Singer Chinmayi walked up on stage singing her award-winning ‘Oru Deivam Thantha Poovey’ from Kannathil Muthamittal and set the mood for the evening’s entertainment. Cauz Carnival 2013 was organised by Coimbatore Builders and Contractors Association (CEBACA) in order to raise funds for ‘CEBACA school adoption programme’ to build classrooms and libraries for rural schools. A school near Annur has already been adopted under the programme and there are plans to include more. Also in the pipeline is motivational training programme for rural teachers.
Chinmayi was followed by Stephen Devassy, one of Asia’s fastest pianists, to keep the energy of the evening going. He danced his way to the stage playing his keyboard and the next 20 minutes that followed were power-packed. The pianist and his orchestra put together foot tapping music on the drums, bass guitar, percussion, flute, saxophone. The audience sang along when Stephen Devassy played the tunes of ‘Jai Ho’, ‘Mustafa Mustafa’, and ‘Arabi Kadal Oram’…
“Music changed me. It made me responsible,” said Devassy who has played with Zakir Hussain, Sivamani and A.R. Rahman to name some celebrities. The pianist from Palakkad is trained in classical and western classical. “My music lessons made me responsible. For three years, I practised from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. to master the keys. Now, I make it a point to practise four hours every day,” he said. Chinmayi teamed along with Stephen Devassy and his orchestra and sang some of her popular melodies including ‘Sara Sara Sara Kaathu’ from Vaagai Sooda Vaa, ‘Lesa Parakkadhu Manasu’ from Vennilla Kabadi Kuzhu and the energetic ‘Mayya Mayya’ from Guru.
And the magic of the evening continued when singer Mano took to the stage and and sang the all-time favourite ‘Shenbagame Shenbagame’… Dance performances by RAACK Academy, Quick Angels, an acrobatic performance and a laser show further enlivened the evening.
The Hindu was the media partner for the event.
