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Forming a TFM Orchestra in the USA as alternative to IR or TF groups performing abroad.

Topic started by Raja Fan (@ spider-wd032.proxy.aol.com) on Thu Mar 25 01:20:23 EST 1999.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

In the long run, can it be possible to mobilise the best talents among Indian students to form a TFM troupe? If this is possible, then we can have more frequent performances at various Indian associations as they can support these programmes and we don't have to think hard on how to popularise IR's songs especially. If this idea is debatable in this forum why not we ask for talents attending in this forum itself? These talented musicians/singers should be extremely good so they don't have to meet regularly to practice it is also opportunity to display our latent musical skills. After few years, we can get lot of supprt and invite TFM legends to be guests. I am thinking we wont have problems because Indian films in general don't have copyright issues.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.22.112) on: Tue Apr 13 00:03:43 EDT 1999
  
  Mr Karthi,
  
  a point I wanted to tell you is that when I wrote the last post, somehow I was remembering you.
  
  
• From: eden (@ 202.54.71.145) on: Tue Apr 13 00:53:16 EDT 1999
  
  Venky!
  It would be nice to ask PS to sing `Ninaikkatherintha maname unakku marakkatheriyatha" (Film- Anandha jothi?)
  as well as
  `Kangal Irandum enru unnaikkandu pesumo' (SLBC favourite)
  
  
• From: bb (@ bernstein.crhc.uiuc.edu) on: Tue Apr 13 02:33:12 EDT 1999
  
  karthi, that is a very good point..
  
  
• From: puls (@ 208.242.36.102) on: Tue Apr 13 11:21:56 EDT 1999
  
  venky when r u arranging the shows in houston and dallas? could u pl give me the dates. Thanks
  
  
• From: Srinath (@ 98cded5a.ipt.aol.com) on: Mon Jul 12 22:35:22 EDT 1999
  
  TNF/FETNA Light Music Show: A Review - Part I:
  
  For me, it started with the trip down to Iselin, NJ, where the one and only rehearsal was to be held before the show, next day at the Convention Center in Atlantic City. It has to be said of his kind of a setup that nothing less than the most professional and talented of musicians could have executed it with any degree of success. For the first couple of hours at practise, till the rest of the crew arrived, a simply fascinating Sanjeev Ramabhadran held centrestage ! You've gotta believe me, this guy is incredible ! He sings, plays the lead keyboard, the violin and I believe, a pretty peppy tabla too ! But for those of us seeing him for the first time, his commitment and dedication during the rehearsal were mind-boggling !
  
  Now meet the crew -
  
  Raja Govindarajan (rajaG) - Singer
  Anuradha Sriram - Singer
  Sanjeev Ramabhadran - Singer, Keyboardist, Violinist, magician...errr...not the last, sorry :-)
  Armeen (Sanjeev's Wife)- Singer
  Bobby Chatterjee - Keyboards
  Ramani - Lead Guitar
  Sachin (Sanjeev's younger brother) - Drums
  Ronnie - Rhythm Box, Dholak
  Salu James - Bass Guitar
  Sunny - Flute
  Jaywant - Tabla
  Ravi Raj and myself, Srinath - Rhythm Guitar
  Mrs. Raja Govindarajan, chipped in with additional vocals.
  
  When I entered the studio of Bobby Chatterjee, Keyboardist, at whose house this rehearsal was being held, I was the only Tamilian on the premises ! Considering that the show was for the Tamizh Organizations - TNF and FETNA, this was some surprise indeed ! In fact, on the day of the show, apart from me, there was only one other Tamilian in the orchestra - Ramani, the lead guitarist, and an exceptional one at that ! Armeen, Sanjeev and Sachin are Gujjus while Raja and his obviously better half ;-) are Telugus. Bobby is from Calcutta while Ronnie, Salu and Sunny are from Kerala. Jaywant is a Maharashtrian and Ravi Raj is another Telugu like Raja ! Well, all that's left is the cliché about how they came from North, East, West and the South - but what a team !
  
  After the hectic rehearsal at Bobby's house, there was barely enough time for everyone to get a good night's sleep. We had some last minute practise the next morning at Hotel Sheraton West in Atlantic City, and before we knew it, we were hauling our musical intsruments up the freight elevator to Hall A in the Convention Center - ready for the show. While the show was scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m., prior experience told me that it would be a little while longer before it actually kicked off. But nothing prepared me for the eventual 11:00 p.m start that we had ! Incredibly, the entire crowd stayed back for the show ! This, after some witty and soul-stirring speeches from Revathi, Radha Ravi and Shivashankari who were chief-guests for the day. Came 11 o' clock and Raja Govindarajan (rajaG), in a beautiful red kurta set the tone for the evening with an absolutely mesmerizing "Madhavi Pon Mayilal". The fun never stopped after that !
  
  As with every live show, there were the usual hiccups and fortunately for the first song, it was the volume level of the instrumentalists which turned out to be rather low. I said fortunately, because rajaG was busy making a huge impact with his commanding yet melodious voice (It was a good choice for the first song) It was only towards the end of the song that the instrumentalists sorted out the volume level. But with that song, rajaG had the crowd in his palm. Remember, it was approaching mid-night and it takes some doing to keep a crowd of around 2000 people up and cheering you along ! Sanjeev and Armeen took over from there with the next number "Ram Bam Bam". While both had excelled the previous day at rehearsal, it was a bit of a disappointment to see the audio system on stage keeping them on their toes to get the song going. To their credit they never let it slip once, inspite of not being able to hear their own voices on stage. I shudder to think what might have happened had it been two lesser talents in their places ! But Ramani, the lead guitarist virtually led the way, where this song was concerned. As for Armeen, she had hardly 10 days notice to pick up and sing songs in a language which I bet she has barely heard before ! To be honest, I was put to shame by the ease with which this couple sang in Tamizh ! You have to see it to believe it ! But Sanjeev's best was yet to come.
  
