Sumeet Satyam Tappoo, with his fresh voice melting a Saturday evening (October 6) at Dorothy Winstone Centre (Auckland Girls Grammar School), was a refreshing departure from the professional, glitzy Bollywood performers who have come to this city often.
His engaging manner kept the audience involved most of who had some personal connection with him through Fiji, Soni Samaj Inc (which organised the programme) or his previous performances.
His familiarity with them was apparent when he sang a song walking up and down the aisles of the hall and shook hands with many of his fans.
Although not yet an established Bollywood playback singer, he displayed a certain charm and stage presence that demonstrated his proficiency in music.
The evening started late and after acknowledgement of sponsors and introduction of the Starship Foundation, the beneficiary of the concert, the first performance was from Jasmine Kapadia, harking back to the movie ‘Madhumati’, with ‘Aaja Re Pardesi.’
She rounded off with a modern but melodious song from the new ‘Devdas.’
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Sumeet mainly chose the songs of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan with occasional hits of Sonu Nigam. The songs were melodious and from recent movies appealing to the young and the old. ‘Dabangg’ ‘Agneepath,’ ‘Namaste London’ were some of the movies with such hits as ‘Tere Mast Mast Do Nain,’ ‘Bas Yaad Saath Hai’ featuring in his selection.
His tribute to Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar and Jagjit Singh formed the core of his performance. Although he took liberty with the original versions, Sumeet managed to bring the flavour of the legends.
The orchestra, comprising artistes from India, added the necessary support to his voice. His diction was surprisingly faultless, though his upbringing has been in Australasia, which showed his dedication to his vocation.
He performed without charging anything from the organisers, as the concert was for a worthy cause.
Soni Samaj has reportedly collected more than $20,000 which will be given to the Starship Foundation at the Samaj’s Diwali festival to be held on Sunday, November 18, 2012 at Mt Albert War Memorial Hall in Auckland.
