AFVOA Newsletter 03 of 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 03 / 2020 Page 76 of 167 4 Ringside view of the Musical Nite held on 19 Apr 2009. Brig V A Subramanyam Genre: Memories Just as certain selections of music will nourish your physical body and your emotional layer, so other musical works will bring greater health to your mind. ~ Hal A. Lingerman he meeting of the AFVOA on 19 Apr 2009 was a Musical Nite the first of its kind in the 15-year history of the Association. The first in the sense – that for the first time all the artists were either members themselves or part of their immediate family. Earlier, the only other occasion, when we had a musical evening was when a professor came and gave us a lec-dem on classical music. It is customary that in the Armed Forces, one generally rehearses a number of times, before the actual event. In trying for excellence, one leaves no stone unturned to ensure that everything goes off like clockwork. One suddenly realises, that whilst in service, one was much younger, had a lot more energy, never became tired, and always found time for rehearsals – particularly as everyone lived close by. Once you reach the stage of a veteran, one learns the truth of the statement that there is nothing permanent like change. Thanks to the various changes that have taken place since hanging up the uniforms, rehearsing was just not feasible. Hence it was decided, that a combined ‘rehearsal’ would take place around 1600 hours on the day of the show. A rehearsal as essential, as most of the show was karaoke – dependent. And people who may have not kept up with the times – like self, karaoke meant that the instrumental music for every song was pre-recorded, thus dispensing with live artists to provide accompaniments. But on the flip side one had to synchronise very well – for unlike a live programme, the instrumentalist could not adapt to the vocalist – here the singer had to ensure, the harmonious blend with the instrumental music. Around ten items had been planned. Two persons were detailed to ‘volunteer’ to introduce the items and participants and act as the Master of Ceremonies – and they also had to do some practice – and hence they were also requested to come in by 4.00 p.m on the day of the show. T