By Smita Ram, Rang De Team

I cannot think of a better way a Bangalorean could have spent the eve of Independence Day. For all those who attended the Rang De Freedom Concert on 14th August in Bangalore, it was a musical treat with a social twist. Presented by the Rang De Bangalore Chapter, the event was a perfect blend of music and social awareness and I will find it very difficult to sum up my experience of the evening in just one single blog post. I will do my best to summarise the highlights of the evening. We will have more blog posts from the chapter members to follow.

The music: If one is not too much into Carnatic classical music and did not attend the concert because of this, I must tell you it was a wrong decision after all. That is the power of Ranjani and Gayathri’s music. You do not need to understand the intricacies of the genre to enjoy their music. The specially created series ‘Rang’ is especially meant for novices like us while carefully reaching out to those who know the genre well. The blend was perfect and the jugalbandhi with a blend of hindustani and carnatic styles was a treat to the listener. Ranjani and Gayathri are maestros in communicating with their audiences through the music.

For their fantastic support and for the wonderful concert, we will remain eternally grateful!

The team work: When the team believes in what they are doing and why they are doing, magic unfolds. The Bangalore chapter members who got together to support the event worked selflessly and paid minute attention to every detail.  Every single chapter member who was at the event went about silently carrying out his or her responsibility and  saw to it that the entire event went ahead without any hitches. I am really proud of the way everyone got together to accomplish this.

Microcredit: When NABARD sanctioned our sponsorship amount, they asked me one single thing, how are Rang De and microcredit associated with the concert. I think this was achieved very well, without making it too much of a heavy dose for the audience. A short film, a really short talk about Rang De with a grand intro did the job of sending a strong message about the event.  The audience were also given Rang De gift vouchers worth Rs.100 that they can redeem by funding a micro-entrepreneur on the website.

The audience: The concert was to begin at 6.00 pm and people started trickling in at around 5.00 pm. At one point, we had to stop people from coming in because the mike testing was going on in the auditorium and soon we realised that it will be impossible for us to contain the crowd who were eager to enter the Hall. I must say the audience was very receptive to the concept. A couple of emails that I have got after the concert stand in testimony of this.

The execution of the event was flawless and the Bangalore chapter has set some very  high standards for the other chapters and for their own future events. A full house at the Rang De Freedom Concert was truly inspiring!