BY KAVITA CHHIBBER

 Adnan Sami, Amisha Patel, Sunidhi Chauhan, Raghav, Shefali Jariwala-each name is synonymous either with amazing talent, or beauty and sultry grace. Raaz Promotions is bringing all these artists to Atlanta in a show on 15th April at the Arena at Gwinnet Center.

Adnan Sami doesn’t need an introduction. The legendary Asha Bhonsle spoke to me after a concert held in Atlanta (in 2003) which featured Adnan Sami along with her. Asha ji recalled the time she met Adnan Sami at the age of 10 for the first time and he thrust a cassette of his music in her hand. Her husband, the eminently brilliant and gifted musician R.D. Burman heard the music and predicted Sami would be a great musician one day. Today the wheel has come a full circle as Adnan Sami’s popularity continues to hit an all-time high. I remember the audience roaring its approval as the lights dimmed and in walked the man who began his musical career when he was not even ten performing on BBC as a classical pianist. That crowd hysteria showcased how Sami has taken the world by storm churning out one blockbuster album after another. Not since the days of Daler Mehndi has anyone enjoyed such a frenzied fan following. His albums, from Kabhi to Nazar Milao and Barse Badal with Asha ji and Tera Chehra have blasted through the charts. Sami has given some beautiful music in several Bollywood films, the latest being the just released Lucky No Time for Love.

That night, Sami serenaded the masses with hoyla hoyla dil tera ab hoyla, dil keh raha hai, main tera mehboob tu meri mehbooba, and music lovers in the audience went wild cheering each number and dancing in their seats. Sami interspersed his songs with dramatic pauses, until the crowd could wait no more and then let his vocal chords and his fingers loose, as his cherubic face brimmed with mischief and laughter. His voice is soft and soothing, his stage presence charismatic and he knew how to get amazing audience response.

Asha and Adnan later united to create mesmerizing music onstage. The lights dimmed, Sami’s hands caressed the piano as notes tumbled out like a cascade of jewels - Asha’s voice softly sprinkled the words like stardust in the airwaves as she sang Kabhi to nazar milao with him. The song was sheer magic and it was followed soon after by all the popular Sami hits Nain se nainon ko mila, Tera Chehra, Bheegi Bheegi Raton mein, to his swan song, the one that literally “lifted” him to stardom - the blockbuster number Lift Kara De.

Sami is the consummate artist - while on one hand he gives performances in classical tradition before royalty and heads of states, he also changes tune like a musical chameleon and caters to the masses with his sweet and catchy melodies.

His career has ranged from classical to jazz to modern pop-rock (Western and Indian). Sami has won many international awards including a Special Award of U.N.I.C.E.F. and a United Nations Peace Medal for a song he wrote and performed for Africa. He was invited as a member of the jury, comprising of top world music composers, to the prestigious musical festival “Voice of Asia” competition held annually at Almaty, Kazakhstan. 

Adnan is the first person to play Indian Classical music on the electric piano. Reviewing a piano solo performance Adnan had given on Channel 4 in the UK, the famous American magazine “Keyboard” declared him the “Keyboard Discovery of the 90’s”. Popularly referred to as the fastest keyboard player in the world, Adnan Sami was featured in a documentary as among the exclusive ten from the subcontinent of India and Pakistan, who have influenced the Asian culture in the UK over the last fifty years.

Sami has also performed for prestigious Music Festivals and always plays to sold out events. He continues to experiment with new styles , and each one of his vocal albums has consistently crossed the million mark in sales. Atlanta is lucky to have him back, because that night, no one had had enough of his amazing talent.

