BY DEEPINDER SINGH
SANTA ANA, CA -The 15th annual Ekal Vidyalaya fundraiser was held on April 25 at the Santa Ana High School auditorium with nearly 400 generous hearted music lovers in attendance. The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation is the largest grassroots, non-government education movement operating in remote villages of India...
SANTA ANA, CA -The 15th annual Ekal Vidyalaya fundraiser was held on April 25 at the Santa Ana High School auditorium with nearly 400 generous hearted music lovers in attendance. The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation is the largest grassroots, non-government education movement operating in remote villages of India...
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dedicated to bringing education to rural India. Chapter President Deepak Sharma while welcoming the artists and guests said Ekal had over 53,000 teachers, 6000 volunteers and 35 field organizations in 22 Indian states.The organization was founded by late Dr. Rakesh Popli, a nuclear physicist with a focus on primary education programs in underprivileged communities of India.Ekal today operates in 54,000 villages educating over 1.5 million children. Board member and regional President Uma Gulani recognized the volunteers and artists and commended them for there help in making the event a success. While talking to IJ, she said they had a great response and were able to raise the funds to support at lease 500 schools in India. She also encouraged members to continue supporting Ekal and thanked them for their contributions.
The stars of the show were visiting singers from India, Rana Chaterjee and Sangeeta Diwakar Melekar.They were accompanied by Piyush Bhatt on keyboard, Daxesh Patel on Tabla and Jay Natu on octopad. The performers presented classical Indian and vintage Bollywood music with universal appeal. Sangeeta started the concert with a prayer followed by the Bhajan ‘Tu Pyar Ka Saagar Hai’ by Rana Chatterjee from classic Hindi movie ‘Seema’ originally sung by Manna Dey. This set the tone and mood for the rest of the evening and the talented singers sang Bollywood hits one after another. Next was a romantic song ‘Ik Haseen Sham Ko’ originally sung by Mohd. Rafi. Sangeeta sang an evergreen song from the movie Guide ‘Piya To Se Naina Laage Re’.The audience immensely enjoyed this beautiful song and Sangeeta did true justice to the sentiments of the song with her singing skills and melodious voice.
As the evening grew older and older, the magic of the singers grew stronger and stronger with the inverse effect on the audience who had already started feeling younger and younger. The audience felt as if their emotions had found the expressions and thoughts had found the words in these Bollywood hits.
Solo performances were followed by duets.The duo started this round with all time favorite ‘Diwana Hua Badal’ from the movie ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ featuring Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore.This was followed by an Asha Bhosle and Manna De duet ‘Aa Ja Sanam’from the movie Choori Choori.‘Haal Kaisa Hai Janab Ka’ from movie ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ had all the ingredients that the original song had. The artists successfully brought forth the naughtiness with their melodious voice and gestures that the original actors Kishor Kumar and Madhu Balla had depicted. Sangeeta in particular, who in addition to her singing, also talked with her eyes. Chatterjee was dressed in grey and black whereas Sangeeta looked glamours in a pink anarkali suit.
In another round of songs,the artists sang on requests by the audience. Noticeable feature of this round was that the artists took almost all the requests and Chatterjee sang all the songs as if he remembered all by heart. Earlier, skilled dancers of Arpana Dance Company regaled the audience. Sneha Sharma and Namrata Abyankhar emceed the event.
The stars of the show were visiting singers from India, Rana Chaterjee and Sangeeta Diwakar Melekar.They were accompanied by Piyush Bhatt on keyboard, Daxesh Patel on Tabla and Jay Natu on octopad. The performers presented classical Indian and vintage Bollywood music with universal appeal. Sangeeta started the concert with a prayer followed by the Bhajan ‘Tu Pyar Ka Saagar Hai’ by Rana Chatterjee from classic Hindi movie ‘Seema’ originally sung by Manna Dey. This set the tone and mood for the rest of the evening and the talented singers sang Bollywood hits one after another. Next was a romantic song ‘Ik Haseen Sham Ko’ originally sung by Mohd. Rafi. Sangeeta sang an evergreen song from the movie Guide ‘Piya To Se Naina Laage Re’.The audience immensely enjoyed this beautiful song and Sangeeta did true justice to the sentiments of the song with her singing skills and melodious voice.
As the evening grew older and older, the magic of the singers grew stronger and stronger with the inverse effect on the audience who had already started feeling younger and younger. The audience felt as if their emotions had found the expressions and thoughts had found the words in these Bollywood hits.
Solo performances were followed by duets.The duo started this round with all time favorite ‘Diwana Hua Badal’ from the movie ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ featuring Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore.This was followed by an Asha Bhosle and Manna De duet ‘Aa Ja Sanam’from the movie Choori Choori.‘Haal Kaisa Hai Janab Ka’ from movie ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ had all the ingredients that the original song had. The artists successfully brought forth the naughtiness with their melodious voice and gestures that the original actors Kishor Kumar and Madhu Balla had depicted. Sangeeta in particular, who in addition to her singing, also talked with her eyes. Chatterjee was dressed in grey and black whereas Sangeeta looked glamours in a pink anarkali suit.
In another round of songs,the artists sang on requests by the audience. Noticeable feature of this round was that the artists took almost all the requests and Chatterjee sang all the songs as if he remembered all by heart. Earlier, skilled dancers of Arpana Dance Company regaled the audience. Sneha Sharma and Namrata Abyankhar emceed the event.
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