Prodigy # 2 ARYA AMBEKAR

After Anweshaa, this little girl, "Punyachi maina" has left a big impression in my mind. I think Maharashtra has been one of the twin regions along with Bengal in preserving, promoting and perpetuating not only classical Hindusthani music, but Maharashstra has preserved and actively been promoting Folk, Natya sangeet too!.
Arya is a class and a rare example of a genius who can sing all the above forms of music with utter ease. She has rendered some of the most memorable songs in Idea Saregamapa Marathi Lil champs this year.

Arya was born in Pune to parents Samir Ambekar, a doctor and Shruti Ambekar, a vocalist who teaches her classical music.

Aarya Ambekar (Marathi: आर्या आंबेकर, born June 16, 1994) was a participant of Marathi Idea SA RE GA MA PA aired on Zee Marathi channel during July 2008-February 2009


In 2008, Aarya auditioned for the Idea Sa Re Ga Ma Little Champs competitive music reality show organized by the Zee Marathi television channel. She was one of final 50 who were selected from amongst several thousand children aged between 8 and 14. She also reached the final 5. During the show, Aarya was popularly referred to as the 'Pretty Young Girl'. Aarya displayed her versatile vocal talent by singing a wide variety of songs in the competition. She created the record of receiving full marks from the judges for two many a times. Aarya created a record when she got Varcha NI (equivalent to 200 %) for her beautifully sung "Paan Khao Saiyyan Hamaro." Renowned singer Hariharan was the celebrity Judge for that episode. She was also awarded performer of the week in numerous episodes. Aarya has won wide appreciation for her voice quality. A particularly memorable song was 'Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo' which she sang in the episode that paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the Mumbai terror attacks. The song brought tears to many a viewers of the episode. She also went on to perform the same song in a public gathering in Shivaji Park, Dadar where Mumbai Police paid tribute to the policemen who lost their lives. Coincidentally the song was originally sung by Lata Mangeshkar after the 1962 India-China War. The song was said to have brought tears to the eyes of many at the time, most notably the then Prime minister of India - Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

During the course of the program, Aarya was also awarded the Manik Varma scholarship. She is one of the youngest to win the prestigious scholarship.

Runner-Up of the Idea Sa Re Ga Ma Little Champs reality-based music competition organized by Zee Marathi.

Acclaim by Idols

Aarya's tremndous depth, outstanding voice quality and sincere grinding labors taken for improving her singing, won her many acclaims from eminent personalities in Music Industry. People who praised Aarya's harmonial journey include Kishori Amonkar, Lata Mangeshkar,Shrinivas Khale,Shruti Sadolikar, Pandit Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Pandit Satyasheel Deshpande, Shridhar Phadake, Suresh Wadkar, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Hariharan (singer), Vijay Ghate, Asha Khadilkar so on so forth.

Albums

PanchaRatna vol. 1,2,3 (Marathi: पंचरत्न भाग 1,2,3) on Universal Music

Some of Her memorable performances

Punya Chi Maina



Awagha Rang Ek Zala



TUJHA USSA LA LAAGALAA KOLHA




Aho Sajana



Ye Ga Ye Ga Vithabai



Yamuna Jali ( Natya Sangeet)

PRODIGY # 1 ANWESHAA DATTA GUPTA

As my personal tribute to her, I open the first writeup on Prodigies with Anweshaa. No singer worth his or her salt could affect my capricornian cold blooded heart as Anweshaa could do with sheer magic in her voice.Not a day passes without my listening to her songs and watching her mesmerizing performance videos.

I am not ashamed to say that Annu's songs brought in a wonderful change in my total personality.If anyone watches her videos on YouTube and takes care to read the comments, he or she would realize that this magical girl has touched the hearts of people throughout the world.

Anweshaa Datta Gupta a singing senseation was born on 15th December 1993 in Bombay.She has music flowing through her veins because her Mother Mita Ji called as "Mita Boudi" by all of us is a very good singer herself. Her father Kushalda describes himself in his own words thus,

"I really wish I could sing !! God has not been benevolent in this regard. I am an ardent music lover - I breath music, I dream music, music is an integral part of my consciousness, my existance. But unfortunately, dada, I cannot sing!"
He,Mita Boudi and Annu are the most unassuming and simple folks you would rarely come across. There is not an iota of false pride or haughiness in any of them and especially Anweshaa who is in total control of herself. Success has never gone to her head and her feet are firmly planted on earth.

Her official fan club on ORKUT describes her thus.