  Meanwhile Anuradha Sriram made her entrance in typical star-style ! "Nalam Nalam Ariya Aval" began with Raja on stage and Anuradha's voice from everywhere, but the stage. I've seen this trick a few times, but it never fails to amuse me - seeing an artist come out of the crowd, cordless mike in hand. It is a bit of a gamble, but with a seasoned practitioner like Anuradha, I guess it isn't much, really. With Anuradha's reputation preceeding her, it would have been nothing short of disaster had she made the slightest of slips. But here is where her professionalism came through. She is an incredibly good singer and with people like her making their mark in TFM, we've a lot to look forward to. She stayed on stage for the next song, quickly establishing a rapport with the crowd. Armeen joined her for "Malligaye, Malligaye", which Anuradha described as the female equivalent to "Penn Onru Kanden". I'd rather go for "Oru Kili Uruguthu", but hey, she's the star here ;-) ! A note about the flautist, Sunny, here - even during practice, he showed his class by picking up the toughest pieces with great ease and playing them flamboyantly ! He did not waver the least bit on stage and did full justice to his talents ! With "Dilruba, Dilruba" coming on next, Anuradha's dance troupe got on into the action, upping the excitement level a few more notches ! We got to meet the dancers - two guys and two guys - backstage and they proved to be real fun people ! One of the guys is a dance master and the other his assistant. They appear to be doing a good job, back in Madras, running one of the largest dance shools there.
  
  You can't keep a person like Sanjeev down for long. Even as the others were hogging the limelight on stage, Sanjeev kept his fingers dancing on the keyboards with the lead pieces. Soon it was time for "Vaan Nila, Nila Alla" and Sanjeev picked up his violin. The next few minutes belonged all to Sanjeev and rajaG as they brought back memories of a long forgotten day, where melody ruled the roost. I can still hear the strain of Sanjeev's violins and Raja's melodious voice ! It was a indeed a performance to remember from both of them !
  
  I told you about Sanjeev and Armeen's pronunciation earlier. Well, if there was the least doubt, Sanjeev rested it with a masterly "Manjolai Kili Thano". I can never again listen to this song without thinking of Sanjeev's performance that day ! Just imagine, the crowd kept applauding at the end of EVERY STANZA !!! And when he finshed, he received the most hearty applause that I've have ever heard from a crowd ! It's a gift, and there simply aren't enough adjectives to describe it ! Into the show, Raja matched Anuradha note for perfect note, singing some of the songs to pre-recorded music. You're not allowed to slip even once - no manual instrumentalists to adjust to your goof-ups. Both of them held through admirably and while there was the occasional tense moment, each song was a joy to hear ! Thus went, "Un Udhattora Sivappey", "Adhisayam" and "Nilavai Konduva". The entire show was peppered with moments where Raja involved the crowd in lively chit-chat and giving them some background about the composition of the orchestra. Armeen came on next with a melodious rendition of "Nenjiniley, Nenjiniley" and then joined Sanjeev for an "Usilampatti Penn Kutti" duet. For the next number, rajaG and Sanjeev took over with a live-wire Varaga Nadhikaraioram. To be honest, very few had heard this song then and even fewer could play it. So a few liberties were taken but, with rajaG shifting into Qawwali mode, there was very little left for the rest to do! Anuradha came back on stage with a number from her "Chennai Girl" album - "Modern Ponnu". The dance troupe joined her in an entertaining performance that had the audience jiving along with Anuradha.
  
  (to be concluded...)
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.22.112) on: Mon Jul 12 23:23:32 EDT 1999
  
  Hi Sri,
  
  where are you now ?
  
  
• From: NOV (@ 202.184.134.8) on: Mon Jul 12 23:41:25 EDT 1999
  
  Great review from the inside. :-))
  
  If the show was half as exciting as your write-up, it should be a roaring success.
  
  What is your latest avathaaram? (Enakku mattum sollidunga. :-)))
  
  
• From: Srinath (@ 98cded5a.ipt.aol.com) on: Mon Jul 12 23:42:36 EDT 1999
  
  Hi MS :-) I'm back in D.C, but have just changed my job and hence have been very busy. Moreover, I've decided to cut down on my TFM-DF forays for "personal" reasons ;-) I'll still be visiting here frequently though. Did anyone from TFM Page make it to the show on July 4th ?
  
  
• From: Srinath (@ 98cded5a.ipt.aol.com) on: Mon Jul 12 23:48:51 EDT 1999
  
  NOV:
  Naan enna "mugamudi" pOttu inga veshama nadathuraen ;-) Amaam, "inside review", "half as exciting" appadeena, are you accusing me of self-aggrandization ? :-)) I played only for 4 songs, so my role for most of the show was pretty neutral :-) If anyone else from TFM-DF was at the show, I would greatly appreciate your feedback too !
  
  

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