1. Nandakishore garu's request: May be little time consuming, but will be a treasure for us. Hence Chimata got to do this.
2. Nishiganda garu's request: Someone as jealous as me must have clicked a picture here and there. Please get them. We would love to see you and Balu thick and thin.

One more thing, probably for next time. You know 'musical' thirst never gets quenched. If we can get the audio of the concert recorded somehow, then...I have no words to frame, what it would be like. Hence I leave it there. Hope....

Thanks for sharing this.

[ravigaru]

srini garu mi review chadivaka kallaki kattinatlu a sundara music concert ni vuhinchu kunte balu gari patale chevullo vinipistunnayi. chala baga rasaru.oka vishayanni gamaniste spb gari sunnita manassu bayata padutundy. programme aarambham lo chinna pillani gayakula concentration pokunda bayataku tisikella galaru anna aayana malli punaralochinchukuni sorry laaga cheppadam ayana lo sunnita manassuni teliya jestundy. yento dabbulu pettukuni tkt konukkuni vaste bayataku pommantara ani yevaranna apardam chesukuntarani ayana alochinchi mari vivarana ivvadam g8.alage chiranjivi patalu kavalani vattidi chesinappudu gayakulu artists batty patalu select chesukorani sunnitamga tiraskarinchadam harshincha taggade. mottaniki mana site ni aayana kuda vikshistarani telisi spb to matladutunattu feel avutunna thx once again .

[kalyanram]

Excellent Job Srini Garu
I along with my friends are regular visitors to your site and really cherish and enjoy the old melodies on your site. Its really excellent collection of songs not available any where on the internet and really commend your extraordinary work in helping all the music lovers satisfy their music thirst.
I am an ardent fan of SPB and am really thrilled the whole discussion related to the concert and thank you for bringing all his comments during the concert. Thanks a lot...again and again..Long live Telugu Music...

[ramakrishna]

Very good description about the program, we at Hyderabad, after reading review, felt, personally present there. ThanQ Srinivas.

[schimata2]