From: cvinchhi@telogy.com (Chetan Vinchhi)
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.misc
Subject: Lata Live '95 : An Impression (long)
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 95 09:53:04 GMT


        Lata Live '95 (Washington DC) : An Impression
        =============================================

        The place : Constitution Hall, Washington DC. Transformed into a Mecca
of sorts for lovers of Indian music on the evening of September 17, 1995.
The great Lata Mangeshkar is going to perform tonight. To mesmerise a
throng of 4000-odd people with her singing. The mood of those present
varied in every expressive hue from one of anxious anticipation to that of
joyous celebration. Many of us were eagerly awaiting our first experience
of seeing Lata Live. While some were looking forward to reliving other
such moments in their lives and adding to that wealth of emotion.

        After a brief introduction, the guest MC was introduced amidst
thunderous applause. Waheeda Rehman. Still capable of setting hearts
aflutter. She began by reading out a short speech written in English. And
then in impeccable Urdu-Hindi, 'maiN Lataji se darKhwast karti hooN ki
woh stage par aayeN'. And to the delight of us all, Lata stepped onto the
podium. I was amazed by the amount of respect such a small frame could
command ! Nobody could have escaped the feeling of awe she inspired.
Dressed in black-and-gold-bordered white silk, diamond earrings and ring
glittering, no footwear (for, indeed, the stage is the temple of the god
of music and she its high-priestess).

        Gracious acknowledgement of the love and respect shown by the
shrotta-gaN was followed by a shlok from the Gita. As is customary in her
concerts, she recited the shlok with great reverence. That heightened the
feeling that music is like religion to her and her singing her offering to
god. The opening words of the shlok were greeted by yet another round of
applause. And then silence as she completed it.

        Lata thanked Waheeda for having agreed to appear on the show as the
MC. And as Lata said, how can you think of Waheeda wihtout thinking of
this song ? The lilting tune of 'kaaNToN se kheeNch ke yeh aaNchal'. The
image of Waheeda (who was wearing the same coloured sari as the
"scene-on-the-screen" for this song) fresh in mind. And the voice that has
withstood the test of time. What a wonderful beginning !

        The flavour of the concert quickly changed to newer songs. And most of
the concert _was_ dominated by new songs. With 'dil diwana bin sajana ke
maane na' Lata had touched the hearts of new song lovers too. The gems of
the evening, however, were evergreen oldies. woh gaane jo na kabhi
bhoolaye jaayeNge na bisraaye !

        Next was a tribute to Salilda. Lata mentioned the recent passing away
of the genius. She sang the opening line of one of her first songs with
Salil. And switched from Bangla to the Hindi version 'o sajanaa barkha
bahaar aayee'. After one stanza, she sang a stanza from 'julmi sang aaNkh
laDee' and one from 'daiyya re daiyya re chaDh gayo paapi bichhua'. But
the full song was 'aa jaa re pardesi'. The haunting voice still lingers
in many a mind.

        Lata conceded the stage to S.P.Balasubramanian at this point. Every
exit and entry of Lata received a tremendous round of applause. The
clapping was in sharp contrast to the shouts or whistles reserved for the
others. SPB entertained with 'jiyeN to jiyeN kaise', 'pehlaa pehlaa pyar
hai' and 'tere mere beech meiN kaisa hai yeh bandhan anjaana'. He was
rejoined by Lata for 'sun beliya, shukriya meharbaani' and the extremely
popular 'didi teraa devar diwana'. I confess I am not familiar with some
of these songs.

        Son of Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Adinath came on stage to give a
lacklustre rendition of 'ek laDki ko dekha to aisaa lagaa' and 'tu hi re,
tu hi re, aur jeene ko kya chahiye'. Usha Mangeshkar was introduced as not
only a singer, but also a painter and a producer. She did justice to the
two songs she chose - 'mungDa...maiN maike chalee' and 'humeN aur jeene ki
chaahat na hotee agar tum na hote'. The poor quality of the sound system
was even more apparent in this spell than in the parts where Lata sang.
The sound was loud and the treble high. Making it difficult to appreciate
the higher altitudes of most songs. And the lights seemed to have been
handled by a goofy amateur who seemed to think 'the world is but a
discotheque'.

        Continuing the metaphor of a place of worship, every temple has a
bunch of people trying to sell you cheap trinkets pushing them as 'devi ke
aabhushaN' or something. Such were the antics of Sudesh Bhosale. He
started off with 'yeh jo mohabbat hai' during which he mimicked Rajesh
Khanna. And then he murdered the 'competition' song from Hum Kisi Se Kam
Nahin. And finally a two-song combo of 'amma dekh' which quickly moved to
'ole ole'. He seemed to be particularly attracted to some people of the
audience and he kept making comments about the 'uparvaale'...ugh.

