On the 20^th of August, a group of extremely talented singers gathered at the SNDT Women’s College in Juhu, Mumbai to showcase their talents. The theme of this particular show was songs based on nature, which coincidently was perfect for a rainy day. As it was raining very heavily throughout the day, quite a few people could not make it. But the people who did make it seemed to be having the time of their life. They were mostly people who were above 30 years of age, who were taken aback by the quality of songs that were performed.

‘Umang’ is a group of music lovers. Umang in Hindi means Happiness and these people performed for just that, their happiness. Umang consists of a group of about 30 people none of whom are professional singers and all of them have their professional day jobs. What brought them together is their love for music and enjoying what they love.

Rashmi Maker who is the founder of the Umang group said, “Music is like a virus that attacks everyone”. The group came together because of them meeting each other via mutual friends and through word of mouth from various people.

Now I, being a part of the “New generation” am not very fond about the old Bollywood music but the passion displayed by people performing just has an effect which makes you want to appreciate something you are very dense about. We sometimes appreciate music in a language we do not understand and these singers bring out just that quality of music.

Ganesh Iyer, who is an Advocate in the Bombay High Court quoted, “Kalakar ki khurak audience kiwah-wahi hoti hain.”

By Yash Gupta and Sai Iyer