An Evening to Cherish – KK Live In Concert

When you do a "cross country" trip from Whitefield to Malleswaram braving peak hour Bangalore traffic on a Friday evening, after a hectic day at work, you expect that the outcome better be good enough to compensate for all the trouble. True to the expectations, it turned out to be a magical eveningwith ace Bollywood singer KK aka "Ekalavya"pouring out hit after hit from his amazing reportoire. As every other programme in our country, this too started late, but then it was too much to expect people to turn up at 7PM on a working day. Unlike many other celebrity concerts where lesser known singers set the stage for the prima donnas, KK and his team of musicians got down to business right after the introductions. KK, attired in a T-Shirt, Jeans and a jacket, appeared well groomed as any performer should be. It is a put-off for me to see a presenter/performer turning out shabbily for an event. (Such things do happen)

The opening was with a beautiful prayer – "Tu Aashiqui Hai" from Jhankar Beats and that set the tone for the rest of the evening. He seamlessly flowed on from one song to another with practically no breaks in between songs. There was not one boring moment in the concert that spanned over 2 hours with hits like "Dil Kyun Yeh Mera", "Zindagi Do Pal Ki", "Tadap Tadap", "Yaaron", "Khuda Jaane", "Aawarapan", "Aajkal", "Sach Kah Raha Hai", "Dil Khudgarz" and many more. There was a special dedication song to the fairer sex – "Aankho Mein Teri", with KK requesting all males to desist from singing along. :-). My all time KK favourites are "Yaaron", the ultimate tribute to friendship and "Tadap Tadap", the cry of the broken heart, for they invoke a lot of emotions in my heart. "Yaaron" was dedicated to all of KK's old friends and the new ones he met in Bangalore – that is, all of us and each stanza was rendered in a different style. "Tadap Tadap" was given a special treatment:After the interval only KK and piano/harmonium player Rajput came on stage and did a jugalbandhi that had the audience spellbound.The concert reached its crescendo with "Koi Kahe" from Dil Chahta Hai, after which KK started thanking the audience and organizers as if to end the programme on a high note. But how can a KK concert be complete without "Pal"? The audience were on their feet asking for "Pal" and of course, KK obliged.

Next to KK's unmatched voice, many of the songs were enriched by the beautiful harmonium music pieces by Rajput. The harmonium, one of my personal favourites, has a "raw" feel that one does not hear from a piano or a synthesizer.

There are a few aspects that make a live concert memorable and worth the money and time. First and foremost, the improvisations and nuances that the singer introduces in real time make the rendition refreshingly different from the original score one has heard many times over. Then come the tidbits about the origin of the song, the anecdotes with music directors, directors and lyricists, the personal favourites of the singer etc. The interaction between the singer and his team with each feeding of the others' energy is a great treat to the senses. Finally, the audience interaction, where the singer encourages the audience to sing along or complete the lines. On all these counts this concert scored very high.

KK has a powerful voice, yet he introduces subtle nuances that take the songs to a new level. His greatest strength however is in conveying the right emotion of the song to the audience. He credits this to his continuos self-tutelage, listening to Kishore Kumar, the king of emotional songs. Many a time during the concert he kept mentioning his friends in Delhi and at one point, came down to the audience and made his friend sing along a couple of lines in the microphone. No wonder, why "Yaaron" sounds so real and touching. He recounted experiences with Rajesh Roshan, Preetam and Mahesh Bhat and how they extracted the best performances out of him.

For almost the entire concert, the audience including me was singing along and it did not feel like an intrusion at all.The applause was in shouts, claps and screams of "I love you KK" from the audience.

A few words about the show presentation. It was interesting that the concert of one of my favourite singers was compered by my favourite RJ – Shradda. Her show is called "Mad Mornings", but what she does is to soothe the nerves in the mad mornings when millions jostle to get to work. It was great to see her purveying the same humour and energy on stage as she does in the studio.

In all, a musical evening to remember for a life time, thanks to KK and his band of musicians. One left with the feeling of "Dil Maange More", a famous KK jingle.

PS: Music, it is said, has great healing power. Yes, it did cure me of my stress yesterday and cured me of my laziness, enough to write this review, today