AFVOA Newsletter 03 of 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 03 / 2020 Page 82 of 167 numerous functions. And wanting to improve his knowledge and techniques, he has since enrolled himself as a student and is presently under the tutelage of Guru Padmanabhan, in Adyar. From Tamil, we once again moved over to English. This time Ravi enthralled the audience with an old number titled the “Rhinestone Cowboy”. "Rhinestone Cowboy" is a song written and recorded by Larry Weiss in 1974. In late 1974, Glenn Campbell a country pop singer heard the song on the radio and, during a tour of Australia decided to learn the song. Soon after his return to the United States, Campbell went to Capitol Records, where he was approached about "a great new song" — "Rhinestone Cowboy." The song enjoyed immense popularity with both country and pop audiences when it was released in 1975. Several music writers noted that Campbell identified with the subject matter of "Rhinestone Cowboy" — survival and making it, particularly when the chips are down — very strongly. The song is about a veteran artist "who's aware that he's more than paid his dues during his career ... but is still surviving, and someday, he'll shine just like a rhinestone cowboy. Ravi playing and singing shone absolutely like the rhinestone cowboy!! We then moved on to high voltage foot tapping number sung by Smt Lalitha Mohandas - the Air Force Usha Uthup. Ramba Ho Ramba Ho was a hit song of the 1980s sung by Usha Uthup with the music direction by Bappi Lahiri. As soon as the song started, people moved into the open spaces and livened up the place by joining in impromptu dance. This was in apt response to the wordings of the song which went as – “... Ho Ramba ho ho ho ho , Mein nachu, tum nacho, Jitni tum pyar se jee loge utni hi zindagi.” The last item on the programme was the well-known song “Chalte Chalte. “ from the film of the same name. Amit Khanna composed the lyrics, and Bappi Lahiri set music, and that fabulous versatile actor-singer-comedian – Kishore Kumar, sang the song. As this was the last song of the day’s show, Unni who is no less inimitable was keen that the entire audience also participates in singing the song. Hence on a wide screen he had the lyrics written out in bold letters in Roman Hindi. He also ensured that the script rolled over with the lines as they were sung. Most of the audience joined in to make the evening memorable. I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music. ~ Billy Joel Once the song finished, people clamoured for more – but then all good things have to come to an end – hence reluctantly, we had get on to the presentation ceremony to honour all those who had contributed to the success of the show. The Guest of Honour