Mark Premji has become synonymous with bringing excellent shows to the city of Atlanta and has hit bull’s eye again with the Sonu Nigam-Jaspinder Narula Concert held on 16th February at the World Congress Center.
Sonu Nigam, the 26-year-old sensation from Faridabad, left home at 18 to pursue his dream of becoming a singer. He had to struggle for a while, trying to study by correspondence courses, doing bit roles in films to make ends meet and trying to get a break in Bollywood’s music industry. He finally hit it big with his song, Acha sila diya tune mere pyar ka” from the movie “ Bewafa Sanam”. Perhaps more than his music, it was the popular TV show “Saregama” that turned him in to a TV icon. Now with private albums, the cream of the music directors wooing him to sing for them, a budding movie career, live shows, fame, fortune and a special woman with whom he plans to tie the knot next year, Sonu Nigam has it all.
Jaspinder Narula
Jaspinder Narula sang from the cradle. An amazingly gifted artist with a powerful voice that seems too big for her petite frame, Jaspinder, who is pursuing her Ph.D. degree in music from Delhi University, remained an incredibly underrated artist until Ustad Amjad Ali Khan took her under his wing and introduce her to Kalyanji-Anandji.
It was not until 1997 that she hit the big time with a song in “Virasaat” and then “ Pyaar to hona hi tha” with Remo Fernandes which made her a superstar overnight. She hasn’t looked back since then.
The concert in Atlanta almost didn’t happen because of heavy rainfall, swirling winds, broken trees and downed power lines and a tornado watch. It speaks volumes about the popularity of Sonu Nigam, that people braved the storm and showed up making it a sold out concert.
The program began with a famous Sanskrit shloka paying homage to lord Ganesha, and a medley of lilting film songs by the very talented seven-man orchestra, before Sunil Pal, the stand up comedian cum compere, walked in and invited the leader of the orchestra, guitarist Tariq Alexander, to sing a couple of songs. Tariq gave an excellent rendition of “ Ik pal ka jeena” and played his guitar equally well. He was followed by a pleasant rendition of “ Raat ka sama” and “ Mehboob Mere” by Sneha Pant, a young debutante who had recently won the vocal musical competition in the youth section in “Saregama”.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was Micky Narula, the younger, good looking and effervescent brother of Jaspinder Narula. Micky who co-composed Jaspinder’s successful album “ Hal Muridan da Kehna” (an album of shabads by Guru Gobind Singh) with his father and has made his debut as a music director in a movie, walked on stage in silver and black leather ensemble and started with the famous song “Dekha na hai re socha na”, from Amitabh Bachchan’s hit “DON”. Micky then went on to sing “Kaho na pyar hai”with Sneha Pant. Micky is an excellent singer and dancer with great stage presence, and his total lack of inhibition and the fact that he really seemed to be enjoying himself rubbed off on the appreciative audience.
Micky Narula
About an hour into the show, resplendent in a purple and silver ensemble, her hip length hair colored an auburn blonde, Jaspinder Narula walked in to loud applause. She started with the popular “Otashi Anata” number from “Aa ab laut chalen” to her very popular” Munda tu hai Punjabi Sona” from her private album, and the equally popular” Kudi Kunwari tere niche niche, jaata kahan hai soneya”. She was amused by the laid back Atlanta crowd and at their slow applause, “ We have come all the way from India to perform for you, toh clap karne mein kanjoosi kyon kartey hain?”( why are you stingy with your applause.) She received loud applause for that one.
She then went on to sing the song “for which I received so much of your love and I want to sing that song for you”. She was of course referring to her block buster number, “Pyar to hona hi Tha”. Jaspinder can qualify as the lady Pavarotti of Indian music. Her voice is tremendously powerful and she can raise it to amazing heights as she went on to belt the number with gusto and vigor.
Soon after it was time for the man every one had been waiting for. Introduced as the consummate artist, consummate showman, Sonu Nigam did not disappoint as he emerged from behind a montage of several blocks that when joined together create a picture of him., to the soft rendition of “Ai mere watan” from “Fiza” in the background.
In an all black ensemble, sporting a longer curly hairdo with streaks in the front (my hairdresser Aleem thought it would look nice and I’m enjoying the change’) he started with the melodious, “ Ai chand teri chandni ki kasam” from “Tera Jadoo Chal gaya”. He then paused to thank the audience for braving the elements and for making the show a success.“ We came out at around 9 or so and were very scared when we saw barely a few people. Thank you for coming in such large numbers and making the show a success.”
There were some members of the audience who seemed drunk and were being loud and obnoxious asking for fast , hungama numbers. With amazing patience and charm, Sonu said, “let me sing some quality numbers first. Since 1999, when I visited Atlanta, I have been fortunate enough to record some great songs. Phir main apni aukaat mein aa jaoonga (then I will revert back to being my real self).”
