On Sunday, July 31, the music lovers of the Tristate area were held spellbound for over three hours listening to the stunningly beautiful renditions of Sri Shobha Raju, singer extraordinaire
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. After a brief introduction by Anju Kondabolu, President, Shobha Raju started the evening with a brief slokam "SreenaMdakaaya vismahE" followed by an invocation to Ganesha "namo namo gaNanaathaa".
In one of the interludes between songs, Shobha Raju said that it was difficult to think of the unlimited with a limited mind. In some sense, this was a metaphor for the program itself, as the lucky listeners grappled with the limitless talent of the singer and the composer Annamayya.
Shobha Raju continued with beautiful renditions of "Om namO naaraayaNaayaa", "koMDalalO nelakonna kOnETi raayaDuvaaDu" and "veDukoMdaamaa vEMKaTagiri veMkaTEswaruni", each one followed by enthusiastic applause from the audience.
At this point, she showed her versatility in an unexpected manner. "A few years ago", she said, " I looked down on film songs. But after a while, I felt the devotion in film songs" and started off with "tumne mujko hasnaa sikhaaya (ehsaan teraa hO gaamujhpar)". As people familiar with Hindi songs would recognize, this is really a romantic song. But she turned it into a "bhaktigeetham" by singing "sree venkateshwaraa" at the end! She said "If singing is expressed to God, it becomes a devotional song. And expressed to somebody else, it becomes a romantic song! I just wanted to make a point - if only all our youngsters, who are much into these romantic songs, switch over a little, they become saints"!
She continued in this fashion, with short and entertaining remarks between each song, singing both well known songs like "brahma kadigina paadamu", "brahmamokkaTe para brahmamokkaTE" and the ever popular "adigo alladigo sreehari vaasamu" as well as less frequently heard songs like "sirutanavvulavaaDu sinnakka" (where she challenged the audience to guess which avataaram each part of song was about, and good naturedly corrrected guesses like "Parasurama" for Balarama!) and rare ones like "ihamEgaani igaparamEgaani", "chaaladaa hari naama soukyaamrutamu".
Time flew, and before we knew it, the three hours were up and the concert had ended. The thunderous applause testified to the appreciation and enjoyment of the audience. It was another remarkable program from TLCA, and we wish for many more such entertaining, no, exhilarating programs to come.
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