Daily Times

What a musical extravaganza for Pakistan and the world! Rashna Gazder and her group Harmony in Helping Hands surged ahead once more in the support of Lady Dufferin Hospital by organising their seventh fundraiser in the form of an online concert on Friday.

The online concert was viewed by worldwide audiences from North America to the Middle East to Australia.

A heartwarming effort of so many musicians during the second year of the pandemic made this concert a truly memorable initiative.

The concert highlighted the good work of Lady Dufferin in a documentary introduced by young Hana Rahman, one of Rashna’s pupils born there.

The concert started with a touching item whereby Eden Emmanuel sang “In My Children’s Eyes” when heavily pregnant in her ninth month.

The piano playing was like a beautiful spectrum of light, a rainbow exploding in colour from Beethoven, Strauss, Bach to Yanni. Words are not enough to mentioning the skill and dexterity of each and every pianist. They were like maestros having being taught online by Rashna.

The stunningly gorgeous visuals designed as always by Rashna’s son Dr Darayus Gazder transported us with the music from beautiful Pakistan to waltzing and to scenic journeys around the world.

A touching tribute was paid to late Dr Faridon Setna by Sarena Beg from USA. As he loved Classical Music, Rashna’s cousin from Mumbai Leah Divecha, a child prodigy, brilliantly performed First Movement from Sonatina in A Minor on the violin.

Rashna Gazder and Terence Joseph dedicated a beautiful medley Hooked on Classics, dedicated to Azad Iqbal, who wasn’t performing with them this year due to ill health. A great treat was also seeing a throwback of the trio in 2019 live on stage!

Both Terence and Rashna were beautifully in sync. A fabulous performance by a lady who inspires her pupils to help needy causes in Pakistan with their talent.

Guest Performer Ardavan Taraporewala enthralled singing a selection from Sound of Music while Almitra Mavalvala sang her own composition Big Cities soulfully.

The songs in the programme were a delight ranging from Abba to Louis Armstrong, Elvis and to Lionel Richie.

A fitting finale was a song Mother of Mine suiting the theme of the programme.

Noteworthy mentions of this concert were additions of Adult Learners, Fariha Dar and Muzaffar Khwaja, who inspired the audience to take up music at a later age.

The sweet segments of early learners was a joy, with young pianists playing with rapt attention and even smiling while doing so. As Rashna said, they are the rising stars!

In conclusion it was a brilliant musical weekend, another concert performed for a noble cause. Truly music for the soul.

The writer is a freelance journalist. He can be reached at kzk1972@gmail.com and Tweets at @KhurramZiaKhan