A Beautiful Valentine's Day at the Royal Opera House
Mumbai --I'll be back!
I remember my first time performing at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai: last year, with Joe Lastie from Preservation Hall. It was Joe’s first time in India too, and he wowed the crowds. The air had so much energy that it felt like someone had struck a match and lit up jazz.
This time, the energy was there, but the sentiment was different. More warm and fuzzy, like a cashmere sweater and a nice glass of Champagne. It was Valentine’s Day, after all.
La Vie En Rose…
That’s how I started my Valentine’s Day program. The song with unforgettable lyrics by Edith Piaf that is now synonymous with Paris.
February 14 was a beautiful day in Mumbai—- a perfect day, actually. The weather was balmy, and the skies were blue as cornflowers. This time, my band was my sister, Sharmi Surianarain (vocals), Shashank Das on bass, and Arjun Chakraborty on the drums.
Valentine’s Day is super special, and the theme of the concert was LOVE SONGS FROM NEW ORLEANS. The poster was absolutely beautiful, created by the Royal Opera House team (below). In this day and age, creative marketing materials are arguably as important as the music!
The songs I chose for the occasion included La Vie En Rose (of course!), Louisiana Fairytale, Hello Dolly, and some of my originals. For the concert, I spoke about the theme of love and its various avatars and types of love: looking through the world through rose colored glasses (La Vie en Rose), unrequited love (My Funny Valentine), love for a city or place (Louisiana Fairytale), love for an exceptional figure (Hello Dolly), and nostalgic love (The Nearness of You).
The audience loved the selections, and the program ran without an intermission from 7-8:30 p.m. (we also made Rolling Stone’s list of can’t miss Valentine’s concerts around the country!).
That morning, I spent trying to track down my gown which was being altered by a tailor I found near by hotel. I had some unwanted elastic around the waistline, and was getting concerned that it was so near the concert date (he did it all for 50 rupees, basically less than $1….this is the reason why getting garments stitched and altered in India is nothing short of a dream. Of course I tipped him and gave him four times his requested amount and he was on cloud nine).
I was a bit concerned about this concert because frankly, I was exhausted.
The previous week, I was filming a video that is part of an album I’m involved in called Sounds of the Kumbh at the world’s largest spiritual gathering—over 400 million gathered this year to witness something that happens only once ever 144 years. I was tapped to play the piano on this album and also get to journey to the Kumbh Mela and witness this intense and exhilarating spectacle that honestly, I would never have the chance to see again. Watch my segment on CNN India where I talk about my experience along with colleagues, Jim Kimo West and Siddhant Bhatia.
So you see, I had to recover from this intense experience and then be concert ready for the Royal Opera House, and I had just a few days to recover from the Kumbh (although, I may never be able to fully recover…it was that amazing and that intense…I had some photos taken of me wearing a designer dress on a boat in the Ganges, how cool is that?)
The concert at the Royal Opera House was the cherry on top of the sundae of my India tour. India continues to amaze me: the clothes, the people, the fashion, the spiritual gatherings and the history give me so much inspiration that it is hard not to have a visceral experience when I am there. That is why I also performed my ragas at the Opera House: I called them my “love letters” to India.
I cannot wait to return to Mumbai again. I was so pleased with this concert, and my talented sister, Sharmi Surianarain, sang her heart out and we received a standing ovation. I can get used to this! Until next time, India.
