About Asha Bhonsle's concert , USA, 2007

Asha Bhonsle & The Incredibles show – Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
May 12, 2007

Saturday May 12, 2007 night, is when we attended the show “The Incredibles” featuring Asha Bhonsle, Sonu Nigam, Kailash Kher and Kunal Ganjawala.

The stadium was full of cheering and enthusiastic NRIs, eager to see their favorite performers and legends. Almost a crowd of 3000 or more! The lighting arrangement, the sound quality, the air ventilation – everything was in top shape. The main show started off with Kunal Ganjawala, who was followed by Kailash Kher. One better than the other! People enjoyed both performances. Kunal was very good. Kailash was brilliant. The crowd was enjoying every moment of it, clapping, singing and participating in along with the performers.

The incredible Sonu Nigam rocked the Oracle Arena stadium after Kailash Kher. He is truly a world-class performer, with a mesmerizing range. His vocals, his dance and his rapport with the audience – everything was incredible. People went berserk when Sonu was performing.

As soon as Sonu took a break after a thrilling performance, there entered the legend – Asha Bhonsle! The entire stadium stood up on their feet! A standing ovation for a truly deserving artist! I got goose bumps as she walked in, in her famous white saari!

I am one of those people who like Asha better than Lata. I am one of those people who, if not a die-hard fan, is an admirer of Asha Bhonsle. I am born in 70s and so have spent many moments of my life listening to Asha. So have all of us! She has truly entertained us for decades with her magic. When she walks in on the stage, feet stand themselves up. People from all walks of life, kids, teenagers born in US, parents visiting fromIndia, housewives, working professionals – everyone stood up last night!

But what followed after her entry was the great collapse of the show. It all went downhill very fast and then, never recovered. Shockingly, it was solely because of Asha Bhonsle.

She made her entry with the famous ‘Dum Maaro Dum!”. The moment we heard her voice for the first time, we did not know how to react. It was almost that someone else was giving a playback for Asha. The voice did not sound like hers. It was a heavy, low and tired voice. But we figured that it was because she was not warmed up by then. It was her first performance in US and it was her first song. We understood that completely. Questioning Asha Bhonsle’s voice quality is like doubting Amitabh’s acting abilities. It is untouchable!

For rest of the show, one kept hoping to hear that lovable and magical voice. We caught glimpses of it, here and there, but that’s about it. I kept cringing in my chair. I am sure thousands of others did the same. As an audience and fans, we wanted Asha Bhonsle’s singing to go perfect. When you like and admire a performer so much, you keep denying any of her/his imperfections to yourself. You don’t want to believe that there could be any imperfections in the first place.

Asha Bhonsle has reached such a pinnacle in her career that she is truly untouchable. All of the thousands of people present in that stadium knew her greatness. They were considering themselves lucky to see her perform in person. They were all very well aware of her age. They all admired her for her great spirit. When a performer has reached that level, the audience is all-forgiving towards her or him. The performer has given the audience so much over the years that audience is hardly expecting anything anymore. Factors like money you paid for the tickets and the return you expect become irrelevant in such cases.

That’s why her voice quality did not bother us as an audience. We were wishing to hear the magic, but had no complains if it was not there. We understood!

What bothered us was the gimmicks. Asha Bhonsle tried hard to copy the performers before her. She behaved like the fourth band member of ‘Kunal Ganjawala – Sonu Nigam – Kailash Kher’ band. She tried to be ‘hip’, ‘young’ and ‘dashing’. She moved, she danced and she sang fast paced disco songs. There is nothing wrong in that. But her age is not on her side. Her voice and stamina is not on her side. She was frequently getting tired. Again and again, she was stopping half way through the lines, because she was getting exhausted. Do you expect Asha Bhonsle not able to complete lines? Her voice was becoming wavy. She was requesting water many times. In all, she probably sang 4-5 songs. One of them was the stereotypical Punjabi song –Baribarsi khatangayasi - which is not an Asha song. It was like what a newcomer in an upcoming orchestra would do to appease the gallery. The lowest point in the performance was reached when she wore a white cap and began to sing ‘Jhalak Dikhalaja ..’. When she started to sing that, at first, it did not sink in for me. I was trying hard to remind myself of all her songs and could not figure out the movie or album, she had sung it for. Then slowly it occurred to me that it is the Himesh Reshmia song .. Oh, the white cap!! Worse thing was that she sang it worse than Himesh Reshmia. I am not a Reshmia fan and I still believed that he has done a better job at it. Much better!

But why Reshmia song? Why ‘Baribarsi’? Why being unable to complete lines of songs because of dancing and moving? Why the wavy and high pitched voice because trying to look ‘hip’ and ‘energetic’?

I am still trying to figure this. Is it that she is ill-informed? Have organizers told her “Asha ji, after Sonu’s energetic performance, if you sing old or slow songs, people would leave?” Are there any misconceptions about audience expectations? Is it because she was inSan Franciscoand someone thought that she “had” to be hip and ‘American’? Thousands of people who came to watch her last night were not expecting Britney Spears. They did not want it either. They wanted Asha Bhonsle. The standing ovation she got in the beginning was not because how ‘hip’ she can be. It was for her being Asha Bhonsle – the legend!

Or is it that she herself is trying to ‘fit in’? Is it that she herself wants to matter to today’s teenagers, like the way she did for teenagers of 50s to 90s? Is she competing with Sonus and Himesh Reshmias? If it is so, the world knows that she does not have to. They are no where near her. For her, there is nothing to compete against. She is on the high pedestal. It will take years and abandon luck for them to reach her status and popularity. This is such an obvious truth that I don’t even feel like elaborating it further.

Asha Bhonsle is such a legendary artist that one performance like last night’s wont even make a dent on her achievements or the respect and love people have towards her. Opinions of people like me about last night are equally immaterial. She has given so much entertainment for all these years to us that even I will soon forget the not-so-good memories of her last night’s performance.

But I think that the great artists like her should realize their greatness well-in-time and respect it also. They should understand their audience. They should understand the love and respect their audience have towards them. All that is extremely precious. Very few people achieve it in their lives.

For legendary artists like her, it’s up to them to decide on what to perform and how to perform it. For fans like me, we can’t help but just feel sad!