... Mani Sharma's Concert

We went to the Manisharma concert this weekend. Probably my first live professional telugu concert...(I think). At first I was disappointed that Hemachandra couldn't make it (some visa issue I was told). Mallikarjuna was a pleasant surprise. His rendition of "Jadi vaana jaadalo eevela" in Ghallu Ghallu from Indra was simply superb. As soon as he started singing those lines, I knew he was the original playback singer. At the end of the song, he started dancing like Chiru and he looked totally cool. I really admired him for the ease with which he rendered all the songs of different range. He was the best singer on stage that day. Vijayalakshmi sang "Dole Dole Dil zara zara" from Pokiri and "Chamka chamka" from Chirutha among others. Her voice carries that style of songs well. Malavika was very good in "Morning Raga". Very sweet voice.

The whole ochestration came out very well for a small team of 5 players. The keyboardist was just a one man army on lead instrumentation handling all the lead and bass pieces alone. I think Manisharma's drummers are a big factor in his music - they were simply awesome reproducing both ethnic & western beats live. And were enjoying themselves playing on stage. I admire musicians who feel what they are playing. That tells something abt the artist. The hall mix no doubt sounded flawless - as none other than Mani Sharma's own sound engineer was at the console. Reverse gear Guruswami was very enjoyable in the breaks - especially the songs that he sang in reverse.

I was really glad to learn that Manisharma's favorite music director is Ilayaraja. We had the chance to meet him backstage and when we mentioned about Aavakai , he promptly said - "You should have told me this earlier, we could have made used of your team as well on stage".
And btw, when I said 'Aavakai' he remarked 'bhale khaaramgaa undi andi peru.' Go Aavakai! :) Lets hope we will see Aavakai & Manisharma together next time.

-Surya