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ATA Musical Concert a grand success in Dallas

06.04.2011

A nostalgic musical concert with live orchestra, honoring three (hence the name trinity) great music directors of yesteryears - K. V. Mahadevan, Sathyam, and Ilayaraja - was held on the evening of Saturday, June 4, 2011 in Coppell Middle West School Auditorium in Dallas, TX. The event was hosted by America Telugu Association (ATA) in association with Telugu Association of North Texas (TANTEX), and California based ChimataMusic.com. The event was a grand success by all means with an attendance of hundreds People.

The event lasted nearly four hours featuring 26 full length songs. The singers for this concert were: a playback singer, Ramu Maharajapuram (Chennai, India) who is popularly known "Andhra Balu"; prominant singer and president of Houston Telugu Cultural Association, Sarada Akunuri (Houston, TX); popular singer, Deepika Uppuluri (Dayton, OH) of Geetham.com sisters and another well known singer, Narayanan Raju (Bay Area, CA). The musicians for this concert were: Krishanamurthi "Kishmu" Kalvai (Keyboard), Nagaraj Varadharajan (Keyboard), and Farhan Mohamed (Base Guitar) on string based melody; Vinay Dhavala (Flute) and Hollywood product Ramesh Maraj (Saxophone) on wind based melody; Arun "Caddy" Narasimhan (Drumpads) and Makesh Rao (Handsonic) on modern rhythm; and Balaji Mahadevan (Tabla/Dhol/Mridangam/Dafli) and Satya Vaidyanathan (Tabla) on traditional rhythm. All musicians with the exception of Vinay (Minneapolis, MN) are from California and, again with the exception of Ramesh Maraj (Fresno, CA), are from the Bay Area itself.

The program started with Jyothiprajwalana by a former ATA president, Dr. Sandhya Gavva and the singer Smt. Sarada Akunuri, followed by a welcome note from ATA regional coordinator Arvind Reddy. Ramana Juvvadi, the key organizer and anchor of the event, mentioned in his introductory note that the inspiration for hosting this event was to remind everyone of the haunting melodies of the 60's and the 70's which had largely been ignored by the current brand of musicians. He thanked all audience in putting faith in this effort and attending in large numbers and he promised that the talented pool of artists and singers would take everyone back to their college days in the 70s and the 80s. Ramu Maharajapuram , prominent singer and Sarada Akunuri (Houston, TX); popular singer was felicitated by Arvind Reddy Muppidi, ATA Regional coordinator; NMS Reddy, TANTEX President; Prasad Thotakura, Satish Reddy, ATA Trustee; Suresh Reddy, DFW ATA Regional Coordinator; Dr. Sridevi Juvvadi; Dr. Kiran Kancharla; Dr. Madhavi Reddy Muppidi; Dr. Kasturi Inaganti with plaque and flower bouquets on behalf of Organizers. Later all the remaining artists were felicitated with flower bouquets and plaque.

Ramu started the concert with the prayer "vakratunDam mahAkAyam" and thanked the organizers and audience for giving him the opportunity. The concert started with the devotional song "Sankara..Naadasareerapara" from SankarabharaNam movie. The event lasted nearly four hours featuring 26 full length songs. The audience were treated with lovely and entertaining songs and the event ended with vote of thanks from Satish Reddy, ATA board of trustee.