Re: [racchabanda] A musical evening with DR.SHOBHA RAJU
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V. Chowdary Jampala
Sep 10, 2005, 2:42:47 AM9/10/05
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On 9/9/05, Ramesh Mandalapu <vrman...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Dr Shobha Raju, the highly respected and acclaimed musician, has dedicated
> her life to the propagation of Saint Composer Annamacharya's philosophy
> through divine music.
>
About two weeks ago, I attended a Sobharaju concert in Chicago. I have
attended her concerts previously and enjoyed her exposition of the annamayya
padams. I was eagerly waiting for this concert.
The last time I heard a full concert of hers, all the songs except two were
from annamayya and all of them were in Telugu. I expected a similar
enchanting experience. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
First, It appears that I made a mistake in assuming that this was a concert
of annamayya padams by Sobharaju. No; this was Sobharaju In Concert -
singing the songs of her choice, not necessarily annamayya padams. She sang
about 17 songs in a concert that lasted almost four hours - only eight of
them were annamayya padams in Telugu. Another was an annamayya keertana in
Sanskrit. What were the rest? There was a chant that her organization
apparently developed, annama gaayatri. There were two Suradas bhajans in
Hindi. There was a Tulasidas (Ramacharita maanas, if I remember correctly).
Then, there was a Hindi translation of an annamayya padam. Another Hindi
devotional song on Krishna. On top of these, there was a Hindi film song
from the film, Junglee, of yore. And, there was an English song, I love you
O Baba! (which to my untrained ears, sounded suspiciously like a recent
Telugu film song, I love you, love you raa!')
And it appeared to me that Ms. Sobharaju spent more time talking than
singing. She began the concert with an observation that the attacks on WTC
and the Tsunami and the myriad other problems were caused by thought
pollution and that she had the solution for it - singing annamayya songs, I
think. It went downhill from there. The peak moment of absurdity for me was
when she spent several minutes talking about the song, ఏమొకొ,
చిగురుతదహ్రమున...", and did not even sing it.
Last time, I heard Ms. Sobharaju, she had a sitar and a mRdanagam (or may
be a tabla) accompanying her. Now, she had a Korg keyboard, and an amplified
veeNa and a percussionist accompanying her, with the musicians also acting
as a chorus at times. It felt like film music and the concert turned out to
be very disconcerting.
I thought that I was better off in my car listening to any CD or cassette
of annamayya songs (including the film version) than being in the auditorium
for this Sobharaju in Concert.
I hope that those attending the BATA event would have a better experience.
Regards -- V Chowdary Jampala
PS: Another thing that annoyed me was that Ms. Sobharaju, who was speaking
in English, would rarely use the name annamayya (or annamaachaarya), but
repeat the word 'saint' (the saint did this, the saint said this.....)
--
Visit http://www.telugunaadi.com for Telugu Naadi, the Pulse of Telugu
America
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Converted into Telugu script by Ramarao Kanneganti's program
>
> Dr Shobha Raju, the highly respected and acclaimed musician, has dedicated
> her life to the propagation of Saint Composer Annamacharya's philosophy
> through divine music.
>
About two weeks ago, I attended a Sobharaju concert in Chicago. I have
attended her concerts previously and enjoyed her exposition of the annamayya
padams. I was eagerly waiting for this concert.
The last time I heard a full concert of hers, all the songs except two were
from annamayya and all of them were in Telugu. I expected a similar
enchanting experience. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
First, It appears that I made a mistake in assuming that this was a concert
of annamayya padams by Sobharaju. No; this was Sobharaju In Concert -
singing the songs of her choice, not necessarily annamayya padams. She sang
about 17 songs in a concert that lasted almost four hours - only eight of
them were annamayya padams in Telugu. Another was an annamayya keertana in
Sanskrit. What were the rest? There was a chant that her organization
apparently developed, annama gaayatri. There were two Suradas bhajans in
Hindi. There was a Tulasidas (Ramacharita maanas, if I remember correctly).
Then, there was a Hindi translation of an annamayya padam. Another Hindi
devotional song on Krishna. On top of these, there was a Hindi film song
from the film, Junglee, of yore. And, there was an English song, I love you
O Baba! (which to my untrained ears, sounded suspiciously like a recent
Telugu film song, I love you, love you raa!')