Sonu then regaled the audience with numbers from “Sunghursh” and “Vaastav”, and did an outstanding job of the number “Fiza”, his voice as honeyed and as velvety, soothing and soaring with effortless ease. Not only has his voice an amazing range, it has incredible sweetness like Rafi, a man Sonu has idolized and tried copying in the early stages before carving his own identity. Combined with that is his excellent stage presence, his ability to interact with the audience with great humor and wit. He would often ask people for applause and jokingly chide the Atlanta audience, “ I know it is SUCH an effort to clap.. first you have to raise one hand, then the other hand, then join them and then hit them against each other..ab kaun karey itna kaam.” He would also jokingly call out to the jam-packed crowd in the balcony to cheer loudly, “we always depend on the people from the balcony,” and the crowd above roared in approval.
After “ Fiza”, Sonu obliged the loud members of the audience and sang the title song from his private album, “ Deewana” before inviting Sneha Pant to sing the popular duet, “Ruki ruki si zindagi” from the movie “Mast”. Sonu replicated the sound of a moving train engine rather adeptly with his mouth, and of course on getting the applause, said mischievously “lagta hai ab aap log mood mein aa rahe hain”. He went on to then sing, “Tu yaar tu hi dildar”, and “Sharmana chod de,” both of which went down very well with the audience. He was accompanied by a troupe of excellent dancers, youngsters who said they practice non stop from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. for weeks before they start the tour, and that hard work transformed on to the stage in amazing grace and rhythm.
Sonu then went on to perform some excellent dance numbers to special effects. An amazing singer, an excellent communicator and dancer make him a complete entertainment package. After the strenuous gyrations it was time for Sonu and his dancers to take a break and Sunil Pal, changed hats and did an excellent comic routine, from cracking some hilarious jokes to mimicry of various movie stars, an act which is always a great success with the audience. He did impeccable imitations of Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Kamal Hassan, K.L. Sehgal, S.D. Burman, Mahendra Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Amitabh Bachchan to name a few. He was very well received and then reverted back to being the MC and introduced Sonu Nigam’s father, Mr. Agam Kumar, who performed in mehfils and stage shows but has never pursued a film career. Agam Kumar rendered three beautiful classics of Rafi’s, “ Rang aur noor Ki baraat kise pesh karoon”, “Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hai,” and “ Yeh Duniya, yeh mehfil Mere Kaam Ki nahin’. It was extremely distasteful to see some members of the audience get up and start filing out at this point..not only is it a distraction but also extremely disrespectful for a performer and I hope people from Atlanta will have the good manners to abstain from this in the future. It also casts a reflection on the people themselves. Agam Kumar sang the songs extremely well, and one could see where Sonu has inherited his talent.
Sonu returned to the stage once again, belting out and dancing to “ Tu hi Tu” and “Bijuria”, his latest hit from his new private album.
Dressed in a black outfit with brother Micky in a clinging gray T-shirt and jeans, Jaspinder returned to belt out some fast paced duets like” Hata sawan ki ghata” “ Tujhe dekh ke dil mera dole mere dil ki dhadkan bole”. Micky set the stage alight with non stop dancing and singing, not losing a step or his breath for a moment.
Sonu Nigam followed soon after in an eye boggling red leather pants (a hangover from Valentine’s day perhaps!) and a shimmering black shirt, starting with the title song from the movie “Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani”. Sonu then paused to announce that Mark Premji had pledged fifty percent of the proceeds from the show to go for the earthquake victims in Gujarat and adjoining villages in Pakistan, and how he himself had been so moved by the devastation, having left for USA a day before. A loud mouth from the audience who shouted an anti Pakistan slur was put firmly in his place by Sonu, who sternly pointed out that “We have no enmity with anyone , and we will always help anyone in need, and devastation knew no boundaries and neither did humanity”. There was a very loud appreciative applause and the loud mouth backed off.
Sonu then shut up a bunch of drunk men who asked he sing in gujarati, and he did and then surprised another heckler who asked for a tamil number by humming a few lines in tamil, before switching gears and saying that he wanted to sing a couple of quality songs, and wanted the audience to cooperate. He sweetly told another heckler, “ab aap chup ho jayiye”.
Sonu, who has not trained very seriously in classical music, is now taking lessons and the difference was evident in his amazing rendition of the two popular numbers “ Panchi nadiya pawan ke jhonke” and “ Aisa lagta hai” from “Refugee”. He sang in dimmed lights, with soft strumming by his orchestra, just his voice all honey sweet, velvety, soaring melodiously to greater heights as he added little classical twists and touches in each line. There was pin drop silence.
The audience sat mesmerized until he switched gears and belted out fast numbers with Jaspinder Narula “Ankiyon se goli mare” and “Sona Sona”, which had everyone dancing on and off stage. The show went on well past 1.30 a.m. and every single performer sang and danced their heart out. There was not one moment of boredom. An amazing night of melody, rhythm, and special effects and as the saying goes of “paisa wasool.”