(The I S Times Entertainment Desk): Local artists form the backbone of any society. Local entertainer Manju Mittal knows and understands the pulse of the Indian, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistani diaspora. After bringing stars from Bollywood to entertain Sydney crowds, she has gauged the pulse that time has now arrived to look towards the local talent, that is immense and crowd pulling.
Manju takes the Sydneysiders to a journey of feeling (Jazbaat) down the memory lane — a bouquet of Ghazals rendered by well-known four leading female singers of the city, including the stalwarts Avijit Sarkar and Rachna Bhatnagar. Other luminaries include: very popular and talented Heena Sachdev, Bhagirathi Bhatt and above all Rucha Lange. And of course local musicians, including Abhijit Dan on tabla.
SCREAN Australia brought that magical era back to life for the music lovers of Sydney. A night of soulful numbers and nostalgia was created with vintage melodies from the golden era to give a befitting tribute to legendary singers Noorjehan madam, Abida Parveen, Farida Khanum, Jagjit Singh and Mehdi Hasan.
Performing Arts Centre auditorium was tastefully decorated, the candles displayed in complete elegance highlighted by a beautiful golden lace, flowers at the front with a Gramophone in the centre of the stage. The event was hosted by Sydney’s well known MCs Kumud Merani and Kartik Mohandas. The concert began unfolding with the lighting of the traditional lamp by Consul Mr Nirav Sutariya, Mr Sameer Pandey Deputy Lord Mayor, City of Parramatta, Abbas Raza Alvi and Dr Mike Hamidi.
On the night, the gracious Kumud Merani welcomed the audience and introduced Avijit Sarkar. Avijit is a talented singer who knows the art of mesmerising.
Avijit was joined by four female leading singers mentioned above. Avijit’s entry was absolutely amazing dressed in Indian traditional black attire, the moment Avijit stepped on the stage he captivated his audience with his heart warming smile and delighted the audience with his soothing voice. Avijit kicked off the Jazbaat musical evening with a very soothing rendition of ‘Hosh walo Ko Khabar Kya – with Kumud Merani, recited the poem as it touched everyone’s heart.
Wearing a beautiful white lakhnavi saree with white gajra adorned in her hair the graceful singer Rachana Bhatnagar marked her grand entry with one of her favourite songs ‘Mujhse pehli si muhabbat’, Rachana’s voice is highly intoxicating her style of singing and her mastery of nuances were shockingly similar to that of Noorjehan, Farida Khanum and Abida Parveen.
The air was full of “Gayaki”– poetry laden with precise expression of sentiments that can not be described otherwise: The first passionate duet of the evening followed by Avijit and Rachana ‘Awaz de kahan hai’. A nostalgic Noorjehan number set an exciting, passionate romantic mood for the evening.
It was an emotional moment when Avijit paid special tribute to late Pankaj Udhas ‘Diwaron se milke hamein rona accha lagta hai’. He ensured that he catered to the entire audience with a balanced mix of ghazals, Bollywood film songs and soft numbers.
With each song number Avijit played on the Harmonium and engaged and captivated the audience who were totally mesmerised.
Charming Rucha Lange is a wonderful singer and indeed has some resemblance to the mystical Lata as far as the voice goes, she captured the audience’s attention with beautiful hit number of Noorjehan “Chandani Raatein’ was amazing, Rucha’s ‘Teri Khusboo Mei Base Khat’ with recitation by Kartik, the mellifluous voice of Rucha & Kartik transported the audience into a different era and mood.
Heena Sachdeva is a well trained vocalist in Sydney, Heena’s voice is highly intoxicating her style of singing reminds one of Shreya Ghoshal, she delivered the romantic tune “Niyat-e-shauk”, which was followed by Heena’s exquisite classic “Koi Fariyad”. Bhagirathi Bhatt, a trained classical singer, provided a fresh dimension to the concert by singing duet with Heena ‘Chap tilak’in a deep voice and the audience could not stop clapping.
Multi-talented Bhagirathi entertained the audience with her beautiful ghazal “Ahista ahista”, and also another old hit song ‘Saheb Mera Ek-Man lago yaar fakiri” it was an interesting choice and she captured the audience’s attention with her vocal brilliance. Bhagirathi’s performance not only took music lovers of pure classical music down the memory lane but also she left her ‘Chap’ and audience asking for more.
Towards the end, it has to be the evergreen Farida Khanum ghazal, aaj Jane ki Zid Na Karo by Heena Sachdeva. Heena made audience sing along as they clapped and eagerly participated.
Highlight of the show was finale song ”Dama dam mast kalandar’ by Rachana and Rucha the voices of both did fitting justice to the song of Abida Parveen, and they made audience dance and sing along.
Accompanying the singers were, very talented Abhijit Dan on the tabla, Sanjesh Nand played keyboard skillfully, talented Vir Chand on guitar, young Nepalese artist Sabin Ghising played the flute brilliantly, Sanket on Octapad and Parag Tijoriwala on the side effect instrument. The magic of Live band was brilliant. Running the sound system Abdul Sajwani did an excellent job.
Great audience and great food are the ingredients for a memorable evening. Well, the food stall from Ajay Raj Maya Da Dhaba serving delicious food and masala chai, Samosa at reasonable prices filled the hungry stomachs.
Jazbaat concert truly was a night when magic on stage was created by the beautiful singers of Sydney under the banner of SCREAN Australia. Jazbaat was more than just a concert for me; it was a journey of the soul, a reminder of the power of music to uplift, inspire, and heal and hence this show touched and altered my soul.
It is one of the most unique and exquisite experience of musical concert I have ever witnessed. I feel repentant for those unfortunate ones who missed out on such a marvelous concert. This concert proves to be perhaps one of the most magical local concert in Sydney history.
Advertisement
