A detailed report on Ghantasala ArAdhanOtsavAlu (11/10/07)

[schimata2]

What?
Ghantasala ArAdhanOtsavAlu (85th Birthday Celebrations) held by Bay Area Telugu Association
Occasion?
deepAvaLi celebrations by BATA
Where?
Indian Community Center, Milpitas (Silicon Valley), CA
When?
Saturday (Nov 10th 2007) from 4: 00 - 10: 00 PM
Presented by?
Vegesna Foundation (USA), an Institute of Rehabilitation for Poor and Physically Disabled Children


List of Singers in the event:

1. Sri Garikapati Venkata Prabhakar (Hyderabad)
2. Smt Mani Sastry, Houston, TX
3. Sri Raju Iduri, Sacramento, CA
4. Smt Gayatri Avvari, Silicon Valley, CA


BATA, the prominent local Telugu Association, in association with the Vegesna Foundatation, held the deepAvaLi celebrations with an emphasis on Ghantasala ArAdhanOtsavAlu (gana lahari) program. Vamsee Rama Raju gAru (of Vamsi-Berkeley Awards and the managing trustee of the Vegesna Foundation) and Chitten Raju gAru (a well-known Telugu literary figure and the US Promoter of the Vegesna Foundation) graced us with their presence and Smt Aasuri Vijaya gAru (of BATA) compered the event.

The event started at 4:30 PM with a singing competition (of Ghantasala songs) program by about ten local singers and Prabhakar gAru was the judge. It was announced that a list of the winners would be announced a little later (during the break).

Vijaya gAru expressed her deepAvaLi wishes to all the audiences and introduced Prabhakar gAru and Mani gAru (to the audiences) as gAyaka SirOmanNi and gAyaka ratna respectively. Prabhakar garu said that they were ready for the program with about 30-40 karaoke tracks and assured that the tracks' quality was so that good that audiences would feel as if the singers were singing with a live orchestra.

PrabhAkar gAru first sang a classical song, "madi sAradA dEvi mandiramE". Then Mani gAru mentioned that there was a powerful female Sakti behind the occasion of the deepAvaLi celebrations and quizzed the audiences to tell her (Sakti's) name and to guess the song she was going to sing. The audiences gave her the enthusiastic answers (satya bhAma and the song, meera jAlagalaDA). She then sang the song, "meera jAlagalaDA.. nA yAnati".

The third song was a duet "telisindilE.. telisindilE". Mani gAru said that it was her first program in the silicon valley, though she had performed many times in other places in US. She mentioned that the actual reason for this gAna lahari program was to raise funds to help the needy, poor disabled childen. She praised the commitment of Rama Raju gAru for this noble cause and she added that this program of Ghantasala ArAdhanOtsavAlu was planned to be held in 33 cities in US by the end of this year. She requested the folks to think of giving away 60 cents a day (that amounts as $250.00 per year) for a noble cause of adopting a disabled kid a year. The next duet they sang was "chiTapaTa chinukulu paDutU unTE". Then Prabhakar gAru quizzed the audiences on the next song he was going to sing (clues: movie - ArAdhana and the lyricist - Sri Sri) and he got the correct answer i.e. "nA hrudayamlO nidurinchE cheli". Then it was Mani gAri turn to quiz us on another solo song she was going to sing (clue: movie - manchi kuTumbam) and the she again was not disappointed by the audiences She then sang the song, "mansasE andAla brundAvanam". Before started this song, she said that singing such a song could be like "katti meeda sAmu" and "muLLa teega meeda naDaka".

The next two duets were also quizzed and both of them complimented me (from the audiences) on answering all of the questions until then. They sang "ee pagalu rEyigA" and "rEpanTi rUpam ganTi" songs (clues: movie - siri sampadalu and the music director: Master Venu; movie manchi-cheDu respectively). Following these two duets, Mani gAru sang another solo song, "pagalE vennela.. jagamE Uyala".

Then Prabhakar gAru announced a list of winners from the Singing competition program - Vijay Vemuri (my friend and he sang the song, "nA hrudayamlO nidurinchE cheli" from ArAdhana), Rudranadha Babu Movva (my cousin and he sang the song, "ekkaDa unnA.. EmainA" from muraLee KrishNa) and Himaja Movva (Babu's 10 year old daughter and she sang the song, "mOhana rAgamaha" from mahAmantri timmarusu) won the first, second and special catergory prizes respectively. In particular, he blessed Himaja and termed her a child prodigy. Incidentally all these three winners are the regular participants of the ChimataMusic's gAnA-bhajAnA programs (which we hold at least once or twice a year in the silicon valley at one of our houses)

