It was perhaps fitting that on LaMakaan’s third anniversary, three new voices made a lasting impact on the full house. Ramya, Tejaswini and Ben were a delight to listen to and a pleasure to look at.

Of course the evening was started off by the ever dependable Shakila who had Sarosh and Joe Coster accompany her through three hastily put together songs.

In all fairness though, one must confess that Shakila seemed a bit off colour tonight. Maybe because she was unable to hear feedback…maybe because the mike in her hand was picking up too much noise – blows, deep breaths etc. Or was it because she was a last minute replacement for the singing sisters Sukanya and Sanchita.

Thankfully she came into her own for the rest of the show. And delivered her stuff near flawlessly.

Raghav, who handled the announcements in his usual wry manner was full of info and that made the music so much more connectable. When he introduced Ramya and Tejaswini as new voices that the group was blessed to have discovered, he wasn’t kidding. The way these two young girls bubbled onto stage and presented a seemingly effortless performance was heartwarming and infact became the signature of the Soprano section where they were joined by an ever smiling Jayanthi and a mischievous ‘aunt’ called Prema.

But the show stopper however was young Ben who joined Shakila for a rendition  of Let’s call the whole thing off…mention must be made here of Raghav who cleverly wove the title of the song into his introduction and got himself more than a chuckle.

It was wonderful to see Joe Coster loosen up and let fly on the keyboard. The way this otherwise stiff maestro moved was inspiring even if the audience was forced to look at his rear:-) And his eye contact with the voices was remarkable.

On a bit of a sorry note, the Hyderabad Western Music Foundation Banner that was hung up behind the group was a wee bit shabby, and someone must take care to see that this display is corrected.

The audience was participative…with lot of clapping and hooting encouragement and the evening ended with an encore of an ABBA item that almost had all of us on the floor.

All in all, a wonderfully musical evening with Ramya and Tejaswini hitting the high notes of performance and Ben and Shakila ‘calling the whole thing off’ with panache.