As Bollywood music lovers waited in a long line outside Berklee Performance Arts Centre on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston on the cold night of Tuesday, Dec 13, there was expectancy, excitement and anticipation in the air. Shortly after 8pm, the President of Berklee College of Music, Roger Brown welcomed the audience in the packed auditorium inviting them to celebrate the 5^th year anniversary of the Berklee India Exchange program led by Managing Director Clint Valladeres and founder of the program, Annette Philip. He gave an eloquent introduction of the featured artist, the versatile musician and composer Shankar Mahadevan, praising the artist for his brilliance, humility and mastery of craft. Likening him to Nobel Prize winners Rabindranath Tagore and Bob Dylan, he said “Shankar is a renaissance man. His music resonates with the Berklee community and throughout the world!”

Annette Philip and Clint Valladeres dedicated the evening’s program to the memory of the mother of a Berklee Indian ensemble member named Swara.  Swara’s mother had passed away two days before the show.  Against a background of gentle piano and flute music, a sweet female voice arose to sing the prayer song “Soor Niraagas Ho” from the 2015 release Bollywood movie Katyar Kalijat Ghusli, which had music composed by the trio Shankar-Ehsan-Loy.  Holding lighted lamps in the palms of their hands, a dozen young men and women singers dressed in festive red and white Indian garments walked through the aisles of the auditorium to ascend the stage where several instrumentalists and vocalists had already taken position. Lights dimmed and Shankar Mahadevan appeared on the stage to join the prayer by singing the Sanskrit shloka “Vakratunda Mahakaya” in praise of Lord Ganesha to request for an auspicious beginning. In a quick and seamless transition he moved on to sing “Mana Mandira”, another raga based song from the same Marathi movie in his signature mellifluous voice that traversed melodic passages with great ease. He was greeted with instant applause from the audience. The artist had a powerful stage presence and surrounded by more than two dozen elegantly dressed young musicians, the opening act created a tremendous impact.

Shankar Mahadevan addressed the audience with words of praise for the Berklee Indian Ensemble. “I have been here for the last two days and it has been an overwhelming experience. I was pleasantly surprised and happy to see students who have become used to perfection. It is very rare to see that. In some ways I am senior to them, both in age and number of years I have spent in the entertainment industry and I extend my blessings and good wishes to them so that they get out and become the best musicians in the world.”

Between the crisp delivery of Hindustani aakaar alaaps and Carnatic style taanam, swift sargam taans, recitations of rhythmic tarana and percussion syllables, folk songs from the western regions of India, popular movie songs in multiple regional Indian languages as well as expertly choreographed movement and acting by the performers on the stage, Shankar Mahadevan and the Berklee Indian Ensemble kept up a high order of energy and momentum throughout the two and half hour long performance that ended around 11pm. Two out of the seventeen songs presented in the evening featured classical Kathak dance choreographed by the renowned Birju Maharaj and presented by Meera Seshadri as well as a film dance to the Bollywood hit song “Kajrare Kajrare” by Swati Tiwari. Stage, lights, sound management and computer projection on a large screen backdrop were managed efficiently at the show which was streamed live over the internet. Drawing inspiration from the music, painter Vilas Nayak from Bengaluru, India painted two large, colorful portraits , one of Shankar Mahadevan and the other of a Kathakali dancer’s face, in a matter of minutes right on the stage. The paintings were auctioned off and the winners of the auction Suraiyya Sheikh and Shamoyita Mukherjee were announced towards the end of the show.

Shankar Mahadevan, whose prodigious musical talent is well acknowledged and recognized by stalwart musicians, music lovers and connoisseurs alike, gave a compelling performance at the show. The Berklee Indian Ensemble led by vocalist and pianist Annette Philip deserves special mention for presenting a commendable performance that brought great joy to the audience. The instrumental accompaniment by young musicians in particular was noteworthy. That a lot of thoughtful planning and sustained effort went into preparing for the performance was apparent throughout the program. There was a wide variety in the instruments on stage and many of the ensemble musicians presented excellent solo improvisations. A vocal trio that included ensemble’s teacher Annette presented a delightful Bollywood song “Khwabon ke parinde” from the movie “Zindagi na milegi dobaara” to the accompaniment of jazz style piano by Ron Cha, a student who has recently received the Berklee college A. R. Rahman full tuition scholarship. Shankar Mahadevan also sang one of Berklee alumnus, Sashank Navaladi’s original compositions at the show. 

A couple of jazz numbers involving complex Indian solfege sequences and shift of tonic notes, originally composed and presented by the famed Shakti band were presented in a confident and spirited manner by a team of five terrific instrumentalists as well as Berklee Indian Ensemble alumnus, vocalist Rohit Jayaraman along with Shankar Mahadevan.   To listen to Indian classical music adapted to a Jazz style arrangement made the evening’s offering interesting to a wide audience and put a spotlight on the talent and potential of the students attending Berklee India Exchange program. Shankar Mahadevan sang a medley of Tamil songs composed by legendary composer and music director A.R Rahman. He did a masterful job of involving the audience in group singing in the last song Tandaanum. His rendition of the Sanskrit shanti mantra “Asato Ma Sadgamaya” along with the vocalists of Berklee Indian Ensemble in the memory of the demise of ensemble member Swara’s mother brought the evening’s performance to a poignant and uplifting close.

Shankar Mahadevan’s unflinching faith in the innate talents and hard work over several months by the Berklee Indian Ensemble under the guidance of Annette Philip and Rohit Jayaraman led the evening’s performance to be of stellar quality. Mahadevan’s extraordinary musical skills, stage presence, sincerity to his art, deep humility and fantastic ability to converse with the audience made the evening a magical experience for the performers as well as the concert attendees. .  “This was the best concert I have attended and I was blown away by the talent at Berklee College of Music” said concert attendee Parul Mathur echoing the sentiment of many members of the audience.  Lokvani congratulates Shankar Mahadevan, all the performers, logistics and publicity team, back stage crew and Berklee College management and organizers for this memorable program.

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