The Jam of all ages - Bandstand, Mumbai - 1/12/2013

Hello People, We are back with a huge bang and a new jam post.
This Sunday we had record breaking presence of love and affection from people of Mumbai.

Hey Mumbaikars !!!

What a crowd I must say!!!
Enthusiastic, Exhilarating, Encouraging, Participating, Lively and I am falling short of words to say it all.

Here is the timeline.

It was a usual Sunday evening and no one seemed to know how it was going to end.
The MFMers were hustling their way to the Jam arena and the regular attendees were eagerly awaiting their presence.
Lukesh and Pradeep were the first ones to join in. And Lukesh (The Lucky D ) started pelting tunes from his String bow.
In came Chintz (not equipped with this percussion :( ) and they started singing songs in harmony. People started noticing the presence of MFMers and were eagerly waiting to know what will happen next.
In came Lukesh ke dost Nitin and others (sorry can't recall all their names) with Guitars and soothing songs started made the evening more enchanted.
After few of them were sung, Chintz introduced the movement to the people eagerly watching the MFMers.
People started ushering in and everyone seemed connected to the motive that we were there for. Danesh (The Guitar lord) with Hera (The cheerful) and Monika (Princess of people) joined in and addressed the crowd in their way. Monika again introduced the MFM movement to the masses and everyone connected.

Monika played a crucial part spreading the word that though the meet was informal we need to maintain certain discipline as people from all strata of society arrive here. One's presence should not be affecting others. A request was made to all MFMers and regulars that smoking and being under influence of alcohol will not be welcomed at the arena. Further awareness was spread by Chintz who requested people to quit bad habits. Many agreed.

Nevertheless, Slowly and steadily the Jam was bringing in people with leaps and bounds and we could not stop counting. It was 350 + at a moment and we were at peaks of our voices enjoying the evening. One, very participating and cheerful, Dr. Parab came in and voluntarily sung "Purani jeans" for the crowd and everyone enjoyed it.
After that, a Prince Saviour - a young lad named Rakhshit, who was at the venue with his parents - Rajan and Richa; took the charge of the arena. The entire family sportingly enjoyed every moment as Rakshit sang a soul number.Then came in the young Royals of Bandstand Arena, Kavya, Nischay, Seli, Vanshita, and the youngest of the lot - Prasam. They sang Patriotic song in their sweet chirpy voices and the crowd was in choir. Shortly, therafter, Prasam went solo with - "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and awed everyone.

The lower side of ages was done and then came in a "White Knight" with life living experience of more than seven and a half decades. Mr. Ibrahim (lovingly called him chicha) sang a melodious number of his time and took the jam into another horizon.
Spurting patriotic performances from Mahroof left the crowd with patriotic feel. The star performer - Riyaz  Khan - enchanted people to the core by his sing-dance-act performance.

Karl (The Photo magician)and Khusham were a part of the happy lot as well and enjoyed the evening with the cool Breeze.

Sumit - a regular with NGO - "Bigger Than Life" was present with us and requested us to play for the kids the NGO worked for.
It was commendable how people swayed through the tunes of Danesh, Lukesh and friends, playing with Nitin (The Soprano) pelting high energy numbers.
The Navi Mumbai - newbies (can't recall their names - Sorry :p) joined the clan later and musical vibe attained another high.
Everyone was jolly for the movement and realized and understood the motive for what we were there.
The evening came to an end and everyone parted with new enthusiasm, few new things learned and with promises to be back for another Exuberant Sunday Jam.

Sincere Apologies for missing the names of those I have not mentioned if they were present at the Jam.
The Blog writer is suffering from memory disorder. :p

This is Chintz signing off for now and will be back with a new jam post.

And hey Christmas is coming near so SANTA CHINTZ SAYS " HO HO HO - PICS FOR ALL"


Pics Courtesy: Sumit Mishra

Photo Editor: Karl Behramfram

Mumbai- Bandra Bandstand Jam - 24/11/2013

Yo People, This week we have bribed a new blog writer (suffering from short and long term memory loss)  to write this post. And he has this short essay of how a massive crowd --- never seen for a long time enjoyed the overwhelming music and the fantastic evening at Bandstand.
It goes on like this:

"The Long awaited Sunday was here and MFMers and regulars hastened their feet towards the Bandstand arena. As everybody wanted a shot of a wonderful evening and soothing music with mild breeze across the beach, people gathered slowly but in numbers. Lukesh came in and found a friend already there. Chintz was already enjoying the evening and breeze. Then Gauri (she is neither a khan nor a terrorist  ) came hasting in. Danesh (The rioter) followed in with his strings bow and there was a change of vibe in the arena.

