While I try to believe that I have a rather deep understanding of music from different parts of the world, I often find that my scope of knowledge is rather narrow. This show was a great example of this! Asha Bhosle is considered to be one of Indians preeminent cultural icons and has frequently been labeled as the most recorded human in history. She has sung over 11,000 songs, most of them accompanying Bollywood films of a variety of genres. Despite all of that, I had amazingly never heard of her! She first got her start in the 1940's with small films and B-grade pieces. By the 1980's, she had become a household name and had begun to broaden her spectrum of material. Other than film soundtracks, she has also released albums on her own and has even dabbled in acting herself more recently. Her career overall has spanned seven decades and and I think it's simply amazing that she is still touring at the age of 82! She has a tremendous following in India and I quickly realized just how popular and adored she was. Her opener was Falu's Bollywood Orchestra, a similar artist to Bhosle but their songs had a more modern twist and was a bit more upbeat. It was super cool seeing her orchestra combining strings with more rock instruments like electric guitars and drums!
I will admit that Indian music was originally not my favorite but I always enjoy experiencing different kinds of music and I ended up liking both artists by the end! While a lot of the songs did sound similar and I had no idea what they were saying, I could see how carefully constructed each one was and as a musician the complexity of each piece was very impressive. Her vocals, despite her age, were quite strong and she still seemed to be enjoying herself on stage. People of all ages absolutely loved the show and it was really amazing seeing a community come together to witness a cultural figure like her. Simply due to their excitement, it was a bit of a wild show but nothing too bad happened and often times I simply had to get people to dance in the designated area! The weather was so perfect and the people on the lawn were having a grand old time.
While I honestly don't know any of the songs she sang but my favorite part of the show was one of her last songs. It started with a trumpet solo and within 10 seconds everyone was clapping and singing! I'm glad that all her hard work over the past 70 years has paid off!
As always, looking forward to more shows in the future!
DC
One of India's most vibrant stars
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