================== 20 minute -break for Dinner======================
During the break, some touchy video clippings (of how Vegensa foundation is helping out the needy handicapped kids by offering shelter and education) were shown. Vamsee Rama Raju gAru said that he was fortunate enough to hold a felicitating program (by Vamsee Berkeley Awards) for Ghantasala gAru when he was alive. Chitten Raju gAru explained the details of the Vegesna foundation and the different levels of donations (grand patron, pratron, adopt-a-child etc). Vijaya gAru quickly briefed about the programs that would follow the recess (BATA kids/volunteers' dances for Ghantasala filmy songs, jayadEvuni asTapadulu, jAnapadAlu etc; Another segment of gAna lahari program by Raju Iduri and Gayathri; Comdey Skits; and again the continuation of the gAna lahari program by PrabhAkar and Mani Sastry gArlu).
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After the break, the program started with the dances by the kids and adults ("town pakkakelloddurO" from by kids; "Akulu pOkalu ivvoddu" from bhAryA biDDalu by adults; "rAjasEkharA.. neepai mOju" from anArkali by kids; and "nilaparO bullODA" song from vleugu neeDalu by all 3 & 4 old kids).

Next Vijaya gAru introduced Raju Iduri gAru as apara Ghantasala and the local female singer, Gayatri whose voice closely resembles the voices of Jikki and P Leela. Raju gAru started the second segment of the gana lahari program with the song"bhalE manchi rOju". Then he reminisced that he himself wrote (and composed) a seesa padyam in the memory of Ghantasala, when the latter passed away in 1974 and he called it "Ghantasala pATala pallavula mAlika" and that he had presented the song to Pendyala gAru and the latter liked it very much and complimented him on that the padyam. He sang the padyam that contained words like 'jagamE maya', 'manasu gati intE', 'bahudUrapu bATasAri', 'tETa tETa telugu' and ended with the line, "gAna madhura Seela.. Ghantasala". Next, Gayatri gAru joined him for the duet, "chUpulu kalisina SubhavELa". Then Raju gAru again sang a solo song, "vagala rANivi neevE". Following that song, raju gAru asked the audiences if they would like to request any other popular song and then upon the audiences' request, they sang the duet, "Uhau gusa gusalADE" again from bandipOTu. He then sang three other solo songs ("palleku pOdAm..pArunu chUddAm", "niluvavE vAlu kanula dAnA"; and a jAnapada padyam, "chUchedavElanO praNaya sundari") before the second segment ended.

Then kids' dances started for the songs, chengAvi rangu cheera and a JayadEvuni asTapadi, rAdhikA krishNA. krishNA rAdhikA. Vijaya gAru introduced the BATA Executive committee at this point and the BATA President, Yugandhar Reddy went over the BATA's involvement in the non-profit, fund-raising events. Then the President-Elect of TANA, Sri Jayaram Komati gAru spoke a few nice words about the Vegesna Foundation and requested all the bay area folks to give the organization a big hand by generous donations. He generously pledged $5,000.00 and he requested all the audiences not to let the organizers go back home with a disappointment. Then he handed over the mementos to the event's sponsors. Chitten Raju gAru announced that a total of around $15,000.00 were collected/pledged from the audiences and he thanked all the donors for their generous contributions. ChimataMusic.com pledged $250.00 for the "Adopt-a-disabled-a-year" program.

Then during the third segment of the gAna lahari program, Prabhakar gAru first sang "rasikarAja.. taguvAramu kAmA" and the Mani gAru joined him for next two duets, "kalavaramAye madilO" and "himagiri sogasulu".

Vijaya gAru asked the audiences to guess which was the most popular jAnapadam/mass song of Ghantasala gAru and the audiences cheerfully chanted the song, "mAma..mAma.. mAma" and then some kids danced for "mAma, mAma" and some adults for "mA vULLO oka paDuchundi" songs. Vijaya gAru talked about the "Telugu Studies Initiative Academic Program at the local Univ. of Calif., Berkeley" and mentioned that Prof. Vemuri Rao gAru was hithero able to raise up to $220,000.00 for the program and the program would need more donations to keep going forward to maintain a full time dean and a full time professor for the program.

Then a comedy skit by BATA folks, Kalyan Kattamuri and Venkat Sastry was perfomed. The title of the skit was "perugannam - the curd rice", a parody on Telugu movies (with two characters that aspire to become a hero and a director). Kalyan is very popular in the bay area with multi-faceted skills such as comedy skits (writing, directing and acting), mimicry, singing and dancing and it is not at all an exaggerative statement that some people just attend the BATA programs for watching his comedy skits.


