Beats music troupe performed 30 songs with just 5 hours of group practice at D'Mellos. Eugene's wife and daughter attended the function at the Anna Univ Alumni auditorium. All the team members were dressed in black or dark shades as a sign of mourning. It was an emotional moment when all of us were silent for a minute to remember late Eugene.
As usual, it was great to have family members and friends grace the occasion. It was a pleasant surprise when Rajini( Loyola alumni) and Mukund( IIT alumni) sang in the function.
Anitha and Murali
Eugene's daughter receives a CD of a previous Beats show from Malathi
L-R singers: Malathi, Raji, Nagaraj, Murali and Albert on Keyboard
The Beats Music Troupe welcomes you all to watch a live show of 32 cine songs. The songs will be a mix of peppy and melodious Tamil and Hindi tunes. This music program will be a tribute to the Late Eugene Xavier, keyboard player of Beats troupe and CEG alumni.
Beats Troupe: Formed by CEG alumni. The troupe has won lot of inter-college culturals in early 90's. Location: Alumni Auditorium, Opposite to Ladies Hostel of College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University. The hall has AC. Duration: 6-9 pm Entry: FREE. All are welcome. Landmark: Right gulley after new Anna Library(While coming via Kotturpuram bridge)
We welcome Bloggers, Tweeters, and other social media enthusiasts to enjoy the event and write about it too!
The Beats music troupe will perform on Jan 2nd, 2011 (tentative date) at the Alumni Association hall of Anna University. This music performance is a tribute to the late Pappu Antony Eugene Xavier. Eugene suggested a list of songs when we were exchanging mails for our 2011 program. As a tribute to Eugene, the troupe is planning to play most of the songs suggested by him. Playing at the Alumni association hall was also an idea of Eugene.
Please pass on the info to all of Eugene's well wishers -- Pls be there to talk a few words about late Eugene. RIP.
It was a misfortune to hear about the demise of Beats music troupe keyboard player Eugene Xavier on Deepavali day. The name Eugene evoked an awe in me. He was a Ph.D in engineering and authored quite a few books. He held very high positions at Infosys and Hexaware.
He was my senior at Anna University, but i never met him during college days. I first saw him in 2009 when CEG music troupe members met for an informal rendezvous at D'Mellos. Eugene organized the music bash and bore all the expenses. He was an enthusiastic and cheerful soul.
All the Beats music troupe members are in shock as Eugene is just 44+. Eugene is survived by his wife and daughter. We pray for his soul to rest in peace. We will surely miss you Eugene at all our future rendezvous.
Can six hours of team practice create three hours of musical magic? Yes, it did happen at Abirami Mega Mall food court on 3rd Jan, 2010. The Beats music troupe was at its best when they performed with energy, joy, and concentration. The crowd was cool and ate hot food, but they showed appreciation with shining eyes and quiet smiles. The Beats music troupe was formed 16 years back by engineering, management, and science students of Anna University,Guindy. On the recent musical night there were instrumentalists and singers on stage. But the musicians were also Entrepreneurs who run a chain of companies, Vice Presidents at banks, Project managers at multinationals, media anchors, writers, journalists, teachers, and enterprising homemakers. Of course they all came with their lovable family members too. We started the music show with a devotional song “Aayar Padi Malligaiyil.”. And followed it up with peppy numbers, melodious tunes, and rocking beats. Instrumentalists – Keyboard - Joseph Ambrose & Eugene Xavier, Guitar - Vijay Anand , Pascal & Raj, Drums – Thamizh and friends.
Akilan, an IAS officer was the Chief Guest of the day. An excited Chai shop owner in the food court praised us and supplied free coffee and tea to the team members. Apart from the seated audience, we had fans peering from the first and second floor balcony of the mega mall. We were touched by such simple gestures of love.
The Beats music team performance was all about living life to the fullest, exploring musical interests, and bringing passion into performance. We did miss few pals of our golden times who could not make it to the show. Wow, we enjoyed the day. Praise the Lord!!! Click here to read the blog post about our previous reunions.
Hey, we (Beats music troupe) are busy preparing to perform for YOU all on 3rd Jan, 2010 night. Have food for taste at the Abirami Mall food court and listen to our foot-tapping, soul-stirring musical beats. The program starts at 6:30 pm.
The Beats music troupe is excited about the reunion, rewinda, or rendezvous. Team members are flying in from Dubai, Pune, and different parts of Tamilnadu. We are exchanging dozens of e-mails and practicing over conference calls.
Be there to listen to about 20+ songs. Illayaraja hits dominate the list!! Be there to witness the team which rocked the inter-collegiate cultural scene in the early 90’s in Chennai. Click here to read the blog post about our golden days
I happened to write a blog post about my college (CEG, Anna University) music troupe, The Beats, a few months back on my blog. I never imagined that we would meet in few months and have a music blast.
The Day: 30th May, 2009
Venue: D'Mellos Music Studio, Thousand lights area, Chennai
Electronic Keyboard: Eugene Xavier
Guitar: Alby, Raj
Drums: Naren
Triple Congo: Reuben
Singers: Raji, Malathi, Anitha, and Mahesh
Mistakes are welcome. It's just a rendezvous!!!
Raji singing the award winning "Jhoom Jhoom Jhoom Baba."
Malathi and Mahesh sing an Ilayaraja number. Eugene - the key man on the keyboard!!!
That's Alby and Raj.
Naren plays the drum...matching our new tunes with a smile ;)
Reuben on Congo.
Anitha sings "Anjali Anjali" from the movie Anjali. The only Rehman number that was played was "Chinna Chinna Aasai.".
I was part of my college(Guindy Engineering) music troupe for around two years. Our troupe named the “Beats” was dominated by M.E students and quite a few talented B.E students.
Our practise sessions were more interesting than our on stage performance. We had a separate practise hall inside the college were we would assemble after college hours. We would practise with joy, pulling each others legs when possible. Our troupe was complete in the sense that we had a casio player, guitarists, drummers, and male and female singers. So, we did not hire or borrow talent from outside!!!
We performed at IIT (Madigras), MCC (Deepwoods), REC-Trichy, DalcemFes (Fest organized by Dalmia Cements), MIT, Stanley Medical College, Madras Medical College and few more colleges. Most of the time we won the first or second prize. Our constant competitor was Loyola College. If we won the first prize, Loyola would win second place and vice versa. But still we all were good friends of Loyola College music troupe members.
The hit song of our troupe was “Jhoom Jhoom Jhoom Baba” by Salma Agha. Whoever sang the song used to get best vocalist award. I also got one when I sang the song at Stanley medical college. Incidentally, my mother was a HOD at SMC when I won the award.
My personal hit song was “Chinna Chinna Aasai” from the Tamil movie Roja. As usual, when I was on stage I used to freeze and only my voice would flow fluently. Showmanship on stage while singing was a no no for me!!!
The music troupe was referred to as OB gang( time-wasting gang) in college. Obviously, because the college was filled with the most studious people in town.
I had sang so much in college that my autograph book was filled with just comments about my singing and voice. That may be because I was reserved and my classmates would have seen me as a singer than as a friend!!
I enjoyed healthy friendships with all my Beats teammates and I'm still in touch with them. One of the singers Murali, now runs a music troupe named “Mouna Raagam.”
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