Before the Gala · 14 July 2007
Sanjeevani — The Revival Concert
The first of three concerts that brought touring artists from India to Dayton, in support of the Butterfly Playground at the Washington Township Recreation Center.
More than 500 people filled the Bellbrook High School Auditorium to hear Sanjeevani, with her co-singer Shivprasad, over four hours of music.
In photos
The evening
Four decades of film music, and a crowd that would not sit down
The evening opened with the devotional ‘Allah Tero Naam’ and a few more bhajans, then moved through four decades of Hindi film music — from a 1946 favorite through recent hits like ‘Chand Sifarish’ from Fanaa. Partway through, Sanjeevani invited the audience onto their feet for a run of dance numbers, and for a while performers and audience were sharing the evening equally.
The second half added songs in English, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and Telugu, closing after nearly four hours with the audience joining in on ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo’.
It was the first of the visiting-artist concerts that led, three years later, to the first Bollywood Gala with local performers.
Watch highlights from the concert on the Foundation’s YouTube channel:
