ChimataMusic's KV Mahadevan Concert in California (Nov 14th)

[schimata2]

The below review has been written by Ramana Idury, Sunnyvale, CA.
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Silicon Valley, California: A Grand Musical Nite, in memory of the legendary Music Director “Swarabrahma” K. V. Mahadevan, was held on the night of Saturday, November 14th in the Hindu Temple Auditorium of Sunnyvale, California. The event was organized by Srinivasa Rao Chimata of ChimataMusic.com, with grand sponsorship from the local Peacock Indian Restaurant. Other co-sponsors include Ravi Taxes, Channel Real Estate, Shree Travels, Citibank, Om Insurance Services, and Koumudi.net. The first and fastest rising Telugu Radio Station of the Bay Area, PravasVani (1170 AM), provided the Media Partnership. The event, named “Jhummandi Naadam”, was attended by more than 1200 music lovers of old melodies and ran for nearly five hours.

Now back to K. V. Mahadevan. “Swarabrahma” is his honorary title; “Maama” is his affectionate title. He was known as an eternal spring of musical nectar that keeps churning out melody after melody without an end. He was one of very few music directors who always insisted on getting the lyric first before composing the tune for it, which gave a great deal of freedom to the lyricists. His limited knowledge of Telugu language never prevented him from scoring hundreds to thousands of hits so much so that his compatriots often joked that he could compose a nice tune on the names on the page of a Telephone directory! It is no wonder that he stands out as the number one director of Telugu film music in terms of quantity, quality, and variety.

It is no easy task to just settle for only twenty two out of the hundreds of the melodious gems that he had produced over a span of nearly four decades but that is all realistically possible in an evening concert. The effort that was put into making this concert a grand success is really commendable and, as Kiran Prabha mentioned in his speech, one should encourage the future concerts of this series.

Of course, the ultimate success of the concert depends on the talented list of singers and musicians. The effort put forth by these folks is a testament of their dedication and passion for music. The lead male singer of this concert, Raju Idury (Sacramento) also known as the “America Ghantasala” drove down to the Bay Area several times for rehearsals. The lead female singer Mani Sastry (Houston) also knows as “Gaayaka Ratna”, flew from far away just for this concert. They are both very renowned singers with more than twenty five years of service to the Telugu music in USA.

The other singers, who are all local to the Bay Area, are all very talented and dedicated to the music. They include male singers Prasad Durvasula, Vijay Kumar Vemuri, Murali Krsihna Sambara, and Ravi Tata. The female singers are HeMaamalini Kota and Sudha Sastry. Two upcoming singers, Kum. Pratyusha and Kum. Prashanthi, provided chorus singing on the stage.

No concert is meaningful without a Live Orchestra which included some of the best talented musicians in the Bay area. The melody group included Krishnamurthy “Kishmu” Kalvai (Keyboard), Nagaraj Varadharajan (Keyboard), Ashwin Krishnakumar (Flute), and Farhan Mohammad (Guitar). The rhythm group included Arun “Caddy” Narasimhan (Drums), Balaji Mahadevan (Dholak), and Satya Vaidyanathan (Tabla).

Another highlight of the concert was the presence of two dynamic and charming anchors on the stage, Vamsi Prakhya and Lakshmi Katyayani Dhulipala, who kept the audience engaged throughout the show. Apart from providing subtle humor, they also provided several bits of information about Maama and other personalities of cine field during that era. They also quizzed the audience by asking interesting related questions on KV Mahadevan's movies and songs.

The program started with a Prardhana geetam sung by a talented chinnari, Himaja Movva and then with the lighting of lamp (Jyothi Prajwalana) by Raju Reddy, CEO of the software firm, Sierra Atlantic. During the inaugural speeches, Srinivas Chimata and Kiran Prabha of koumudi.net reminisced the greatness of “swarabrahma”. Srinivas Chimata stated that the driving force behind this concert was part of his ongoing efforts to bring to limelight the glory of melodious songs from old Telugu films. He reminded the audience that the Satyam Concert in June was the first of this series and this one is the second. He promised to continue the series in next six months with a concert in the honor of the living legend Ilayaraja.

