Asha Bhosle floors Bostonians in sold-out concert

With Kronos Quartet, singer delights audience of 1,200

from: http://www.indianewengland.com

By Shuchita Rao
BOSTON — There was excitement in the air at the Berklee Performance Center, while an enthusiastic crowd numbering over 1,200 people thronged the lobby, waiting to enter the auditorium.

The big draw and one of the star attractions of the evening was Bollywood’s famous playback singer Asha Bhosle. She enthralled audiences with her songs but it was her on-stage interaction with her fellow performers, the musicians of Kronos Quartet, that kept the audience truly enchanted at the April 9 event hosted by World Music.

After determining that more than half of the crowd in attendance was non-Indian, Bhosle chose to speak in English between songs. “You will now have to listen to my broken English. Remember, the doors to the auditorium are locked,” she said. Her engaging style of interaction with the audience won her instant applause. Pointing to the members of the quartet, she quipped, “My English is broken, but their Hindi is nothing.”

The sold-out concert started 15 minutes late but was greeted with thunderous welcoming applause as the four members of the quartet appeared on stage with their instruments in hand. David Harrington and John Sherba played the violin, Hank Dutt, the viola and Jeffrey Zeigler, the cello. The concert featured special guest Wu Man on the Chinese instrument Pipa and Zakir Hussain on the tabla and drums.

While the quartet entertained the audience with mostly Western classical compositions for the first half of the approximately two-hour concert, Bollywood took center stage for much of the second half. The quartet and Bhosle, performed music by R.D. Burman, the legendary Bollywood music director. Bhosle, who is Burman’s widow, started singing when she was 10 and she has recorded over 13,000 songs in various Indian languages.

The selection of the R.D. Burman songs included sentimental favorites such as “Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko,” and “Aaj ki raat.” The ever-popular “Mehbooba, mehbooba,” from the hit movie, “Sholay” and “Piya tu ab to aaja,” were also presented. The audience participated in the fast-paced songs such as “Mehbooba Mehbooba” by clapping their hands to the rhythm. In 2005, the Kronos Quartet released a recording with Bhosle titled “You’ve Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman’s Bollywood.”

At the concert, Ranjan Ravaliya of Burlington, Mass. said, “I am here to listen to the Kronos Quartet on the recommendation of a friend who lives in Oakland, California. I thought that the use of string instruments to create percussion effects was very interesting.” When asked if she was here to listen to the quartet or Asha Bhosle, she said “I love classical music. I am hoping Asha Bhosle will sing classical music. If she does not, it will still be alright because I don’t mind listening to Hindi songs.”

As for Bhosle, she entertained the audience with songs and jokes, snippets from Burman’s life and her interaction with the members of the Kronos Quartet. “They are all good people. They should be called Kronos Dollar, not Quartet,” she said. At one point during the concert, she caught the audience by surprise. Bhosle announced that she was 73 years old and then invited David Harrington to dance with her to a Bhangra tune. The audience appeared delighted. “When Asha performs, everybody must go home having laughed at least once,” she said.

thanks deewani!



recently u mentioned about Lata's concert in respective thread.

why don't u write about it?

Oh august, whatever I remember that was remarkable, I have already posted there, I just remember being in awe the whole time... and even calling my friend in California from the payphone so she could hear one of her songs "live" even if over the phone.

Thanks for the article Deewani!!!! Asha is such a dear.

she will be back to the USA, next month, for more concerts

I want to be in the US.
Or in Dubai. Or Europe. Or Mumbai.

koyi phoreiner ko pakdo priya

US mein HF meet ka taiyyariyaan kare.. aur yahan pe hundi taiyyar karna parega .. to collect funds

N

Shall we join the Peddar Road protesters, Nimz?

Why Priyz u wanna get lynched or what?????????????

Sigh!!

Anything to see Asha. Unse ek baar miloon to khushi khushi mar jaoongi.

Ayyooooooooo hey bhagwan aur NJ ko milne wahan pe chai jaaogi

Phir mera kya hoga

N

Haan re. Asha se milke seedhe NJ se milne chaloongi.
Tu bhi chal, Guru se milne.