Kailash Kher pays 'Baahubalish' tribute to national cultural fest - Alva's Virasat

MOODBIDRI: It was a diminutive man’s ‘Baahubalish’ tribute to ‘Beedmudri’ as the curtains came down on the three-day

national cultural fest

in this

Jain Kashi

of the South on Sunday. Punning on ‘beed’ (read massive crowd) gathered at Puthige to listen to him, singer Kailash Kher lost no time in getting his act together reeling out songs from his albums and films that have endeared this small frame of large talent to the masses and legions of fans across the country.

If

Ekka Raja Rani

from Jackie was a wake up call to the gathering in excess of 45000, Kaun Hai Ho from Baahubali was living up to his earlier words of how he was in ‘Divyalok’ in front of a ‘Baahubali’ crowd at the

Smt Vanajakshi K Sripathi Bhat stage

. Paying tributes to the disciplined yet discerning music lovers, Kailash with his crew that included locals Yash Kamath, Naresh Kamath and sound engineer Jovian kept the seat grooving and jiving in their seats itself.

With

Mohan Alva

, chairman, Alva’s Education Foundation, organiser of Virasat making it clear that all celebration has to be disciplined, the crowd mostly Gen Y music fans never dared to cross the line. Yet the music kept them true and alive as Kailash picked up from a wide repertoire of songs including Sufi offering Piya ke Rang Dini Odhni. His word play was as true as his singing, one of which brought out his relation to Manmohan Shetty, his neighbor in Juhu.

“You will get a lot of television. Don’t get lost in the world of machines. Learn to enjoy the live concert situation which one gets on rare occasions,” Kailash reminded a generation that was hooked to Facebook live rather than the life surrounding them. This – the live stage – is where we the Kailaas band has learnt our ropes, experimented and are earning our livelihood, he said much to the liking of the aficionados who eagerly anticipated the next song that he offered.

A soulful rendition of Akka Mahadevi’s vachana Akka Kelava Naan Ondu Kanasa Kande was his way of ensuring that needs of every section of the audience was catered to in equal measure. With Yash proving to be his wingman in song selection, Kailash pulled out all stops to ensure that Alva’s Virasat was truly an event for the MP3 generation to savour. Earlier, Dr Alva presented the Alva’s Varna Virasat award on artist Shobha Broota in a brief awards ceremony.