Shodhan Prasad
Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai

Dubai, Jun 20: UAE Amchigele Samaj hosted a "Bhajan Sandhya" programme on Friday June 17 at The Canadian University Auditorium, Dubai. This was in tune with one of the main objectives of the Amchigele Samaj, which is to help the GSB community stay connected with the culture and music of their homeland.

Pragati Shenoy initiated the programme with a brief on the day's programme followed by the welcome speech by the Samaj president Ajith Nayak. She then introduced all the performers of the Bhajan Sandhya programme.

Shankar Shanbhogue was the main performer of the programme accompanied by Satyavijay Bhat on the tabla, Shankar Shenoy Padubidri on harmonium and Sachin Kamath on the kanjira.

Shanbhogue, a diploma holder in mechanical engineering is one of the finest young Hindustani classical singers today in Khayal. He sings in both Agra and Gwalior Gharana styles. He has earlier performed at the Babylon Festival in Iraq in the year 1997, at Symphony Hall, Birmingham UK in 1993 and at other international events.

The evening provided a blend of divinity and melody that enthralled one and all present there. The troupe created a different ambience altogether, with bhajans like “Bhagyadha Laxmi Baaramma”, “Jai Bolo Hanuman Ki”, “Krishna Ne Begane Baro”, “Vaishnava Janato” and others. The entire crowd sang together in sync with the maestro, and gave a standing ovation to the performers.

UAE Amchigele Samaj office-bearers felicitated Shankar Shanbhogue and his troupe with garland, peta, shawl and fruit basket.
 
The Samaj also felicitated office-bearers of the various community organizations from Karnataka during the programme, prominent among them were - president of Abu Dhabi Karnataka Sangha Sarvotham Shetty, ex - presidents of Karnataka Sangha Sharjah Ganesh Rai and Noel D Almeida, founder member of Dubai Kannada Koota Arun Kumar, president of Dubai Dhwani Pratishtan Prakash Rao Payyar, treasurer of Karnataka Sangha Dubai, and social worker and media representative of Nama Tuluveru UAE and Daijiworld.com Shodhan Prasad.

Shankar Shanbhogue appreciated the Samaj members for showering adulation, respect and affection on him. He thanked everyone for their love and encouragement.

Samaj president Ajith Nayak welcomed the gathering. Samaj vice-president Sudarshan Hegde proposed the vote of thanks on behalf of the Samaj to all the people who made the event a memorable one.