Amisha Patel too was a recent visitor to Atlanta. The grand daughter of famous lawyer Rajni Patel, Amisha aced her way through academics winning a gold medal in economics at Tufts University before the acting bug bit and she catapulted to fame with the huge blockbuster Kaho Na Pyar Hai with Hritik Roshan. While there were whispers that it was Hritik who was the showstopper in the film, and Amisha rested on his laurels, she silenced critics by her mind-blowing performance as Sakina in Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. Not only did she look breathtakingly beautiful sans makeup, she carried the very tough role with grace, dignity and sensitivity. The movie became one of the biggest hits in Bollywood cinema. Amisha is also a trained bharatnatyam dancer, and that was quite visible onstage at the show where she danced with finesse and grace and looked very beautiful as well. She loves the culture of India and told me that while in college she started various religious and cultural festivities like Holi and Diwali. “I taught Bharatnatyam and Hindi to some foreign students and at the end of it made them watch Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and they could actually comprehend a lot of it. I also stopped at various points to explain what certain rituals meant in the film.”
Amisha also presented one of her papers in dance form. “Not only did I get a straight A, my professor invited me frequently as a guest lecturer to perform the same dance. I was so happy to be able to share that aspect of my culture with others.” Today she has come into her own with a diversity of performances and she is bound to rock to Sami’s lilting music with beauty and charm and bring back memories of the multicultural India that she lives in today .

I first heard of Sunidhi Chauhan when she came to Atlanta many years ago as part of Kalyan ji Anand ji’s “Little Wonders” , a troupe of children who were amazing performers. Even then she stood out with her full-throated voice as she belted out one popular hit after another. Lata Mangeshkar has gone on record and said she is a big fan of Chauhan. However, the TV show Meri Aawaz Suno was Sunidhi's first far-reaching public performance. The win at the mega finals brought her further in to the limelight and she was promised an album with HMV. Aira Gaira Nathu Khaira, was released but promoted as a kid’s album and didn’t showcase Sunidhi's versatility and range.

Her debut recording was for the film Shastra, for which she sang the racy number Ladki deewani dekho. Her big break came when she sang for Sandeep Chowta in Ram Gopal Verma's Mast. Sunidhi bagged the R D Burman award for most promising newcomer at the Filmfare awards 2001. Today most of the block buster songs are sung by her, be they item numbers like Dhoom Macha le, Mehboob mere, Sajna ve sajna, to the sweet and soft melodies like Bhage re man and Aa bhi ja. Sunidhi who has just stepped into her 20s, says her key goal is to become an international star. With the kind of talent Sunidhi possesses, if any one can make it-it should be her. She is likely to set the stage on fire with her powerful voice and virtuosity in the upcoming concert.

Raghav Mathur is a another talented young man in his early twenties who has taken the multicultural music world by storm. Raghav has studied Indian classical music with Guru Nishi Kant Bali from the tender age of five. He sang at his local temple, in school, excelled in the local choirs, performed in musicals, and toured nationally and internationally in Canada and Europe.
One of his early compositions won an award for top original song from the National Songwriters Association of America - he was only 16 then. Raghav turned down scholarships from many music schools across America and at 17, to moved to L.A on his own to study with the great Seth Riggs, vocal coach to, amongst others, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. His sound and style is a cross-cultural myriad - from R&B, Asian, a little Bollywood and a little rap with English and Hindi lyrics blending into a magnificent fusion. All three tracks on his debut album ‘Can’t Get Enough’ made it to the UK top ten. His new single Angel Eyes is another huge hit and everyone can be heard crooning “my baby ‘s got .. oooooo angel eyes”. Raghav won two awards recently at the Uk Asian Music awards as best new comer and for best single; for a lad who had the guts to walk out of his house at 17 to pursue his passion for music, his stupendous success has made him a star to watch out for. He too will be rocking the stage on the 15th.

The sultry Shefali was your everyday engineering student before 'Kaanta Laga'. Then the music video happened. She shocked conservative mothers and aunties with her beaded thong and raunchy tattoo but skyrocketed to success. Since then Shefali has had a dream run as the pouty temptress in Kabhi aar kabhi par from the Sweet Honey Mix album, The latest foot-tapper has her looking completely different from the hip-hugging cat-girl in the DJ Doll remix. 

For those who like a night full of sizzle and soul-musical madness and fun all the way, this is a show to head for in April.

(For more information on the concert go to Raazpromos.com)