Few newbies in town hustling their way to glory formed "Zikr" and wanted to be a part of street jam session. They were welcomed and asked to join in. Then followed in a burst of requests for songs and melodies with people ushering in from all walks of life.Kids, couples, age-olds --- anyone and everyone grooved to the beats of a young aspiring musician and singer - Nitin who played fantastic rhythms on Bongo with Danesh and his friend and few others on guitars.
Gauri, high on energy, injected enthusiasm in the onlookers right till the end. Lukesh and all others sang in merry melodies with zest. Slowly and steadily the numbers increased and people came pouring in. People connected to the vibe and enjoyed it to the core.A jolly good fellow had his share of limelight and entertained the crowd till the sides burst.

Among st the new visitors, we had a happy bunch of friends (can't recall all their names - sorry ) who were introduced to MFM movement by Danesh and were really enjoying every single moment.
The MFM regulars can be seen among st the crowd as well. An avid regular (can't recall his name) said he loves to be a part of musical evenings with MFM even though if it means travelling up and down from Virar.
The word was spread about MFM by Chintz and Danesh among all and the evening lasted till late.
The evening came to an end and the everyone parted and promised to be seen there the next Sunday evening.
Chintz signing off for now. Will be back with another exuberant jam post. Meanwhile catch some moments of the Jam.

Yo yo Honey Singh Fan pitching in the first request of the evening. 

The Smiling Guitarist - Danesh and an accompanying friend on the string bow. :D :D 

One of the youngest starlets of  the MFM evening.

Smiles all the way :) :) 

Gauri (in attention) and Danesh singing along.

Photo Courtesy: Danesh ke friends and miscellaneous.

Music for Meaning Independence Jam-15th August @Mahindra Chloris, Faridabad

On the Sunday of 11th Aug 2013, Pragati Singla (Suraj's sister) Came over to the jam, observed, enjoyed, played the tambourine and lent her vocals as well!! She liked what she saw and it gave her the idea of organizing a participative jam at the society she lives in, the Mahindra Chloris in Sector 19 near DPS Faridabad. Quickly She coordinated with Suraj (Your's truly!!) and the jam was on at the community hall in her society. It was decided that the jam would be a plugged (Amplified) one. The 15th being the independence day, we decided to do a medley of patriotic songs and soon the whole society was told the sequence of the songs (the setlist) and were asked to prepare to participate in the jam. We (Suraj, Pragati, Pukhraj Joneja and Ravish Bharti) prepared the setlist and reached the venue at around 8AM. After the flag hoisting at the society the jam began at 9:45AM. We started with 'Aey mere watan ke logon' which Pragati sang and slowly most of the audience started cheering. A lot of people left there seats to join in the singing to take the open mic. We proceeded with 'Vande Mataram' by AR Rahman, 'Aey watan tere liye' from Karma and many old patriotic songs. The jam was a great success and later we were invited by one of the family for tea. We and everyone enjoyed and brought a spirit of Independence day celebration to the day. Here are the pics:

 The audience

  Ravish, Suraj and the participants

  Suraj, Sangeet (a participant), Pragati and the audience

 The energetic audience participated in large numbers!

Pragati sings 'Ae mere watan ke logon'

 One of the participants performed a song

The 'family' jam of 11th august 2013 @SRS Mall Faridabad

This Sunday's Jam was great! In terms of audience, we had the greatest of them in numbers. We missed Sulabh Ahuja and Yogesh Mali but Suraj Joneja, Pukhraj Joneja, Ravish Bharti and Joy Mishra were present as the musicians, Our resident Photo pro Chetan Saini was present there before us and we had a lot of guests-Suraj came with his family, Anterjeet Singh came with his wife Smiley Bedi and Rohan Monga came with his family as well and some friends of his. We had some female vocal accompaniment thanks to Pragati Singla. We rendered various numbers both meaningful ones and otherwise and the towards the end of the jam Joy Arrived and we played various English rock numbers! A person from Bengaluru (I lost his name) came and requested various rock songs, including Hotel California, The wall among others. Now the jams have become a regular affair and everyone's excited and waits for Sunday to come! Here are the pics of the jam: (For the videos, do a search for "Suraj Joneja" on Youtube and bang you will have all of them) (I am lazy to embed them here!!) 

L to R: Ravish, Pukhraj, Suraj (Standing), Mrs. Joneja, Pragati Singla

Pukhraj strikes a chord!!

Suraj Plays some riffs!

L to R: Ravish, Pukhraj, Suraj and Pragati

Look who's our new lead guitarist!! Rohan Monga's Son with his 'electric guitar'!!!

The Windup Pic:

L to R: Pragati Singla, Smarth Singla (Holding the guitar, Anterjeet Singh (tallest of all), Smiley Bedi Singh, Pukhraj Joneja, Diva Singla, Joy Mishra, Suraj Joneja, Ravish Bharti, Mrs. Joneja.

MFM Still lives on: the Jam of 4th August 2013 @Faridabad

The co-ordination for the jam had started almost 4 days before when I created an event on facebook for the MFM jam and invited all the local faridabad friends. Sulabh, the talented guitarist, vocalist and drummer came over with his wife a little earlier to my place in Faridabad, sec-14 (He lives in Gurgaon, about 35 KM away!!). He had initiated the MFM spark here in faridabad almost 5 years ago when he used to jam regularly here with his friends (See mfmfaridabad.blogspot.com). We prepared some songs as we had met after a long time.

