Shaking a leg: Members of the audience dance with Chinmayi (left) at the Hindi Retro show at The Hindu Friday Review November Fest in Coimbatore on Friday.
Coimbatoreans simply love it. The excitement for The Hindu Friday Review November Fest has been building up over the week. The office has been flooded with telephone calls and mails for programme details and tickets. The concerts have been a sell out. The venue of the event, the Corporation Kalaiarangam, has been teeming with music enthusiasts. The programme begins at 7.15 p.m. but people trickle in much earlier than that.
On Day One on November 25, Aruna Sairam owned the inaugural concert with her soul stirring abhangs. “I wanted to meet Mrs. Sairam, but I dared not do it, as I am sure I would have wept if I came face to face with her,” says Srividya Sivakumar, a young CAT trainer.
Sumitra from Singanallur echoes that sentiment. She has called the office to ‘thank' them for the programme. Connoisseurs of music in the city are delighted with the range of concerts.
Says Geetha Balasubramanian, a Hindustani classical music singer and a veena player, “This festival is a long-awaited one in Coimbatore. And, so far, this has been the best I have ever seen in the city. The artistes who are performing here are some of the finest in the country. And, we hope to have more such events to look forward to.”
The Hindi Retro event on Day Two (November 26) was as much a hit as the abhangs. The lines outside the auditorium are longer than ever. The excitement is palpable. Nothing like live Hindi film music from the 1950s, 1960s and the 1970s to set the mood.
And, when it is to be with a live orchestra, it is party time. Even those with no knowledge of Hindi, enjoy the experience. “The mood is awesome,” says Ram Kumar a young engineering student. “I am not familiar with the songs, but I totally dig the music,” he adds.
The orchestra is the hero of the day. The string instruments, the sax, the drums and other percussion instruments cast a spell.
“We could see the orchestra was enjoying the music as much as we were enjoying their playing,” says Bulbul Vania, who runs a pre-school.
Anand Rao, a Hindi music buff is all praise for the orchestra too. “They made fantastic music,” he says.
The Hindi Retro show caught the audience's attention almost immediately. The many senior citizens in the hall exclaimed appreciatively as the first song was one of Saigal's.
The singers, Srinivas, Haricharan, Chinmayi and Swetha Mohan, take the place by storm as they belt out one great Hindi hit after another.
Till, in the end, unable to contain their excitement, there is a spontaneous outbreak of dance. Young and old come out of their seats and dance their hearts out. They were loath to letting the singers wind up their act.
As if the Retro was not enough, the city prepared for Day Three (contemporary fusion by Sudha Raghunathan and Amit Pheri) and Day Four (Osibisa).
“Thank you,” says Bindu a social worker. And Sujata K. concludes, “I wish every day of mine would end this way.”