The anchors started setting the stage for the first song of the program. Vamsi commented that Sankarabharanam was the most popular Telugu movie in India and the music from the film was enjoyed by scholars and commoners alike. Following the tradition, a devotional song from the movie, “Sankara Naada Sareeraaparaa” was sung by Murali Krishna. He started the alapana of the song so well that one could feel the reverberations inside the heart, and he concluded the song to a roaring applause from the audience. The orchestra also played a big role in this song.

The anchors mentioned that Maama Mahadevan originally wanted to become an actor but ended up as a music director, fortunately for the music lovers. They mentioned that they will be asking quiz questions and every winner would get a “veera taadu” (Maayaa Bazar inspiration). The next song was “adigo navalokam” from Veerabhimanyu and they asked the audience the quiz question “Who played the role of Ghtotkachudu in that movie?” (Late Nelluri Kantharao).


The lead singers, Raju gaaru and Mani gaaru took the stage for the Veerabhimanyu song. When one hears Raju’s voice, it immediately becomes clear as to why he is called America Ghantasala. The depth and modulation of his voice reminds us of the legendary Ghantasala. Mani has a very sweet voice with a pitch somewhere between P. Suseela and S. Janaki, which makes her equally adept at singing the songs of both legendary singers.

The next song was “nenoka prema pipasini” from Indra Dhanusu. It was one SP Balu’s popular and best songs, and our stage singer Ravi Tata stood up to the challenge and sang it to perfection. The anchors mentioned the importance given by Maama to lyrics and how he managed to do his songs with minimum number of musical instruments.

The next song was “maavi chiguru tinagane” from Seetha Mahalakshmi, written by Devulapalli Krishna Sastry. It was sung by two “koyilalu” Murali and Hema.

The next song was the evergreen “chengavi rangu cheera” from Bangaaru Babu, sung by Raju gaaru and Mani gaaru. Their perfect rendition of the song was equally matched by lively melody and beats from the orchestra. Bangaaru Babu was the production of Jagapathi Art Pictures, whose movies always produced great hits from the combination of Mahadevan and Athreya.

The next song “kaluvaku chandrudu” from Chillara Devullu introduced another singer, Vijay Vemuri. Chillara Devullu was based on a novel with the same name and the audience was asked to name the writer of the novel, who is Dasarathi Rangacharya who in turn, is a brother of the lyricist Dasarathi Krishnamacharya.


Murali and Hema took the stage again to sing a song that gives a glimpse of the life of Maama Mahadevan. They both sang “paalghat madhavan” from Radha Kalyanam very well with some matching drum beats.


Vamsi did a nice impersonation of Late Rao Gopala Rao’s character from Muthyala Muggu to set the stage for the next song “edo edo annadi”. It was mentioned that the great director Bapu always chose Maama for his films as he did not feel the need to look anywhere else. Another singer Prasad Durvasula took the stage for the sang and his voice matched that of original singer Ramakrishna very well.


The next song was “vidhata talapuna” from the movie, Siri Vennela. This song introduced the last singer of the show, Sudha Satry. She sang this song along with Ravi. The highlight of this song was an excellent rendering of flute by the flutist Ashwin Krishnakumar. He did it so well that the audience gave him a standing ovation. This movie introduced the great lyricist Siri Vennela Seetarama Sastry who got this nick name from this movie. The original flute rendering was done by none other than Pundit Hari Prasad Chaurasia (Quiz Question).


The next song was “theta theta telugula” from Prem Nagar, sung by Raju gaaru. Prem Nagar, it was recalled, was the movie that changed the life of its producer, Ramanaidu for ever and its dialogues and songs were written by Athreya. The original novel was written by Koduri Kousalya Devi (Quiz Question).


Mani gaaru took the stage for the next song “nemaliki nerpina nadakalivi” from Saptapadi. She and the flutist Ashwin competed in this song as in the original. It was recalled that K. Viswanath was another famous director who mostly used Maama for his films.

Srini took the stage to introduce the orchestra members. He commented that this orchestra was the best one in the Bay Area and that we were really fortunate to have them with us for the night.


