Koni Prakash Naik, Muscat

Muscat, Jan 5: Spandana is all set to enthrall audiences in Muscat with a melodious musical concert 'Yaadon Ki Baraat' on Thursday January 19 at the Le Grande Hall, Al Falaj Hotel.

The concert promises to take the audience on a mellifluous journey capturing the best of music in Kannada and Hindi from Sandalwood to Bollywood. The musical extravaganza will be a tribute to two immortal legends Padmashree Mohammed Rafi, one of the most prolific singers of all times in Hindi film industry, and Padma Bhusan Dr Rajkumar, the greatest Kannada film icon of Karnataka, who was a versatile playback singer too.

The show has been comceptualised by Spandana – a group of like-minded individuals sharing common interests in music, entertainment and socio-cultural activities.

The motto and vision of Spandana, “together we can make a difference” defines the aims behind their goal.

Besides, Spandana’s logo, “U, Eye, V” signifies the objective of the group. “As the logo depicts Spandana is nothing but “U” “Eye” and “V”, which means if your vision and Spandana’s vision, meets together, it becomes our common vision. So, “together we can make a difference”,” say organisers.

Spandana group was formed in January 2011 and conducted their maiden event titled “Sangeeta Lahari” in January 2011 at which filmy songs were presented in as many as 8 languages.

Encouraged by the overwhelming response from the audience and valuable support from the sponsors, the grand tribute “Yaadon Ki Baraat” was planned.

The event which will encompass pure music, melody, mimicry, dance and a Yakshagana ballet hopes to provide an evening of nostalgia for the discerning audience.

Talented artistes, Tagore Das, Sangeetha Balachandra and Naveen Kumar will take the audience down the musical lane. They will present a melodious bouquet of evergreen songs of yesteryears in Hindi and Kannada.

The accompanying musicians include Pappan (main keyboard), Deepa Jayasheela (organ), Rajesh Bhagawath (tabla player), Prakash Anthony (rhythm pad) and Sharath (lead guitar).
 

Singer profiles

Tagore Das

Tagore Das, popularly known as “Mohammed Rafi of the South” is a sensational singer, who emerged with sheer talent to sing just like the legend Mohammed Rafi and has kept his voice alive all these years.

From childhood Tagore Das learnt classical music and musical instruments like harmonium, tabla, keyboard, guitar, drums and the like. He started giving professional performances since the age of 16. Although, emulating the golden voice of Mohammed Rafi is his forte; Das is also capable of emulating the voices of legendary singers of yesteryears like Talat Mahmood, Hemant Kumar, Mannadey, Mukesh and Mahendra Kapoor.

Das has already given over 6000 concerts all over India and abroad carrying Rafi’s voice for the last 40 years. His systematic, methodical and perfect performance has brought him laurels everywhere. In 1973, he was awarded the title of “Mohd. Rafi of South India” in Kerala. Karnataka’s legendary singer Dr P B Srinivas recognized him as the ‘reincarnation of Rafi”. He has been blessed by the Great Legend Mohammed Rafi himself on two occasions. Das has been appreciated by the famous bollywood music directors like Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad Ali and Ravindra jain.

Tagore Das holds the national record of singing 187 songs of Rafi continuously for 12 hours without referring to the lyric book on a concert titled “Subah-o-Shaam, Rafi Ke Naam”. Das has also written a number of lyrics and given background score for a few songs in Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Konkani languages.

Sangeetha Balachandra

Sangeetha Balachandra, being one of the well known playback light music singers, has strong musical roots having been a disciple of Vidwan Shri Sural G. Parameshwar Bhat, received advanced training in Carnatic Classical music. She has further had the opportunity to excel in singing across genres, media and recordings in a variety of languages like Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Marathi and Tamil. Such exposure has molded her into being a true professional artiste.

She has been presenting music concerts for more than 15 years. Sangeetha to date has over 2500 Concerts to her credit. She has given Sugama Sangeetha programmes in places like Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore etc and abroad. She has taken part in recordings and programmes organised by C Ashwath, Raju Ananthaswamy, Puttur Narasimha Nayak and many other music directors. Being a light music singer, Sangeetha also renders devotional, folk, abhangas and has the capability and the versatility to present the Kannada and Hindi Old Film Melodies with equal elan. She has sung for more than 300 Audio CDs and has released her solo CDs of Dasara Padagalu and Bhavageethas which are at highest demand by the music lovers. Sangeeta is a regular singer in various TV channels. She is the playback singer for Tulu films “Kadala Mage” and the latest hit “Oriyardori Asal”.

Sangeetha has received numerous awards and titles during her singing career. To start with she bagged the Sugama Sangeetha Singer of the year Award in year 2000, ETV’s Ede Tumbi Haduvenu - runners-up Award in 2003.

She is the managing director of Shruti Sagara Sangeetha Pratishthana which is actively working on Carnatic classical and light classical music nourishing the upcoming talents by conducting music classes and workshops and also providing such talents a platform to present their talent.

Naveen Kumar Koppa

Naveen Kumar Koppa is a multi-talented artiste from Karnataka. Naveen is a versatile singer, anchor and a mimicry artiste. Naveen has been giving programmes all over India and in many of the Gulf countries like Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar etc.

Naveen has been a team member for many of the legendary artistes like Dr S P Balasubramanyam, Rajesh Krishnan, Manu, Gurukiran, M D Pallavi, Mimicri Dayanand, Deva and many more. Naveen has been honoured with several awards/titles such as "Malenada Mari Kogile" from MSIL Bangalore. Also, he has received "G.V Athri award", a famous award to be given to the artistes in the name of the late G V Athri, a popular singer.

Naveen has given more than 10,000 stage shows across the world. Also, has performed in several TV programmes, among them - "ETV Ede Thumbi Haduvenu", "Nadha Surabhi", "Hadigondu Hadu", "Chittara", "Nithyotsava". He was also the winner of “Comedy Kilaadigalu” where he participated with Dayanand. He has performed with Mimicry Dayanand in " Sakkath Comedy".