“Bollywood and Beyond” Thrills with Kavita, Dr. LS and Talented Local Artists

Symphony in 1

HOUSTON: An outstanding performance, titled “Bollywood and Beyond”, was staged on Friday, April 27 as part of the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival presented by Symphony’s Unlimited of Houston.

The evening started on time by a short welcome address by Dr. Kas Rangan. The Chief Guest, Deputy Consul General Surendra Adhana lighted the lamp and briefly addressed the audience. He reminisced how he had enjoyed listening to Padamashri Kavita Krishnamurthy’s songs when he was growing up and how excited he was in anticipation to hear her sing in a live performance.

Symphony in 2

The evening opened with Dr. Rangan and Raj Vishwakarma both of Symphony’s Unlimited singing Rafi Saheb’s songs and was well received by the audience. Deputy CG Adhana even remarked at the time of leaving that he wasn’t aware about such talented artists in Houston.

Subramania band, led by Bindu and Ambi Subramaniam, followed with three songs “Days in the Sun” and “Let there be” accompanied by Grammy award winner Ernie Watts on saxophone, and Tillana composition by their father. Subramania received thunderous applause and cheers.

Kavitaji walked on the stage next and owned it the moment she set foot on it. She brought the Bollywood angle on it. She thrilled the audience with her multiplatinum hits and a riveting tribute to Sridevi. Everyone enjoyed the tit bits about the recording of her songs and enjoyed her singing R.D. Burman’s Song “Dil Ne Kaha” and others hits like “Bole Chudiyaan” and “Hava Hawaii”.

Symphony in 3

Dr. L. Subramaniam took to the stage with his super hits “Spanish Wave” and “Conversation”. Playing the violin as only he can, he touched everyone’s heartstrings.
Dr. Subramaniam showcased every musician on stage, seamlessly incorporating everyone’s pieces in his performances. The Melody section comprised of well-known artists in their fields such as Jon Webber (piano/keyboard), Vasanth Vaseegaran (keyboard) and ever-entertaining Ritt Henn on base guitar. The musical conversations between LSji’s violin,  Mahesh Krishnamurthy’s mridangam), Suryaksha Deshpande’s tabla, and Meher Chanti’s drums were exciting. Darshak Thakkar (Krishna Sounds) did a very good job in maintaining a very good sound through out the performances.

A delightful surprise to the evening was Mahathi (granddaughter of LSji and Kavitaji) with her cute little presence and performance of Surangani along with her grandparents, stole everyone’s heart

For the grand finale, all the artists, including Mahathi, were on stage and it was a grand finale. All to all it was a well-put together tight program with no lengthy speeches or interruptions. The performances were outstanding and the audience left the auditorium wanting more. Get Ready Houston Symphony’s Unlimited will bring them back in 2019 for yet another mesmerizing show with other internationally acclaimed artists to make the Lakshminarayan Global Festival an even bigger success.