And it appeared to me that Ms. Sobharaju spent more time talking than
singing. She began the concert with an observation that the attacks on WTC
and the Tsunami and the myriad other problems were caused by thought
pollution and that she had the solution for it - singing annamayya songs, I
think. It went downhill from there. The peak moment of absurdity for me was
when she spent several minutes talking about the song, ఏమొకొ,
చిగురుతదహ్రమున...", and did not even sing it.
Last time, I heard Ms. Sobharaju, she had a sitar and a mRdanagam (or may
be a tabla) accompanying her. Now, she had a Korg keyboard, and an amplified
veeNa and a percussionist accompanying her, with the musicians also acting
as a chorus at times. It felt like film music and the concert turned out to
be very disconcerting.
I thought that I was better off in my car listening to any CD or cassette
of annamayya songs (including the film version) than being in the auditorium
for this Sobharaju in Concert.
I hope that those attending the BATA event would have a better experience.
Regards -- V Chowdary Jampala
PS: Another thing that annoyed me was that Ms. Sobharaju, who was speaking
in English, would rarely use the name annamayya (or annamaachaarya), but
repeat the word 'saint' (the saint did this, the saint said this.....)
--
Visit http://www.telugunaadi.com for Telugu Naadi, the Pulse of Telugu
America
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Converted into Telugu script by Ramarao Kanneganti's program
Sreenadh Jonnavithula
Sep 10, 2005, 8:54:39 AM9/10/05
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I suspect the organizers of the Chicago program might have had a say in the
selection of songs in that performance. They might have calculated that
singing "just" Annamayya padams may not have a broad enough appeal?
The reason I say this is that at TLCA about a month ago, we had a Shobha
Raju program. She sang 15 songs, out of which just one was a hindi song
"ehsaan teraa hOgaa mujh par", and that too, only a snatch of it.
The complete audio of the program is on our website at
http://www.tlca.com/events/shobha-raju/index.html along with some
photographs.
- Sreenadh
> I thought that I was better off in my car listening to any CD or cassette
> of annamayya songs (including the film version) than being in the
auditorium
> for this Sobharaju in Concert.
> I hope that those attending the BATA event would have a better
experience.
selection of songs in that performance. They might have calculated that
singing "just" Annamayya padams may not have a broad enough appeal?
The reason I say this is that at TLCA about a month ago, we had a Shobha
Raju program. She sang 15 songs, out of which just one was a hindi song
"ehsaan teraa hOgaa mujh par", and that too, only a snatch of it.
The complete audio of the program is on our website at
http://www.tlca.com/events/shobha-raju/index.html along with some
photographs.
- Sreenadh
> I thought that I was better off in my car listening to any CD or cassette
> of annamayya songs (including the film version) than being in the
auditorium
> for this Sobharaju in Concert.
> I hope that those attending the BATA event would have a better
experience.
lylayer
Sep 10, 2005, 12:15:01 PM9/10/05
to racch...@yahoogroups.com
--- In racch...@yahoogroups.com, "V. Chowdary Jampala"
York, and ShobhA Raju was just getting known for her singing
annamAchArya kIrtanAs.
I went into the assigned room to listen to her singing and as most
often the case people were not there on time. I was worried program
may be cancelled . But ShobhA Raju started singing and I listened to
అదిగో అల్లదిగో స్రీ హరివాసము in an almost private setting. That
was such a glorious experience.
Soon people poured in and would not stop talking and the spell was
broken. It is wonderful when a concert hall is full and we enjoy
music together, but there should be total silence during recitals.
That just does not happen with Indians, and so we miss so much.
In concerts , for telugu audiences, the people will not maintain
silence when requested, and they will not sing along and dance when
asked. Even in this last TANA i saw same audience performance in
the evening cultural programs.
బీత్ రహే, దిన్ పర్ దిన్ బీత్ రహే...
regards
lyla.
<cjampala@g...> wrote:
> About two weeks ago, I attended a Sobharaju concert in Chicago.
I have
> attended her concerts previously and enjoyed her exposition of the
annamayya
> padams. I was eagerly waiting for this concert.
There was one TANA meeting many years ago, may be it was in New
> About two weeks ago, I attended a Sobharaju concert in Chicago.
I have
> attended her concerts previously and enjoyed her exposition of the
annamayya
> padams. I was eagerly waiting for this concert.