"A musical genius is how one can describe 15 year old Anweshaa with her mesmerizing performances each week at Voice of India,Chotte Ustaad. Here her journey started after which there is no looking back. After all here is an unsurmountable talent known for her soulful singing which conveys every emotion through her melodious voice. Her amazing sense of sur, perfect pitching, voice modulations and her octave shifts mark her singing prowess. A child prodigy who is indeed blessed by Maa Sarawati herself, ANWESHAA is the playback voice of this generation.

Following are my all time favourite videos.

MERE DHOLNA




MAHI VE



MOHIYOSHI




HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM



SHANKAR KORE DAMAROO BAJE




BHOR BHAYE PANAGHAT PE



MORNI BAAGA MA BOLE



MAUSAM KI ADLA BADALI



MAYYA MAYYA GULABI TAARE

Adulation & Fame .....Twin pitfalls for young prodigies

We are in the midst of a communication and information technology taking a quantum jump. Computers have reached every village and the Internet has created an aura and suddenly thrown open the world to every net surfer in every nook and corner of India.

Reality shows like Saregamapa and Star voice of India etc have turned the public into raving crowd which is highly opinionated, regionalized and most of the times polarized. Immediate fallout of this polarization is that singers with support of his or her state wins the contest when the state rallies behind such a contestant who may or may not be a worthy winner.

These singers are so much adulated that old timers like Lata ji or Asha ji etc must be wondering that to be well known by the world, it took them decades and these young kids become world famous overnight. The Internet is a tool which creates overnight heroes and heroines.You would find that Orkut or Face book will host fan clubs for such prodigies and in a short time, the whole world would starts knowing them and adulating them.Such reality shows bring in politicians, ministers , film producers , actors and actresses to bring in more and more public adulation.


This type of instant fame is most often misunderstood by both the young prodigies and their parents and taken advantage of by the TV channel and producers of the reality shows to bind them into a contract and milk them dry of their talent in a short time to make huge quick bucks. Within days of becoming well known , these gifted children are engaged by various associations in their own countries of foreign countries to stage their shows.

I am sad to comment that even the parents of such gifted children have come to know that it is best to make money when the going is good. This is because every year , number of channels host singing reality shows at both India level and regional level and produce another newer set of young talented children ready to challenge the older set of singers.

So every individual except the young child with gifted voice is set to drain the child of his or her last ounce of talent by working him or her day and night by pushing them to attend contests,shows, Programmes, Tamashas, Jalsas, product launches and what not. The shootings go late into nights. The children's tiredness does not figure anywhere. It is the money that is of prime importance.
In short, such wonderful kids are treated as ATMs by the parents, the TV Channel and the producers of the reality show.

Such children have been seen having an early break down or highly disturbed adolescence and spoiled and some times tragic life.
In west, many such young children have been found to have disturbed psyche, drug addiction and withdrawal symptoms once the glitz and glamour leaves them and the world which has a short memory forgets them and starts adulating younger and newer actors and artists.

I will just give the example of Michel Jackson the legend of a pop icon. His father pushed him beyond limits to perform when he was the lead singer as a child . He was often and on physically punished and beaten black and blue when he was too tired to perform.
The result was that Jacko as he was known, lost his childhood completely and the joys that go with childhood. The whole world knows that he could never become an adult mentally and ultimately he had a very disturbed life. He died due to over dose of drugs.
Same thing happened to Dana Plato , the young girl who played Drummond's daughterin that famous TV serial "Different Strokes.
She went into drugs in spite of a successful TV and cinema career and was arrested for armed robbery and ultimately committed suicide at a young age in her thirties.

I would request my readers to read what the following link has to offer about lost childhood of top ten child actors,

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-self-destructive-child-actors.php

Near our home, recently a very young good girl contestant from Bihar Poonam Yadav who starred in a reality singing contest allegedly tried to commit suicide due to failure in not getting break in film playback field.

I want that the parents of our idols that I have mentioned on this blog will read this and take due care to save the childhood of their young children and stop getting them being exploited by money hungry producers and TV channels who do not hesitate from using these gifted children as ATMs.

SaReGaMaPa Lil champs Zee Bangla Results

My heart is always in my mouth when the decider episode of any reality show , especially singing is staged.
Either my knowledge of music is Kaput or some hanky-panky goes on nowadays in declaring the winner. I was stunned when SVOICU 2008 result was announced in the most lopsided manner and a really worthy Anweshaa was relegated to second position to a singer with limited capability but affluant parents.

Same thing happened this Sunday when results of Zee Saregamapa Lil champs (Bangla) was announced. Papri was THE MOST universally loved and appreciated contestant and I could not believe my eyes and ears when the judges announced the result.
Papri the young genius was shoved to third position and Arinjita who is no where near Papri was second and winner was a boy with just good singing capability (but atrocious diction problem) Rahul was declared winner.

