Shining Seventies - Musical Evening with SPB and Lakshman Shruti

The evening held a musical treat what with SPB, Shylaja, SPBCharan and Gopika singing melodies from the seventies -- when flowery phrases and trumpets and bongos ruled the roost!! Musical support was by the Lakshman Shruthi Orchestra.

A beautiful list of Melodies carefully chosen and pre-rehearsed... (SPB, who designed the show, worked at making the list for two whole days, eleven hours each day).. was designed to transport the audience and it did achieve that.

To list some of the songs presented... நான் பேச வந்தேன், அவள் ஒரு நவரச , பூந்தேனில் கலந்து, ஆயிரம் மலர்களே, ராமன் ஆண்டாலும், ஒரே நாள் உன்னை நான், கேட்டதெல்லாம் நான் தருவேன், உன்னை நான் பார்த்தது...all absolutely calculated to bring on the nostalgia.

Shylaja was in form, singing the songs of P Suseela with a flair. Her voice is exceedingly beautiful and holds a hint of sadness that brings involuntary tears to your eyes when you listen. Listening to her I canot help wondering at what a great gift it is to be able to sing.

Kamaraj Arangam resounded to the sound of trumpets and bongos as SPB Charan continued some of the songs sung by his father. His style and tunes where impeccable. He seemed to find some of the songs funny, well, he wasn't even born when the songs were written so what appeared flowery to that generation might well appear fulsome to this young producer.

Many quips and jocular shoulder grazing happened very typically of the SPB genre of humour. Altogether one was glad to have attended the event and left holding a promise from the organisers of a forthcoming Part -2 of the Shining Seventies