York, and ShobhA Raju was just getting known for her singing
annamAchArya kIrtanAs.
I went into the assigned room to listen to her singing and as most
often the case people were not there on time. I was worried program
may be cancelled . But ShobhA Raju started singing and I listened to
అదిగో అల్లదిగో స్రీ హరివాసము in an almost private setting. That
was such a glorious experience.
Soon people poured in and would not stop talking and the spell was
broken. It is wonderful when a concert hall is full and we enjoy
music together, but there should be total silence during recitals.
That just does not happen with Indians, and so we miss so much.
In concerts , for telugu audiences, the people will not maintain
silence when requested, and they will not sing along and dance when
asked. Even in this last TANA i saw same audience performance in
the evening cultural programs.
బీత్ రహే, దిన్ పర్ దిన్ బీత్ రహే...
regards
lyla.
Hanuma Kodavalla
Sep 10, 2005, 5:51:47 PM9/10/05
to racch...@yahoogroups.com
> V. Chowdary Jampala [cjam...@gmail.com] Friday, September 09, 2005 11:43
PM
For the first time in my life, I attended a Sobharaju concert in Seattle a
few weeks ago and my experience is also similar. But since I am not as
well-versed as Jampala gAru, I was more amused than annoyed. :-)
The peak point for me in the program was when she, in her never ending
commentary with a few songs sprinkled here and there, said that just as when
you click the computer mouse, you magically connect to rest of the world
instantly through the internet, by thinking about the saint, you are with
him instantly -- something like that. At which point, all the computer geeks
rose to their feet with a rousing applause for elevating their menial jobs
to almost divine level. Not even Bill Gates gets such reception. :-)
Of course the Telugu songs she sang were beautiful.
> I was better off in my car listening to any CD ... than being in the
> auditorium.
I, on the other hand, would gladly attend such concerts.
Where else can I find so many Telugus of all ages, some speaking in
authentic Telugu and some in neither Telugu nor English? Where else do I get
to see so many women in beautiful saris, girls in colorful parikiNis, boys
in Nehru-lAlchIs, and men, well, in jeans and t-shirts? Where else can I
munch on bOnDAs and pakODAs reminiscing days in Ravinuthala's cinema hall?
Where else an hour's delay in the program is well within the margin of
error? Where else the gusagusalu in the concert hall are part of the
etiquette? I miss all of that, so if I can get all of that for a mere twenty
bucks, why wouldn't I go?
Even if I have to listen to some theories on why the World Wide Web is a
mere view in God's mind or how thought pollution caused our Mount St. Helens
eruption, I will go.
Kodavalla Hanumantha Rao
PM
For the first time in my life, I attended a Sobharaju concert in Seattle a
few weeks ago and my experience is also similar. But since I am not as
well-versed as Jampala gAru, I was more amused than annoyed. :-)
The peak point for me in the program was when she, in her never ending
commentary with a few songs sprinkled here and there, said that just as when
you click the computer mouse, you magically connect to rest of the world
instantly through the internet, by thinking about the saint, you are with
him instantly -- something like that. At which point, all the computer geeks
rose to their feet with a rousing applause for elevating their menial jobs
to almost divine level. Not even Bill Gates gets such reception. :-)
Of course the Telugu songs she sang were beautiful.
> I was better off in my car listening to any CD ... than being in the
> auditorium.
I, on the other hand, would gladly attend such concerts.
Where else can I find so many Telugus of all ages, some speaking in
authentic Telugu and some in neither Telugu nor English? Where else do I get
to see so many women in beautiful saris, girls in colorful parikiNis, boys
in Nehru-lAlchIs, and men, well, in jeans and t-shirts? Where else can I
munch on bOnDAs and pakODAs reminiscing days in Ravinuthala's cinema hall?
Where else an hour's delay in the program is well within the margin of
error? Where else the gusagusalu in the concert hall are part of the
etiquette? I miss all of that, so if I can get all of that for a mere twenty
bucks, why wouldn't I go?
Even if I have to listen to some theories on why the World Wide Web is a
mere view in God's mind or how thought pollution caused our Mount St. Helens
eruption, I will go.