At around 6:50 PM we(Suraj, Pukhraj and Sulabh) left in cars for the SRS mall, carrying our guitars. We reached in time and Chetan Saini, the great Photo pro just arrived. Rohan Monga, an old school friend came with his very cute son. We took our positions and started the jam with 'Allah ke Bandeh' which 3 of us rendered in collective accord. Later on Anterjeet singh (old school friend) came with his wife, Smiley, my Bhabhi-Kratika and Sulabh's wife-Megha and his your brother japjeet. We sang various songs, ranging from Rubaroo, Aadat by Atif aslam, Bandeh by Indian ocean, Maa Rewa by Indian ocean, Dama Dam mast kalandar, Tuu Aashiqui hai and others. Gurujeet, a budding guitarist from the crowd joined us to sing 'Tere Bin' by Rabbi Shergil and later gave vocal assistance to our singing (and shouting!!).


Meanwhile a great guitar player and singer, Ravish, who was college junior of Sulabh  joined us and we sang many songs..Yaar Bina, Gulabi AAnkhein etc.
I had printed some cards and I shared with many people who were interested to know about the concept of MFM.

Rohan's Son requested a song and sang with us, it was good to see him happy!!

Later on the Vermas-family friends of Suraj came and requested Teri Diwani, Tum hi Ho which were beautifully rendered by Pukhraj and there was clapping and cheers all round. Sulabh Sang Dosti by Junoon to wrap up the jam and then we left for our homes..cheers and look forward for the next jam!!

Here are the pics and videos of the jam (There are many more to come so stay tuned):

 Suraj, Pukhraj and Sulabh play Allah ke Bande

 Pukhraj Joneja caught in a unique pose.

 Sulabh!!

 Pukhraj in the backround!

 Suraj Caught in unique pose by the photo pro Chetan Saini.

 We sing Rohan's Son's request!

 Ravish, Sulabh and me sing and play while Chetan snaps a pic!

 Sulabh and me jam!

Here are the videos:

Rubaroo

Aadat

Yaar Bina

The Jams are on a vacation

Well,

Its been a long time since the jams have happened (I'm in Faridabad and don't know if they have happened recently).

I have been a little down and out. Sad to say it like that, but life sometimes sends all your plans crashing in your face. A lot of things are beyond our control, that's God's way of telling who's the boss, I guess.

Have not been in touch with most of the group, was not possible for me. Have just recently 'surfaced' and become active in some little ways here.

I contribute to a firm called JIVA (www.jiva.com), which I have philosophical alignments with, it does some great work for the Indian education system, for spreading Ayurveda in the world and suchlike.

Another 'venture' of sorts is a small VOIP (Voice over IP) firm which I have just begun. It is mostly commercial (No do-good) but is a nice service all the same (http://www.indiacall.tk) .

Had the opportunity of talking to Vijeeth (shetty), though, he said some of the group were planning a Jam.

Does anybody have any news of Kekoo Gandhi?

Apologies in the New year!!

.......
the 14th Feb is fast approaching and here is again half of what the second month is in the NEW YEAR!!While some might be making purchases for the loved day , we already know some others may be thinking of ways to take away small joys by demeaning society in rage of violence,sanskriti, parampara..
if we think hard what actually does it take to express Love .. its Courage and i realize that is what we miss in Todays world.. Love and Courage...

Whoeva is reading me here, We are the same MFM, with the same spirit, but just got a lil hasseled with issues ,so had to stop performing in our own amphitheatre. Like every movement has faced oppositions, we too faced it some months back..so we had to silent our tunes and tones to give way to the larger egos..

But then its a PEOPLES BAND - made by people like U and me , playing for the people like u and me , and to the people like U and me .. so how long can anething stop a free spirit..the participants , the musicians and also the chorus singers like me have been missing the movement called MFM.. they want it back as what people have wrote to me for.. its just that we have to reschedule ourselves and take out a lil time for the movement which unselfishly binds all humanity there in the amphitheatre precinct atleast with the spirit of Music..

its ur band ,, its MUSIC FOR MEANING.. Let us bring back the Music and so the Meaning to our lives back again and work towards a better society giving it lotsa smiles and cheers in the lil ways we all can.

Aplologies for no updates for so long.. its just that our members are a lil lazy..good at music but bad with the pen.. But Lets get back again........
Tarun, Gajju, Kailash, Pulin, Vrinda, Vivekji, Suraj, Vinay ,Vineet, Shadab,Kingshuk,Mr. Gandhi , Pradip,Gauri, Chintan,Ishaan and all new who have been joining lately and all those whose names arent called out still ... Come on... head on ..

Monika calling....................
will atleast keep u people updated with the blog..
hey someone please sponsor a camera.. my friends are just being lazy with everything ...
and all VALENTINES GIFTS ARE WELCOME IN THE SPIRIT OF LOVE AT MFM!!cheers