Sting. It was truly a bucket list moment, a lifelong dream come true. I don’t dare say a word more about it, beyond perfect.
A recent Remember Shakti concert - Watching Zakir Hussain live was another dream come true. Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan - he was playing at a math/temple in Ulsoor - it was a surprisingly low-key affair and there were about 10 of us in the audience (3 my family). I was a teenager then; I remember him asking “kuzhandai, which ragas do you like” :) He kindly played an all time favourite of mine with all his usual panache. A concert where, I cannot, for the life of me, recall who the vocalist was. I just remember Vikku Vinayakram. I think I cried on all 4 occasions. PS. Thanks for this prompt. Probably would not have thought about these experiences otherwise. Nor would I have had a chance to celebrate and be grateful for the dreams that have come true. Warm regards, Krishna Krishna Udayasankar, PhD. ------------------------------------------------------ [email protected] > On 11-Dec-2020, at 12:59 PM, Peter Griffin <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Fri, Dec 11, 2020 at 11:40 AM Venkatesh H R <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Thinking on and off about Udhay's 'what do you splurge on' thread, I >> realised I've spent good money to get to concerts. What have been your >> memorable ones? > > > After Alla Rakha died, Zakir and his brothers played in different venues > across the city all day. In the evening, they concluded with, as Zakir > said, we've been mourning, now let's celebrate his life. It was the Kala > Ghoda square in Bombay. What was then Orange was the sponsor, and a > friend's dad was a big shot there, so she got a few of us tickets. We were > filing in right at the back, friend and her dad were in the front. We > waved, she waved back, her dad said, bring your friends here, there's a bit > of space. So we got to experience an evening of magical percussion from the > second row. > Some other memorable evenings at the St Xavier's IMG (Indian Music Group) > open air concerts, where I got to hear folks like Alla Rakha, Zakir, (and > Alla Rakha playing with all his sons), Amjad Ali Khan, Brijbushan Khabra, > and once Ravi Shankar playing until dawn on a moonlit night, all with cheap > baithak seats. L Shankar doing a little lecture and demo with his double > violin. Then, some cool jazz at Rang Bhavan. The Remember Shakti concerts. > An L Subramaniam concert in Shanmukhananda. The Symphony Orchestra of India > doing Beethoven's Ninth at Bhabha auditorium. Many 'Zakir and friends' > concerts at Prithvi. > And not concerts, but parties where a number of the folks who were top > Bombay singers and musicians would jam or just play and sing favourites.
