BY LESTER JANSZ TORRANCE,CA-Four top Indian singers captivated hearts and minds of South Indian fans that came in droves to a packed Marsee Hall of the El Camino College here on May 16 evening. Virtuoso K. S. Chithra together with Vijay Prakash, Priya Himesh and Sri Krishna performed their evergreen renditions backed by a lively orchestra that had the audience in awe for the entire program.
Titled “Healing Breeze”, the show was held to raise funds to expand community services of the Nandalala Mission in the US. At the outset Dr. Nadarajah Senthilkumar read a greeting issued by founder of the mission Mathioli R. Saraswathy. In her greeting she thanked the audience for supporting its projects. “Isayum Thendral – The Healing Breeze – is an evening of mellifluous, healing light music brought to you by legends and young stars from the Indian music industry. Let us all melt along with ragas, let us walk to its rhythm, let us always remember this experience of bliss,” the greeting said. True to the greeting, it was an evening filled with bliss, as K. S. Chitra — dubbed the Nightingale of Kerala — performed some of her evergreen classics. Chithra received India’s fourth highest civilian honor ‘Padma Shri’ in 2005. She has six National Awards for best female playback singer under her belt, which is the highest number of national awards awarded to any female playback singer. She has also won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer 15 times. She is the only person to win this award 11 times in a row.
Playback Singer and film composer Vijay Prakash performed some of his electrifying hits. His song “Jai Ho”, which won a Grammy Award in 2008, captivated the audience. It was a unique experience to witness Vijay perform”Jai Ho”, which takes an extended high pitch at numerous junctures of the song.
He also performed “Khaali Quater”, which was written by top director and lyricist of Kannada films Yograj Bhat. This song became a blockbuster hit topping all the music charts. The song went viral becoming a chart buster in a very short time for its catchy lyrics and music. He also performed “Hoge”, from the film “Nam Life Story” in Kannada. This song is currently going viral and the lyrics and appealing tune has had fans go crazy.
Next on stage was Priya Himesh, a multilingual playback singer for feature films. She is a recipient of Filmfare Awards South for her Telugu song “Ringa Ringa” in the film “Aarya 2”. The crowd erupted in applause and whistles as the orchestra commenced the opening tune of “Ringa Ringa”.
Sri Krishna opened his act with a devotional song. Born in a household with no singing lineage, he is now heralded as the successor of S. P. Balasubrahmanyam by none other than the living legend himself. Sri Krishna’s first break was with the song “Adinchi Ashta Chamma” in the movie “Ashta Chamma”. The singer is now busy with various stage shows, Airtel Supersinger 7 and many exciting projects with music directors Koti, Mani Sharma and others.
At one point during the show, Sri Krishna mingled with the audience and got them to sing certain parts of a song. He also performed “Anjali” with K. S. Chitra. During one point of the song Sri Krishna changed the lyrics to “Chitra-Anjali”, which was acknowledged by the crowd with rapturous applause and whistles.
Although the show was scheduled to end at 7.30 p.m., organizers extended it until 9.30 p.m. as the sound system of the auditorium had a couple of hiccups, which never inconvenienced the audience. The technical staff was seen busy rectifying the issue and in fact none in the audience realized that the show went two hours beyond schedule.
During the end of the show all four artists were on stage to perform requests from the audience. The finale brought many a fan to the front of the stage for a dance session. Ladies were seen dancing in their dazzling and colorful saris to the tunes of “Chinna Chinna Asai”, “Jai Ho” and other upbeat tempo songs.
At the end of the concert fans formed a long queue for a photo shoot with the artists. Many were seen waiting impatiently for their turn to get a photo that would last in their memories forever.
Playback Singer and film composer Vijay Prakash performed some of his electrifying hits. His song “Jai Ho”, which won a Grammy Award in 2008, captivated the audience. It was a unique experience to witness Vijay perform”Jai Ho”, which takes an extended high pitch at numerous junctures of the song.
He also performed “Khaali Quater”, which was written by top director and lyricist of Kannada films Yograj Bhat. This song became a blockbuster hit topping all the music charts. The song went viral becoming a chart buster in a very short time for its catchy lyrics and music. He also performed “Hoge”, from the film “Nam Life Story” in Kannada. This song is currently going viral and the lyrics and appealing tune has had fans go crazy.
Next on stage was Priya Himesh, a multilingual playback singer for feature films. She is a recipient of Filmfare Awards South for her Telugu song “Ringa Ringa” in the film “Aarya 2”. The crowd erupted in applause and whistles as the orchestra commenced the opening tune of “Ringa Ringa”.
Sri Krishna opened his act with a devotional song. Born in a household with no singing lineage, he is now heralded as the successor of S. P. Balasubrahmanyam by none other than the living legend himself. Sri Krishna’s first break was with the song “Adinchi Ashta Chamma” in the movie “Ashta Chamma”. The singer is now busy with various stage shows, Airtel Supersinger 7 and many exciting projects with music directors Koti, Mani Sharma and others.
At one point during the show, Sri Krishna mingled with the audience and got them to sing certain parts of a song. He also performed “Anjali” with K. S. Chitra. During one point of the song Sri Krishna changed the lyrics to “Chitra-Anjali”, which was acknowledged by the crowd with rapturous applause and whistles.
Although the show was scheduled to end at 7.30 p.m., organizers extended it until 9.30 p.m. as the sound system of the auditorium had a couple of hiccups, which never inconvenienced the audience. The technical staff was seen busy rectifying the issue and in fact none in the audience realized that the show went two hours beyond schedule.
During the end of the show all four artists were on stage to perform requests from the audience. The finale brought many a fan to the front of the stage for a dance session. Ladies were seen dancing in their dazzling and colorful saris to the tunes of “Chinna Chinna Asai”, “Jai Ho” and other upbeat tempo songs.
At the end of the concert fans formed a long queue for a photo shoot with the artists. Many were seen waiting impatiently for their turn to get a photo that would last in their memories forever.