I have a lot to say about what went behind the stage and how Papri was mis treated but my friends have cautioned about putting it in print on public domain.
A friend had met with Papri's father and horrible stories have emerged about the whole sordid affair.

But let me assure you Papri, that we in USA are behind you as we are behind Anweshaa and we will go all the way to bring you up.

Papri we love you.

STAR JALSHA...........'RoyalBengal Super Stars'

Anweshaa is one of the participants in the above programme where she, IMHO, is the only star and others are just fireflies. She gave her first performance and sang "Daiya yeh Main Kahaan Aa Fasi".
It is such a great pleasure to see this "Bala Saraswati" perform with abandon after a long long time.
I am eagerly waiting for more of her performances of Star Jalsha.



Eventhough she did a great job as she does , I personally thought that her rendition lacked continuity in places esp. when the octaves are changed. Honestly speaking, something was missing in her rendition.I also think that she sounded over confident.I have heard this song by many singers but I am yet to get the original feel as sung by Ashaji. Twinkle Bajpai did a good job (for continuity)but it is best if one listens to the original also.

And by the way, is it Fasi or Phasi?

Anweshaa....overworked or first symptoms of "Early Burnout"??

Like scores of her avid fans, I was eagerly waiting for Anweshaa's maiden programme in the USA.

She came , she performed and she went back. I saw all her videos of her performance in San Jose. What struck me immediately was that she looked tired and listless with her once cherubic face that oozed out exhuberance , showing tiredness and a type of listlessness which is a rare thing (I have never seen her tired or worried).
Just watch her message to her fans and you would notice "Exhaustion and Listlessness"




But these are not excuses for underpar performance. She has set a level of singing which is supreme in our minds and anything less than that , is unacceptable by her fans. Just watch the videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfLTyHslBws

What I can surmise from all the videos is that she has been over burdened both by her busy schedule during the last two months and also I think she is a "victim of her own genius". Pressure to perform best is telling upon this little girl and she performed below par (from her set standard) .

I had talked to her as well as Kushal da,her father, when I had talked to them last year precisely about such burnouts in my mind. I had told her to give more time to being a child and not to lose happiness of free childhood. I think that she needs to recoup and recover her own old self. Give more time to just Riyaz and nothing else for a period of one year or so. In this respect, Abrokanti has rightly withdrawn from the stage with such a thing in mind.

She is leaving on a tour of Newzealand shortly. I hope she does not carry her baggage of tiredness over there . We are expecting her to be that"Old time Anweshaa" who took our breath away whenever she sang.

What Makes Them Prodigies?

Being able to sing good is not enough to be classified as a musical prodigy.There are thousands of male and female singers who can be termed as "Good" but the objective of this blog is to identify and discuss about more than "GOOD" singers.

Late 1990's gave us two prodigies. Shreya Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan. Then there was a lull of almost a decade.
Then came a blazing star from Kolkota called Anwesha Dutta Gupta. She took the music world by storm in less than one year after being recognized throughout the world after being a runner up in a lopsided contest called "Star Voice Of India Chhote Ustaad'
where the result of the finals was "Arranged"
In recent years, Bengal has given many good singers but only three children have found their place in this blog.They are Anweshaa, Abrokanti and Papri who is a nine year old wonder girl.

Similarly, Maharashtra has given us a brilliant crop of three little prodigies this year.
Kartiki Gaekwad, Arya Ambekar and Prathamesh Laghate.Down South, there are number of brilliant child prodigies , who will be brought to the attantion through this BLOG. I have requested a friend in South India to help me out in this regard.

Anweshaa,Papri, Abrokanti, Kartiki Gaekwad, Arya Ambekar ,Prathamesh Laghate etc have performed way beyond their young age.And they qualify to be called as Prodigies.

Just watch the following videos and see for yourself what makes them prodigies.


Anwesha announced to the world that "Here I am" with the following masterpiece "Mere Dholna" aka "Ami Je Tomar"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuhf2P1R_C8

Listen to Abrokanti sing "Teri Diwani". Way way beyond his age.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs__kjohkis


L

Listen to Arya Ambekar sing


'Dil Cheez Kya Hai"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpDHc0Dp41o


Listen to Prathamesh Laghate sing


"KaL Dehashi Ala Khau"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwBU8OT7TUo


Listen to Kartiki Gaekwad



" Kalidaar Kapoori Paan"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S792mKh4O4o


Papri is another wonder kid from Kolkotta after Anweshaa. Listen to her




http://www.esnips.com/doc/0663d7f7-4499-4af6-b128-5296c0743716/Papri---Mera-Kuch-Saaman