Kodavalla Hanumantha Rao
hanuma_k
Sep 11, 2005, 12:02:21 AM9/11/05
to racch...@yahoogroups.com
--- In racch...@yahoogroups.com, "lylayer" <lylayfl@a...> wrote:
>
> and they will not sing along and dance when asked.
> lyla.
>
> and they will not sing along and dance when asked.
>
Another reason I am scared to sit next to you. :-)
Sing AND dance?
Sing? If you insist, I may yield, and yell "gOvindA", but dance, not a
chance.
Kodavalla Hanumantha Rao
V. Chowdary Jampala
Sep 12, 2005, 5:38:11 PM9/12/05
to racch...@yahoogroups.com
On 9/10/05, lylayer <lyl...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> --- In racch...@yahoogroups.com, "V. Chowdary Jampala"
> <cjampala@g...> wrote:
>
> > About two weeks ago, I attended a Sobharaju concert in Chicago.
> I have
> > attended her concerts previously and enjoyed her exposition of the
> annamayya
> > padams. I was eagerly waiting for this concert.
>
>
> --- In racch...@yahoogroups.com, "V. Chowdary Jampala"
> <cjampala@g...> wrote:
>
> > About two weeks ago, I attended a Sobharaju concert in Chicago.
> I have
> > attended her concerts previously and enjoyed her exposition of the
> annamayya
> > padams. I was eagerly waiting for this concert.
>
> It is wonderful when a concert hall is full and we enjoy
> music together, but there should be total silence during recitals.
> That just does not happen with Indians, and so we miss so much.
> In concerts , for telugu audiences, the people will not maintain
> silence when requested, and they will not sing along and dance when
> asked.
At the Chicago Sobharaju concert, the audience, mostly Telugu, were quite
> music together, but there should be total silence during recitals.
> That just does not happen with Indians, and so we miss so much.
> In concerts , for telugu audiences, the people will not maintain
> silence when requested, and they will not sing along and dance when
> asked.
respectful, and participated as requested by the singer. I can't blame this
debacle on the audience.
Regards -- V Chowdary Jampala
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
lylayer
Sep 12, 2005, 5:27:46 PM9/12/05
to racch...@yahoogroups.com
--- In racch...@yahoogroups.com, "hanuma_k" <hanumak@h...> wrote:
( in another post)
> Another reason I am scared to sit next to you. :-)
> Sing AND dance?
> Sing? If you insist, I may yield, and yell "gOvindA", but dance,
not a
> chance.
> Kodavalla Hanumantha Rao
Yes! You can. in fact you already are singing and dancing :-)It is
rb kOlATaM.
రచ్చబండలో మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
ఊగుతున్నది పజ్జాల-కజ్జాల సీసా
ఇప్పుడు ఎటుపక్క పైనుందో తెలుసా?
వేయిస్తున్నారు మాటల-భావాల సమోసా
పొంగుతున్నది ఆలోచనల నూనె బుస బుసా
చూస్తూ, భోమ్చేస్తూ, నాట్యం చెయ్యి మనసా!
enjoy
lyla
( in another post)
> Another reason I am scared to sit next to you. :-)
> Sing AND dance?
> Sing? If you insist, I may yield, and yell "gOvindA", but dance,
not a
> chance.
> Kodavalla Hanumantha Rao
rb kOlATaM.
రచ్చబండలో మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
ఊగుతున్నది పజ్జాల-కజ్జాల సీసా
ఇప్పుడు ఎటుపక్క పైనుందో తెలుసా?
వేయిస్తున్నారు మాటల-భావాల సమోసా
పొంగుతున్నది ఆలోచనల నూనె బుస బుసా
చూస్తూ, భోమ్చేస్తూ, నాట్యం చెయ్యి మనసా!
