This part of the world transforms itself into heaven from late September till mid-November every year.
My Daughter Riya writes" With the leaves falling off the trees, nature is preparing for those cold winter days. In my opinion, this is an important doctrine. When something becomes obsolete and might need some change, there needs to be a transformation in order to succeed. The leaves fall off as they cannot face the cruel snowstorms. The trees realize this and shed their leaves. This helps them to survive cold winters. Similarly, when a way of life seems to be dull and monotonous, it means that some alteration needs to be introduced. Maybe picking up a new hobby, indulging in a self-care routine, or simply changing your perspective on your current activities. To be successful in tough times, we need to be equipped with the necessary tools."
Thus few friends dispersed across professions but connected by Geographies (CT and India) decided to find this passion that will help us transform and equip us with the warmth that will last winters and cold vagaries of life.
The story starts in the Fall of 2019. Fall time is also Diwali time. In 2019 Diwali we presented a drama with around 40 Children from the age group of 4 till 13. ( Dramayana ) Many enthusiasts around Rocky Hill and adjoining areas have formed a very active desi group name Desis Around Rocky Hill led by Mr and Mrs: Upendra Watve, Durgesh Joshi, Abhijit Vagga, Chinmaey Shende, Amol More, and few others. In 2019, We lived on a different planet as there was no Corona.The play was a great success. During the after-party, a few of us namely yours truly, Kedar Kulkarni, Vinay Padole, and Praful Kulkarni planned to form a group dedicated to enthusiasts. The idea was to help us have a platform to share our passion for music, literature, poetry, and drama. We formed a Whatsapp group. We were joined by around 30 odd people. After fall normally all desis hibernate in these parts of the world. Thus we decided to break this nature-imposed curfew in order to have few musical gatherings' in person': One event was Karaoke and One with live instruments in Dec 19 and Jan 20. And then it all happened as we know how it did in 20...
During the heights of corona days, we had a few online musical meetings, reading sessions. That was great solace during unprecedented times. The bonds of friendship were strengthening over a Smule song shared or recording shared during the lockdown. Summer came in with slight relaxation of lockdown when friends started posting outdoor locations along with songs.
Fall set in as quoted above and nature started offering a very beautiful backdrop for the musical adventures that we had to offer. Diwali was also on the horizon especially with my focus on CTMM Online Drama (Eka Patrachi Online Goshta). And one day late in the evening I discussed the same to Vinay Padole who was the driving force of this group for earlier events, postings, etc after the formation of the Music Group. I always had an idea to present a musical event in form of Firodiya format of Dance, Music theme combo. During discussions, we decided to have songs recorded. Recorded songs also should also have videos These videos could be a program published on social media during Diwali on desis group if agreed. We also decided to record songs/videos capturing nature if possible given that actual live events were ruled out.
They say Bhagirath brought Ganga through his efforts, on a similar note Vinay made Ras Gandharv happen. The making of RasGandharv started that evening. This idea was sounded to a small subgroup which we named CTSangeet. The theme was debated. Based on a suggestion of Mrinal and following the footsteps of Bandish Bandit final contest we decided to capture Navarasas: 9 essences of Emotions. There was a lot of debate, discussions, as usual, we finally selected a song list and singers who could sing them. Vinay and I had a big debate over the issue of whether Shrungaar Rasa should have more songs as compared to the other 8 Rasas. Also, we differed on a few songs not describing that Rasa. Just to note, I had agreed to the majority for some calls. Also, we had an idea to include a new Rasa called Yuva to include next-gen into this. Though the first cut of this list was much different from the final one, there were constant edits/additions/deletions till the last minute. Some changes were defined by singer, some due to theme concept, some by logistics but the end result came out very much as we had planned initially.
Vinay had created a google spreadsheet which was finalized. Vinay had made a project plan for this and implemented everything in a corporate manner. Every member was professional to follow this plan.
To comment on the final selection: Each Rasa was represented wonderfully. Though it was tough for some rasa like Veebhatsa, Karun, and Shanta to really catch that emotion. But we had versatile singers to pull that off. Songs were selected across the Bollywood eras right from the 50s till 2020. The familiarity of the singer to the song and suitability of individual voice was a challenge. Luckily we had experts in Murali, Rasshmi, and Anupriya who had a base classical foundation to guide the rest singers and comment on recordings. The singing part of the album involved a lot of practice from singers. Few weeks were spent on that and a few one-to-one as well as group practice sessions.