The final part of the program then ensued and Prabhakar and Mani gArlu sang the song, "hAyi hAyigA Amani sAgE". Then Mani gAru said that she enjoyed singing in this event and that she would like sing one of her favorite songs, though a karaoke track was not available for the song. She melodiously sang the song, "manasuna mallela mAlalUgenE". Prabhakar gAru sang a requested song, "kala kAnidi.. viluvainadi" and as a grand finale of the show, he concluded the program with the syAmalA danDakam (mAnikya veeNam..) from mahAkavi kALidAsu. The program exactly ended at 10: 00 PM.

The pleasant surprise pack of the program is Mani Sastry gAru and she enthralled the audiences with her mellifluous voice and her voice is still haunting me I am happy to learn that she is a regular visitor of our site, ChimataMusic.com and we wish she would come to the silicon valley on an often basis to sing many more songs in the future Telugu concerts. I felt immensely happy with the program and it reminded the Balu program that was held almost a year ago here in the silicon valley.


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List of all songs sung by Prabhakar and Mani Sastry:

1. madi sAradA dEvi mandiramE from jayabhEri (1958)
2. meera jAlagalaDA.. nA yAnati from Srikrishna tulAbAram (1966)
3. telisindilE.. telisindilE from rAmuDu-bheemuDu (1964)
4. chiTapaTa chinukulu paDutU unTE from Atma balam (1964)
5. nA hrudayamlO nidurinchE cheli from Aradhana (1962)
6. manasE andAla brundAvanam from manchi kuTumbam (1968)
7. ee pagalu rEyigA from siri sampadalu (1962)
8. rEpanTi rUpam ganTi from manchi-cheDu (1963)
9. pagalE vennela.. jagamE Uyala from pUjA phalam (1964)
10. rasikarAja.. taguvAramu kAmA from jayabhEri (1958)
11. kalavaramAye madilO from pAtALa bhairavi (1951)
12. himagiri sogasulu from pAnDava vanavAsam (1965)
13. hAyi hAyigA Amani sAgE from suvarNa sundari (1957)
14. manasuna mallela mAlalUgenE from malleeswari (1951)
15. kala kAnidi.. viluvainadi from velugu neeDalu (1961)
16. mANikya veeNam.. from mahAkavi kALidAsu (1960)




List of all songs sung by Raju Iduri and Gayatri Avvari:

1. bhalE manchi rOju from jarigina katha (1969)
2 a seesa padyam on Ghantasala (written and composed by Raju gAru in 1974)
3. chUpulu kalisina SubhavELa from mAyA bazAr (1957)
4. vagala rANivi neevE from bandipOTu (1963)
5. Uhalu gusa gusalADE from bandipOTu (1963)
6. palleku pOdAm..pArunu chUddAm from dEvadAu (1953)
7. niluvavE vAlu kanula dAnA from illarikam (1959)
8. chUchedavElanO.. praNaya sundari, a jAnapada padyam
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Related Links:

1. Vegesna Foundation --> http://www.vegesna-foundation.org
2. Mani Sastry --> http://manisastry.com
3. Bay Area Telugu Association --> http://bata.org
4. A detailed report on SP Balu's Silicon Valley Concert (2006)
--> http://www.chimatamusic.net/db/viewtopic.php?p=569#569

[vbhagavathula]

Bavundi! Kallaku kattinattu rasavu.

Cheers
Venu

[manisastry]

Thank you so much for your detailed report Sir...
It is music lovers and supporters like you that keep the music alive...
It was a pleasure to meet you at BATA. Please keep in touch.

Mani Sastry

[schimata2]

[ravisekharj]

I live in UAE. I regularly visit this site to listen the melodious songs of golder era. Regarding this program, the narration was so nice.
My hearty congrats to the winners and participants.

A REQUEST:

Like you all music lovers meet there in US, i am also interested to involve in GANA BHAJANA way here in Dubai/Sharjah. I request those people who love the songs of 1970s-80s from this area, for coordinate ourselves to have music programs. Feel free to contact ravisekharj@rediffmail.com
_________________
Padutha theeyaga

[rkonda99]

Wanted to share the following press release (from BATA team):

http://www.eenadu.net/story.asp?qry1=1&reccount=30
http://news.bharatfamily.com/community/Deepavali_bata.php
http://www.greatandhra.com/ganews/viewnews.php?id=3819&cat=10&scat=25
http://www.totaltollywood.com/news/ttnews1711.html
http://www.telugucinema.com/c/publish/news/bata_nov12.php
Pictures from the event: http://bata.org/2007events/diwali/photos/

[vemurivijay]

Srini,
All the pains you have taken to detail the event (Ghantasaala Aaaradhanotsavalu) really show up. Great work.