‘Christmas With Elvis’, a musical evening covering the songs of Elvis set the tone for a celebration in Bandra’s Mt Carmel’s church grounds. Curated by Parish Priest Fr Reuben Tellis, it was an exuberant affair bringing the in festive mood.

The evening began on a light-hearted note with a game of Housie. The School building was lit in red, green, yellow fairy lights and the ground was filled with around 20 stalls selling homemade Christmas delicacies to Chinese bhel.

The star of the night, popularly also known as Elvis of Bandra for the past 15 years, Siddharth Meghani, opened the evening with ‘Its Now or Never which was met with cheerful applause and electric zest. Meghani is an Elvis impersonator and sang some of Elvis’ most loved hits like Santa Claus Is Back In Town, Hound Dog, White Christmas, Silver Bells and Jailhouse Rock. 

The crowd of around 800 people joined in unison to Turn on the lights, Santa Claus is coming with a few people leaving their seats and dancing to the tunes. Blue Suede Shoes was quite a performance, when Siddharth joined in dancing with two young ladies on the dance floor. Serenading on the grounds, Meghani did an impressive Hound Dog with the classic guitar strumming which was followed by a round of applause for the two women dancing.

If it’s Christmas, it has to be Silver Bells. It was the most enjoyed song with the two chorus singers, Danielle and Lisa singing perfectly in sync. “To me, Christmas is lots of fun, lots of joy and high energy,” quips Siddharth, describing Christmas in one line. An acoustic version of ‘Silent Night and a rock version of Jailhouse Rock ended part one of the evening, not before introducing his band to the audience, “Please give it up for the lovely band, cheers for Jeremy, for Mr. Keith Mendes, Desmond Taylor who stays in Malad and the sweet 16 girls Danielle and Lisa from St. Teresa's and last but not the least, Mr. Caje for his excellent sound.”.

A short break and Danielle and Lisa took the mic wishing a very merry Christmas to the audience with their melodious performances.

Continuing the second part, this time without his backup band, Meghani began with Proud Mary moving onto Winter Wonderland and Please Release Me (Let Me Go) and ended his magnetic performance with one of his personal favourites of Elvis, the widely loved, Can't Help Falling In Love.

Elaine D’souza, the Cultural Coordinator for ‘Christmas with Elvis’ and member of the Organizing Committee for around 10 to 12 years, organizes ‘Christmas Charisma’ every year for Christmas.  She stated “We generally have a fun evening with spot prizes. We have communities putting together Christmas carols. Sometimes, we a band like Ladies Band or Karaoke Band coming from outside the parish. The committee also invites new members to take part in the festivities, We are always open to new talent, we generally have an event called ‘Parish Night’ on the 26th of Jan every year, but this time we are having it on the 19th, we have a winning zone of Bandra where they are putting a play on the ground.”

By Asiya Sajid Anwar