Now the most important phase of the album was recording. Each singer had responsible to find a Karaoke track of the song they had been allotted. Those who had quality microphones were to record the mp3. For other Vinay's house turned into a recording studio with this yeti Mic and recording/mixing software. That also involved a lot of management and logistics especially during the corona pandemic with distancing, hygiene norms. We used editing/mixing software to add effects, edit the audio, and later synchronize with Videos and graphics.
Now came the most challenging part of the album: shooting the song. All singers including kids mustered acting/dancing skills. The families supported them. There was a wonderful spirit of friendship to help each other. eg Mukund and Vinay doing videos, Kedar offering services to videography. It was decided to use the beautiful fall colors of New England as a backdrop of the videos which would later take the album to next level. Vinay insisted that each video be shot with a certain resolution. He later added 360deg shooting made available by iPhone XI in many songs. This added an additional dimension to capture the beauty of fall. Each lip-synced video was mixed with recorded audio, added with effects/editing of in between shots, graphics. This was a humungous effort by each individual singer, editors like Vinay, Deepa, Murali, Anupriya, Ashwini. Added to that in the mix were severely logistics issues. My song with Murali: Chatur Naar, as well as Lambi Judaai by Anupriya, was almost canceled due to logistical reasons. But it was due to the insistence of Vinay that the songs were added. Also, some songs were added, edited till the last minute before the final release. Vinay and Deepa had mastered the art of editing/mixing video/audio that they can think of it as an alternate profession. Each individual took the maximum effort to make their song perfect. Varsha's Pinga dance backdrop, Locations in CT and NH, Dance by Deepa, Horror effects by Deepa & Gayatri, Decor during Manasi song, Comedy acting involved in Chatur Naar, Yuva X factor by Swara, Riya and Maithilee, wonderful singing of each singer: It all added to the engagement value. There was a debate over the length of the album but since it was not a live event but youtube archive users can select a song to view that as per his/her convenience. Gayatri shot a wonderful song even in India as she was there during this Diwali. She shot on Aksa beach reminding us of Vatan ki Mitti. There were instrumental performances by Tanmay, Aditya, Murali, and Mrinal.
I took on the responsibility of presenting this album as a host with Deepa. We decided to approach it in light humor instead of heavy information. I used to admire the Old DD program Surabhi by Siddharth Kak and Renuka Shahane. We tried to give that feel. We gave Bollywood touch. We tried to find a movie closer to that Rasa, added humor, twists and tried to make it more entertaining. Except for a few tough Rasas like Veebhatsa and Shant, we were close. We worked on a script and finalized it over zoom. Satish shot us serially for a couple of hours. It was a fun-filled event. We reviewed our narration from my drama colleague Prajakta. It was a memorable event including my recording evening of Chatur Naar and Chaudavi with tips from Murali on singing and Vinay on technology. Though we could not meet as a group to make this happen or even celebrate, all the collaboration done during the Pandemic was another highlight of this entire effort.
The final mention of Ashish who put this all together. Hats off for compiling all these videos, narrations, graphics made by Deepa, Narration videos into the final youtube video.
There was another team called Sangeet Sarita coordinated by Vinay who also made a video describing 9 Rasas. There were some stellar performances and hard work done there as well. Sanket did his shooting despite having to look after a 3-month year old newborn. Amol added new viewer engagement including posters mentioning all films in Mere Jeevan Saathi. Varsha did wonderful mudras explaining 9 Rasas as part of Narration. Praful editing songs.
Both our music albums were released during Diwali. We received many accolades for the quality of videos, singing, hosting, efforts, and concept. It was really a fellowship enjoyed thoroughly by everyone.
New England fall was captured in most of the videos and that is one really differentiating factor. The Diwali mood blended with 9 emotions and presented on a beautiful Fall backdrop is the essence of RasGandharv. The common motif which binds this presentation is the Friendship within this group connected by Music.
Pls See this Video and Comment: RasGandharv
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