The fact that the Indian community in New Zealand has ample singing talent was demonstrated at a musical evening held at the Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland Girls Grammar School in Auckland on September 22.
The fact that such talent is honed, fine-tuned and presented on stage by a teacher with commitment and passion was also proved at the event.
Amit Sengupta and his group of nine other singers and an eight-member orchestra proved that ‘Old is Gold’ in the fifth version of a series.
We were told that less than five hours before the programme, Karamveer Singh, listed earlier as a singer, declined to perform. Unperturbed, two singers from the group accepted the challenge and presented the additional songs allocated to them with proficiency.
Among the songs that were impressive in the first part of the programme were
‘Aana Hai To Aaa’ (sung by Amit), ‘Aao Na Gale Lagao Na’ (Akhila Puthigae), ‘O Mere Dil Ki Chain’ (Rachit Bhatia), ‘Kya Janu Sajan’ (Ritika Shah), ‘Kahin Door Jab’ (Moneesh Mittal), ‘Tere Pyar Me Dildar Mere Mehboob’ (Vidya Teke), ‘Dil Kya Kare Julie’ (Siddharth Krishnamurthy) and ‘Do Lobzo Ki’ (Rhea Maheshwari).
The breath-taking talent of the youngsters continued to amaze in the second half as Ritika presented the popular classic ‘Rasik Balma.’
Rachit, Siddharth and Ashish Joshi rook over the minds of the audience by bringing Kishore Kumar’s Yodelling style and acting live with fun songs like ‘Meri Pyari Bindu’ and ‘Babu Samjho Ishare’.
The last song was a tribute to ‘Old is Gold’ presented by all the singers, rendering ‘Jane Kahan Mera Jigar.’
The orchestra featured Amit Sengupta (Harmonium), Anthony Yempee (Lead Guitar), Diya Anthony (Rhythm Guitar), Govind Prabhu (Khol & Mridangam), Hemant Thaker (Key Board), Joscel Alexander (Acoustic Drums), Joseph Alexander (Electronic Drums), Peter Paul Ravela (Tabla & Dholak) and Shivam Padeyachi (Base Guitar).
The singers (clockwise from top) Ritika, Rachit, Moneesh, Akhila, Siddharth, Amit, Kanika, Vidya, Ashish and Rhea
(Pictures by Moumita Chatterjee)
