Keep A Child Alive Foundation: Save the children, sing a song

There are concerts and then there are concerts. While some are for pure entertainment, a transaction between the audience and the band, there are some gigs that go far beyond its immediate listeners. And the Black Ball is just that. And that brings us to November 3 in New York — a rather special day for India.

Keep A Child Alive Foundation, co-founded by musician Alicia Keys, is looking at establishing an India chapter. And that means this year’s fund-raising activity, the Black Ball, which is being held at New York, will have Indian children on its mind. And to create that Indian connect, Midival Punditz will be performing at the dinner along with multi-instrumentalist Karsh Kale.

“It’s an honour beyond description,” says Tapan Raj of Midival Punditz, adding, “We are talking about a fund-raising dinner where tables are auctioned at tens of thousands of dollars and a fantastic line-up of musicians, including Usher, Mary J Blige, Norah Jones and Alicia Keys herself. In fact, Alicia will also perform with us for a short while!” But it’s not just the glamour of the whole event that has the musicians excited. “The Black Ball raises millions of dollars each year and they are really going all out to make a difference. I have heard that they’ve started work in Rajasthan already for their project in India,” adds Tapan.

This year’s Black Ball also pays a tribute to the great musician George Harrison and his contribution to philanthropic causes in India, which is also why the Punditz and Karsh will perform a George Harrison cover song.

But it’s not just the fund-raiser that has the boys excited. “We are also going to be the DJs at the after party called After Blow, which will happen post the dinner!” says Tapan, adding, “It’s going to be something we’ve never quite imagined!”

Talking about his participation at the ball, Karsh Kale says, “The organisation reached out a few months ago about the fact that they where not only doing their annual Black Ball in NYC but that it was a tribute to George Harrison.  Just that fact alone was enough to get excited to perform but then to find out that Alicia and others would be performing just makes it all that much cooler. I am most excited about coming together on stage and seeing what happens... Although there are plans, a night like this is bound to have some surprises.”