Mani gaaru and Ravi took the stage next for the theme song of the concert, “Jhummandi naadam”. The singers as well as the orchestra did such a great job that the audience gave a roaring applause and shouted “Once More” several times so much so that the song was again repeated in the end of the show just for that!


After the intermission, the lead singers took the stage to sing a medley of “pallavis” noting that since they cannot do justice to Maama just with twenty two songs, they were trying to give a small sample with this medley. The medley pieces included "Aho Andhra Bhoja", "Paccha Gaddi Koseti Gadusu pillA", "Goranta Deepam", "Vandanaalu Vandanaalu", "Malle Pandiri Needa lonaa", "Ramayya Tandree", "Taataa.. Veedukolu" etc.


The next song was “prati ratri vasanta ratri” from the movie “ekaveera”, based on a novel with the same name written by Kavi Samrat Viswanatha Satyanarayana. The song was sung by the Vijay Vemuri and Prasad Durvasula. This song was one of only five songs sung together by the topmost male singers of the Telugu films, Ghantasala and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam! (Quiz Question --> how many songs did both singers sing together and name at least two more!!)


The next song was a classic Annamacharya Keertana describing Goddess Alamelu Manga using the twelve zodiac signs. The song “inni raasula yuniki” from Sruthi Layalu was sung to perfection by Ravi Tata and Sudha Sastry, who reminded us of Vani Jayaram, who sang the original song.


The anchors noted that Maama is great not just for class songs but for mass songs as well. One of all-time super duper mass songs, one that gave a second wind to the career of the legendary NTR, “aaresukoboyi paaresukunnanu” from Adavi Ramudu was introduced next. Mani gaaru paired with Murali for racy song and the orchestra also showed their mettle in this song. Sneha Vedula, a popular choreographer of the local shows here, took the stage and enthralled the audience with some rhythmic steps and the anchor Vamsi joined her


Now it was time to felicitate the sponsors and Srinivas called all of the sponsers on to the stage and introduced each of them to the audience.


The next song was a folklore song that made into a movie. “mokkajonna thotalo” from Adrushtavantulu was written by Konidella Venkata Rathnam (another quiz question). Hema sang this song very well and received roaring applause from the audience. The orchestra also did very well for this song which had a lot of variation in interludes.


The lead pair came back to stage for one of the all time classic rain songs. As they sang “chitapata chinukulu” from Athmabalam, the audience also were mesmerized by their voices and the rhythm. The anchors also noted that Maama’s tunes are deceptively simple in that they look so easy when one hears them and yet they carry a depth of melody that cannot be easily matched.


The next song “manase kovelaga” from Matrudevatha was sung by Mani gaaru. She also asked a quiz question to the audience about the producer of that film (Mahanati Savithri).


The anchors invited Dr. Bulusu Narayana gaaru to felicitate both the lead singers (Raju Idury and Mani Sastry). Both of them felt honored and spoke a few nice words about the concert and the organizers.


Murali and Hema followed up this song with a nice melody “raallallo isukallo” from seetharama kalyanam. The anchors mentioned that as Maama was famous for insisting on lyric before the tune, this song was a rare exception to that rule as this tune was originally meant to be used in the film Gorintaku but got adapted to this lyric later in this film.


Raju gaaru came back to the stage to sing a very popular solo “paaduta teeyaga” from mooga manasulu. He sang it so well that one could feel the emotions that were evident in the original Ghantasala song.


After such a soothing song, Mani gaaru felt that it was time to “wake up” audience and took a racy song “oho taddhimi takajhanu” from Bandipotu Viplava Simham (the song was supposed to be in Chiru's Subhalekha, but was later inserted in this dubbed movie). The orchestra also got a chance to use some really fast beats which are rare for Mahadevan’s compositions.


The lead pair held their best for the grand finale song of the show. The song that got the nickname “Maama” for K. V. Mahadevan. The song “maava maava” from the movie Manchi Manasulu was sung by Raju gaaru and Mani gaaru and all other singers joined them for chorus. The song concluded with some fast drum beats from the orchestra and matching applause from the audience. Upon audience's request, Ravi Tata and Mani sang "Jhummandi naadam" song.


