Mahima – A Decade of Entertaining for a Noble Cause
Contributed By - Gayathri Pattabhiraman
A pioneering and popular fixture in the valley music scene has been taking place for the last ten years. This annual music and entertainment concert series has enthralled audiences of all ages in the Southwest and West coast in a multi lingual format with some of the best names in Indian music. These are not just concerts; they are a celebration of all things music and with a noble cause as its main purpose.
The Mahima concert series is brought to you as a fundraiser for Maha Ganapati Temple of Arizona, the premier non-profit organization spreading the spirit of Sanatana Dharma to mankind. Since 2004, these concerts have featured stalwarts like Padma Vibhushan Dr. K.J.Yesudas (2005 and 2009), Padmashree S.P.Balasubramanyan (2006 and 2010), Padmashree Chitra (2004 and 2015), Padmashree Hariharan (2013). In addition, seasoned and popular stars like Karthik, Unnikrishnan and Vijayaprakash have headlined these concerts.
Mahima 2017 is only a few weeks away and the valley is abuzz already with the high profile stars who will be featured in this event. Known as the Rock Star of the South, Yuvan Shankar Raja, the son of the great maestro Ilayaraja will lead a large cast of talented artistes at 4 PM on Sunday, April 23rd at the Mesa Arts Center. Yuvan Shankar Raja, in his 20th year of composing music for films is currently conducting his commemoration tour and has a star studded cast accompanying him; singers Haricharan, Chinmayee Sripada, Bhavatharini, and actress-singer Andrea to name a few.
Yuvan Shankar Raja
Born in 1979, Yuvan became the youngest music composer for films at the age of 16. After his big break in 2001, he became one of the most sought after composers in Tamil cinema by the mid 2000s. Within a span of 15 years, he had composed music for over 100 films and continues to be in high demand. In 2007, he released ten albums within the year, a record of sorts for the movie industry. Yuvan Shankar Raja is particularly known for his ability to blend many genres of music in his compositions. From heavy metal, to hip hop and R&B, his music has much versatility and mass appeal. He has won two Filmfare Awards, one Tamil Nadu State Film Award and the Cyprus Film Festival Award, the only Indian origin music composer to do so. In addition to composing, Yuvan has also lent his voice as a playback singer.
Chinmayi Sripada
Chinmayi, sometimes known as Chinmayee is endowed with a mellifluous voice and is a well known artiste in the South Indian film industry. She has sung over 1000 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. In addition to playback singing, Chinmayi is also an established voice actor and has lent her voice to many actresses in Tamil and Telugu films. Chinmayi is also an entrepreneur in addition to her singing career, becoming the CEO of a company specializing in translation services. She has won awards for her entrepreneurship as well. She has also done the voice over for many commercials. She is a trained Carnatic and Hindustani musician and an Odissi dancer.
Chinmayi has won the Filmfare Awards (South) twice and has won best female vocalist of the year in the Mirchi Music Awards. She has also won Tamil Nadu State Film awards and numerous other awards for playback singing.
Haricharan
Singer Haricharan has recorded many songs, predominantly in Tamil and Malayalam. He has sung most of his songs for Yuvan Shankar Raja. He has also worked with music composers such as Joshua Sridhar, Harris Jayaraj, Mani Sharma, G. V. Prakash Kumar, and A. R. Rahman. His song Thuli Thuli won him much acclaim.
Haricharan hails from a family of musicians, his father and grandfather were musicians themselves. Haricharan has won the Filmafare Award for best male playback singer, Asianet Film Award, IIFA Utsavam Award for best male playback singer.
Bhavatharini
Bhavatharini is a playback singer and music composer. Born into the Ilayaraja household, she was surrounded by music from her father, uncle, brothers and cousins. It was only natural for her to learn music at a very young age. She sang mostly for her father and won awards for her singing. Beginning 2002, she started composing the music score for movies and has many Telugu movie scores to her credit.
Andrea Jeremiah
Andrea Jeremiah is a singer turned actress and voice actor who has been performing since the age of 10. She is well versed in playing the piano also. She began her career as a singer and still claims music is her first passion but she gained enormous popularity through her acting in Malayalam and Tamil movies. She has been nominated for many awards.
In addition to the above stars, Yuvan Shankar Raja will be joined by singers Alaa, Senthil Das, Sathyan, Ramya, and Rajeevan along with a full orchestra ensemble.
Mahima concerts have always been about the community and its involvement. Numerous volunteers manage all aspects of the event beginning with signing the contracts with the artistes, stage production, front of house, artiste hosting, transportation and many more tasks involved in such a large scale production. But the most enthusiastic and fun part of the community participation has been the dance performances by local members during the program. It has garnered so much interest over the years that it has come to be a mainstay and requests to perform pour in months in advance! Requests for songs pour in through the website as soon as the concert is announced and on the day of the concert, we witness long lines of fans wanting to take photos with the artistes. “Such overwhelming support and response makes organizing Mahima that much more rewarding”, says Mouli Subramanian, a core volunteer in the Mahima production. He added that what began in 2004 in Paradise Valley High School has grown to fill a technologically advanced, live performance venue like Mesa Arts Center and others.
Events of such large impact and scope would not be possible without the support of businesses that sponsor the event in many different ways. This year, once again Mahima 2017 will be sponsored by Greatbell Inc. and Kumon of Gilbert Southeast. Mr. Raja Mahamani, CEO of Greatbell Inc. not only sponsors Mahima year after year but also volunteers for many temple activities. “It is the spirit of volunteerism that made Maha Ganapati Temple of Arizona one of the largest volunteer run organization in the Southwest. It is truly an honor and blessing to serve this organization”, says Gayathri Krithivas, owner of Kumon of Gilbert Southeast.
The uniqueness of Mahima concerts is the way it reaches the community and enables them to contribute to a great cause while receiving top- notch entertainment. Mahima is the premier fundraising outreach of the temple and all proceeds from the event is given back to the community in the form of an enhanced religious, spiritual and cultural center at the Maha Ganapati Temple of Arizona. While the valley prepares itself for the Arizona summer, it will have an opportunity to be drenched in a musical shower on April 23rd. More details can be found on the Maha Ganapati Temple website, www.ganapati.org