Singer Shreya Ghoshal on 9-City Concert Tour
She came, she sang and she won the hearts and souls of thousands of music lovers. Bollywood singer Shreya Ghoshal gave three back-to back concerts in New York; Charlotte, N.C.; and Columbus, Ohio, as part of a nine-city tour organized by the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI).
She performed for more than three hours at the Colden Auditorium at Queens College in Flushing, N.Y., on Sept. 22, according to a press release from AAPI. The performance was preceded on Sept. 21 by concert in Charlotte and followed by another on Sept. 23 in Columbus.
“I sing my most favorite songs whenever I sing in New York,” Ghoshal told the audience. She dedicated several songs to legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar, calling her an inspiration.
Jeffrey Iqbal, the winner of the “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” contest in 2009, also performed, singing and dancing to some fast-moving numbers in Hindi and Punjabi as the audience joined in. Up and coming singer Prithvi Gandharva also joined Ghoshal for some of the numbers.
At the event, Dr. Narendra Kumar, president of AAPI, said the objective of organizing the singer’s tour was to strengthen the relationship between AAPI chapters and the national office.
“The concept of this program to bring together various local chapters and its nearly 100,000 members and fellows closer has been in my mind for several years,” he is quoted as saying in the release.
Prominent among the local chapters of AAPI is the Federation of AAPI of Greater New York and New Jersey, which is the co-sponsor of the New York concert. Among the founding members of the N.Y./N.J chapter are Dr. Sudhir M. Parikh, recipient of the Padma Shri award, (who also served as its first president), Dr. Narendra Hadpawat, Dr. Virender Sethi, Dr. Dayanand Naik and Dr. Shashi Shah. With a membership of over 1,500, the Federation of AAPI continues to play a key role in the national affairs of AAPI.
After winning the reality TV show contest “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” more than 10 years ago, Ghoshal’s popularity has only grown. The 28-year old has won four National Awards, five Filmfare Awards, five Screen Awards and five awards from the International Indian Film Academy, and has worked in more than 180 films.
“I have a Ph.D. in romance,” she told her New York audience. “My heart is melting away in romance for the love of music and the audience who are very close to my heart. For it’s you who are my inspiration and motivation to give my best.”
Her fans screamed, clapped and sang with her several times during the concert. When the audience asked for songs in all languages, Ghoshal sang a few lines in Malayalam, a song in Bengali, and then went back to Hindi, where she was most at ease. After mesmerizing thousands of music lovers in New York, Ghoshal performed at a sold-out concert in Columbus.
The event was organized by Drs. Gautam Samadder and Suri Suresh; the Charlotte event was coordinated by Drs. Sarjoo Bhagia and Nimish Patel; the one in New York was coordinated by Drs. Ajay Lodha and Dharmi Kanuga, according to the press release.
Ghoshal is also scheduled to perform in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 28, an event coordinated by Dr. Aravind Pillai and Vraj Panara. The Houston concert on Sept. 29th is being led by Drs. Nik Nikam, Freemu Varghese and Kulwinder Bajwa.
In Atlanta, the musical night on September 30 is being coordinated by Sudhakar Jonnalagadda. The Washington, D.C., event on Oct. 5 is led by Sudhir Seksharia and Nayan Shah, while the Dallas event on Oct. 6 is led by Drs. Srinivas Gunukula, Sridhar Korsapati, Srini Potluri, and Shabhnam Mudgil.
The last leg of the tour is on Oct. 7 in San Jose, Calif, organized by Drs. Hemant Dhingra and Akhil Wadhera.
newsindia-times.com – Oct 03, 2012