        Enter Lata again. This time for a duet with the monkey (please, no
offence meant to any monkeys out there). 'jay jay shiv shankar' could have
done without Sudesh. Lata then gave a stirring performace of 'kuchh naa
kaho' and indeed we were spellbound into silence ! She also sang 'mere
haathoN meiN nau nau chuDiyaN'. But to top the first half of the concert,
she sang 'lara lappa' with Usha and Sudesh. As the compere described it,
the "pachas saal purana gana" was an instant hit !

        Waheeda once again came onto the stage as Lata released a 10-CD set
of her songs commemorating her US tour and presented the first copy to
Waheedaji. The set was described to be the best of the best of Lata over
50 years. Wonder how they managed to squeeze the best of Lata into just
10 CDs !

        The beginning  of the second half (following a 20-minute intermission)
was perhaps the best, musically speaking. Lata described how she used to
listen to her father's music as a child and how everyone in the family
was intimately familiar with those bandishes. Only during those few
minutes did she betray the feeling that she wished she could sing more of
her favourite songs rather than just popular ones. For, she said 'kuchh
der ke liye yeh gaane. aur baad meiN jo chal raha hai woh to chaltaa
rahegaa'. Some of the classical compositions that she was talking about
were used by Hridaynath for Lekin. She fondly introduced her dear brother.
He seemed to be the most affected by the recent loss of their mother. He
and his didi, as he affectionately addressed her, sang a medley of the
bandishes. 'rasool allah', 'ja ja re patikava' and 'suniyo jee araj'. He
then began 'yara sili sili' and walked towards the accompanying musicians
as Lata caught on and sang the whole song. Most beautiful !

        SPB entered again for the duet 'waah waah ramji'. He then sang 'roja
jaaneman', 'mere rang meiN ranganewaali' and what seemed to be an
improvisation on the recurring theme of the movie Sagar. The words were
'aa jaa meri jaaN' and he said this was a tribute to R.D.Burman. The
monkey was uptotrix again as he imitated S.D.Burman singing 'Dolee meiN
biThaay ke kahar'. He sang 'dekha na haaye re socha na' and then did a
most dreadful act with kids from the audience as he sang 'khai ke paan
banaraswala'.

        One of the characteristics of Lata I noticed was her predominant use
of the left hand to keep rhythm or to accentuate pauses or musical
undulations of the interludes. Is she left-handed ? The medley she now
presented was titled 'Madhubala se Madhuri tak' which comprised of
popular songs she had sung for various actresses. The first was the
much-awaited 'aayegaa aayegaa', prelude and all. My spirit got an instant
boost. The magic was overpowering ! In quick succession were lines from
'raja ki aayegi baraat',
'meri jaaN meri jaaN, pyar kisi se ho hee gayahai',
'suno chhoTi si guDiya ki lambi kahani',
'man Dole mera tan Dole',
'piya to se nainaa laage re',
'ehsaan tera hoga mujhpar',
'aapki nazaroN ne samjha pyar ke qaabil mujhe',
'lag jaa gale ke phir yeh haseeN raat ho na ho',
'piya bina, piya bina baasiya',
'ey dil-e-nadaan',
'morni bagaa maaN bole',
'maaee ni maaee'.

        Waheeda returned to the mic, this time with a farmaaish. One that was
immediately seconded by the crowd. Perhaps for the first time, I realised
why 'ey mere watan ke logoN' brought Nehru to tears. For I found tears in
my eyes and those of people around me. The immortal tune. The patriotic
lyrics. The beauty of the singing. No Indian could have remained unmoved.
This song alone would have been incentive enough to attend the show. The
final 'jai hind, jai hind, hai hind' was too much for the listeners. It
was received with a spontaneous standing ovation from a weeping audience.
Where else can you see such a sight ! What a great finale !

        The concert was over. I was left wishing that more of her older songs
had been sung. Gasping for one more breath of fresh air. Thirsting for
one more sip from the vast ocean that is her music. Craving for more.

        The various artists were introduced at the end and presented with
bouquets by the organisers. They inadvertantly left out the arranger Anil
Mohile (himself an accomplished musician). Lata made the wonderful
gesture of presenting him with her bouquet. What grace ! What charm ! The
hearts of the audience were hers forever !


-
Chetan