Asha Bhonsle show on February 2
By Palazhi Ashok Kumar
Thursday, January 18, 2007 2:55:45 AM Oman Time


MUSCAT — Melody queen Asha Bhonsle will perform at the City Amphitheatre, Qurum on Friday (February 2) night.

The grand show is presented by Oman’s Light & Shadow Enterprises, a Rajeev Chowdhary Enterprise, as part of the grand closing of Muscat Festival 2007 on February 2.

Asha is one of the most versatile south Asian singers, and her range of songs include film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian classical music, folk songs, etc. She is believed to have sung more than 10,000 songs. She has sung in more than 14 languages including Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, English, Russian and Malay.

Asha will be performing on stage with Sudhesh Bhosle, the voice behind Amitabh Bachchan’s songs on screen, a renowned name in the world of music, and Debojeet, winner of the recently held Zee TV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa contest.

There will also be two Bollywood actresses (names to be disclosed later), 14 dancers, eight musicians and a mimic artist who will entertain the audience on this marvellous musical journey. The grand show is expected to be one of the best performances of Asha.

“We always believe in brining in something unique and extraordinary to captivate spectators. This show, I believe will remain as a memorable event,” Rajeev Chowdhary, managing director of Light & Shadow Enterprises, told the Times of Oman.

Rajeev, who had produced nearly a dozen movies said: “The legendary singer is going to mesmerise Muscat audience, and we, Light & Shadow, will strive to make the show lively, and indeed, I salute Muscat Festival Committee of Muscat Municipality for their support and encouragement. I sincerely believe that their support will help us make all future events that we are planning in the future a great success.”

“As the event is part of Muscat Festival 2007, Oman’s private sector is showing good support to make this occasion a grand success,” Rajeev added.

Asha, who recognised that “all people smile in the same language” several years ago, will be crooning numbers especially from her famous songs.

At 70-plus Asha still dares to challenge the youngsters on the scene, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurty, Sadhana Sargam in evocative songs ‘Yai Re, Yai Re...’ and ‘Tanha Tanha...’ both from Rangeela or ‘Rang De...’ from Takshak. She teams with Adnan Sami and Ghulam Ali with equal ease for albums of songs or ghazals.

Though she had to grow up in the shadow of sister Lata Mangeshkar, Asha has indeed done very well for herself. Initially she had to face the inevitable — unfair comparisons with her more popular sister. But she did not let that affect her. Perseverance paid off, as she overtook tough contenders, including Geeta Dutt.

Asha Bhonsle, one of the Mangeshkar sisters was born on September 8, 1933 to the renowned Maharashtrian parent, actor and singer Dinanath Mangeshkar in a small village called ‘Goar’ in Maharashtra. Like her sister Lata Mangeshkar, Asha also initially did a small stint as a child artiste.

source: http://timesofoman.com/inner_cat.asp?cat=1...KvjUne56pnx0u9i