enjoy
lyla
Hemantha Kumar
Sep 13, 2005, 3:52:35 AM9/13/05
to racch...@yahoogroups.com
Instead maybe it would have been more apt if it is
రచ్చబండమీద మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
instead of
Best wishes
Hemantha Kumar
lylayer <lyl...@aol.com> wrote:
<snip>
రచ్చబండమీద మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
instead of
రచ్చబండలో మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
????:-))))
Best wishes
Hemantha Kumar
lylayer <lyl...@aol.com> wrote:
<snip>
రచ్చబండలో మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
ఊగుతున్నది పజ్జాల-కజ్జాల సీసా
ఇప్పుడు ఎటుపక్క పైనుందో తెలుసా?<snip>
ఊగుతున్నది పజ్జాల-కజ్జాల సీసా
lylayer
Sep 13, 2005, 11:08:13 AM9/13/05
to racch...@yahoogroups.com
--- In racch...@yahoogroups.com, Hemantha Kumar
But i was visualising the activities in the viscinity of rb rather
than on the big stone itself. 'kOlATaM' vaccu gadA mIku?:-)Recently
at my niece's bridal ceremony at my cousin's house, we were all
provided with colorful kolATaM sticks, and were given a three minute
instruction and all of us were madly doing a trial run kOlATaM in
the living room. We were later on supposed to perform real dance in
the garden i think, but some how it did not pan out.
In this sea shore city i am in, there are countless banyans, and
some are humangous. Some streets are lined with banyans, and the
side walks turn brown from the crunched millions of marri fruit. I
some times bike on bike paths next to them. Some cul de sacs have
one or more banyans and underneath rough grass grows and there are
beautiful ferns and colorful flowers. It is paradise.
But you have the famous 'aDayAr Banyan' and others.
> raccabaMDalO marri ceTTu nIDalO
> oogutunnadi pajjAla-kajjAla sIsA
> ippuDu eTupakka painuMdO telusA?<స్నిప్>
'sIsA' badulu sI-sA ani rAyoddU?:-)
Thank You.
lyla
<andhraputhra@y...> wrote:
> Instead maybe it would have been more apt if it is
> రచ్చబండమీద మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
> instead of
> రచ్చబండలో మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
>
> ????:-))))
అలాగూ అనుకోవచ్చు హేమంతా! మీకెలా బాగుంటే అలానే:-)
> Instead maybe it would have been more apt if it is
> రచ్చబండమీద మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
> instead of
> రచ్చబండలో మర్రి చెట్టు నీడలో
>
> ????:-))))
But i was visualising the activities in the viscinity of rb rather
than on the big stone itself. 'kOlATaM' vaccu gadA mIku?:-)Recently
at my niece's bridal ceremony at my cousin's house, we were all
provided with colorful kolATaM sticks, and were given a three minute
instruction and all of us were madly doing a trial run kOlATaM in
the living room. We were later on supposed to perform real dance in
the garden i think, but some how it did not pan out.
In this sea shore city i am in, there are countless banyans, and
some are humangous. Some streets are lined with banyans, and the
side walks turn brown from the crunched millions of marri fruit. I
some times bike on bike paths next to them. Some cul de sacs have
one or more banyans and underneath rough grass grows and there are
beautiful ferns and colorful flowers. It is paradise.
But you have the famous 'aDayAr Banyan' and others.
> raccabaMDalO marri ceTTu nIDalO
> oogutunnadi pajjAla-kajjAla sIsA
> ippuDu eTupakka painuMdO telusA?<స్నిప్>
'sIsA' badulu sI-sA ani rAyoddU?:-)
Thank You.
lyla
NaChaKi
Sep 13, 2005, 1:05:25 PM9/13/05
to racch...@yahoogroups.com
>>But you have the famous 'aDayAr Banyan' and others.
Is it still there?! I think I heard that it was no more when I went to
Chennai in 1999 or so. I did see it in 1992.
పిడకలవేటలో పుడకలు వెతుకుతూ,
నచకి
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Hemantha Kumar
Sep 14, 2005, 4:32:23 AM9/14/05
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No, not the original Adyar Banyan tree anymore. It crashed almost a decade or more back and some of the botanists tried their best to transplant the same and resurrect. Whichever way you look it does not remain to be the original.
But the real best banyan is the "Thimmamma Marri Maanu" near Kadiri in Anantapur district which is supposed to be spread across nearly 6 acres and as I am told, the largest/widest and probably the oldest (circa 14th century with a nice folklore story attached to it too) in the world and I have the transparencies of the same and of course wonderful memories of the place.
But the real best banyan is the "Thimmamma Marri Maanu" near Kadiri in Anantapur district which is supposed to be spread across nearly 6 acres and as I am told, the largest/widest and probably the oldest (circa 14th century with a nice folklore story attached to it too) in the world and I have the transparencies of the same and of course wonderful memories of the place.
But you have the famous 'aDayAr Banyan' and others.
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