Later Srinivas Chimata introduced two of his friends, Suresh Mantrala and Srinivas Chandu, who flew from the east coast just to be a part of this show. Srini then felicitated all singers, musicians, and anchors with mementoes. As a final item in the show, the winners (Vishak Subramani, Ramakrishna Vengalasetti, Himaja Movva, Poojitha Dasika, Vidya Chimata and Sidhuja Bokkisam under Senior, Junior and Sub-Junior categories) of the KVM Songs Singing Competition (that was held in between 2: 00 - 5: 00 PM, right before the concert started) were handed over the mementoes. Srini thanked all the volunteers and coordinators of the show (Vamsi Nadella, Masthan Rao Chimata, Chakri Innamuri, Suresh Mantrala, Sriram Gundu, Ramana Idury, Padma Viswanadha, Subbu Vadali, Sunitha Gubbala, Ravi Gubbala, Alwal Reddy, Veera Dadi, Bhaskar Bandikallu, Babu Movva, Sandeep Paruchuri, Krishnama Naidu Paruchuri, Chandu Seelam etc) before every one started dispersing with fond memories of the concert.

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List of All Songs sung in the Concert
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1. Sankaraa Naadasareeraaparaa (Sankarabharanam) by Murali Sambhara
2. Adigo Navalokam (Veerabhimanyu) by Raju Idury & Mani Sastry
3. Nenoka Prema Pipaasini (Indra Dhanussu) by Ravi Tata
4. Maavi Chiguru Tinagaane (Seetaamaalakshmi) by Murali Sambhara & Hema Kota
5. Chengaavi Rangu Cheera (Bangaaru Babu) by Raju Idury & Mani Sastry
6. Kaluvaku Chandrudu (Chillara Devullu) by Vijay Vemuri
7. Palghat Madhavan (Radha Kalyaanam) by Murali Sambhara & Hema Kota
8. Edo Edo Annadi Mutyaala Muggu) by Prasad Durvasula
9. Vidhaata Talapuna (Sirivennela) by Ravi Tata & Sudha Sastry
10. Theta Theta Telugulaa (Prema Nagar) by Raju Idury
11. Nemaliki Nerpina Nadakalivi (Saptapadi) by Mani Sastry
12. Jhummandi Naadam (Sirisirimuvva) by Ravi Tata & Mani Sastry

+++++++ Dinner Break +++++++++++

++++++++ Medley Mix by Raju Idury & Mani Sastry +++++++++

13. Prati Raatri Vasanta Raatri (Ekaveera) by Prasad Durvasula & Vijay Vemuri
14. Inni Raasula Yuniki (Sruti Layalu) by Ravi Tata & Sudha Sastry (with Chorus by Hema, Prasanthi and Pratyusha)
15. Aaresukoboyi Paaresukunnanu (Adavi Ramudu) by Murali & Mani Sastry
16. Mokkajonna Thotalo (Adrusthavantulu) by Hema Kota
17. Chitapata Chinukulu (Aatma Balam) by Raju Idury & Mani Sastry
18. Manase Kovelagaa (Maatru Devata) by Mani Sastry
19. Rallallo Isakallo (Seetaa Raama Kalyanam) by Murali Sambhara & Hema Kota
20. Paadutaa Teeyagaa (Mooga Manasulu) by Raju Idury
21. Oho Thaddimi Thakajhanu (Subhalekha/Bandipotu Viplava Simham) by Mani Sastry
22. Maava Maava Maava (Manchi Manasulu)m, the Grand Finale Song by Raju Idury & Mani Sastry (with chorus by all others)

** Jhummandi Naadam Song Repeated**

[budugu]

nice write up ramana garu and thanks for that..

Chimata music ki freelance reporter padavi cheppattinanduku dhanyavaadaalu

[manisastry]

Ramana garu,
well written and well balanced review...

Thank you.
Mani

[NANDAKISHOR K]

Nice review ramanagaru.

[rajuidury]

Ramana garu,

A well written and comprehensive review.

RAju

[NANDAKISHOR K]

krishnagaru,

Criticism is taken in the right spirit here. You can come out openly, so that we can avoid such things in the next program.

thank you for your valuable feedback....