Goonj: The night B-Major turned SPJIMR into a concert hall

Some evenings begin with a whisper, and some begin with a violin. Goonj, the showcase by B-Major, the music club of SPJIMR, began with the second kind. As the lights dipped, Canon in D drifted across the hall on a Western violin and keys, and an audience that had spent the week buried in decks and deadlines suddenly remembered how good it feels to simply listen.

What followed was a musical journey with fourteen stops and not a single dull one. A Carnatic piece, Swaminatha Paripalayam, brought the classical south into the room, and a Hindustani set with a Bhimpalasi khyal and a tarana kept the hush going. Then came the first surprise of the night. SPIN, the college dance club, joined B-Major on stage for the very first time, as a mridangam player and a Bharatanatyam dancer began a playful jugalbandhi. One posed a rhythm, the other answered with footwork, every step landing exactly on the beat. The applause was instant and warm.

Then B-Major settled into the timeless classics, and the hall settled right along with them. The golden era of Bollywood made a grand entrance with Chaudhvin Ka Chand, Bachna Ae Haseeno and Intehaan Ho Gayi, while Western roots and R&B brought Dancing Queen and Vienna. A ghazal and Sufi set had heads swaying gently, and when Let It Be and Sweet Caroline rolled around, the audience happily took over as the choir. Rock had its moment too, from Kurbaan Hua to Californication, before the 90s and early 2000s came flooding back with Dil Se Re and Tumhe Jo Maine Dekha.

The modern half of the evening was every bit as much fun. Rolling in the Deep and Die with a Smile gave the pop lovers their fix, and contemporary Bollywood, from Dooron Dooron to Agar Tum Saath Ho and O Re Piya, had phones lighting up across the hall. Through it all, what stood out was how easy the singing felt. Voices blended, instruments listened to each other, and the club’s comfort with so many genres made fourteen segments feel like one long, lovely story.

The closing number brought SPIN back. As B-Major sang Mere Dholna live, two dancers performed classical choreography to it, with voice and movement finishing the concert together.

But the evening still had one more act. Just as the audience began to gather itself, the thumping opening of We Will Rock You announced Glamora: Eras of Music, a music-themed fashion show presented by CultComm, and the ramp walk began, fittingly, with Freddie Mercury himself. Students then strutted through a gallery of icons: Diljit Dosanjh, the Spice Girls, Taylor Swift, Honey Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, Harry Styles, BLACKPINK and Coldplay. Every look came with its own swagger, and the crowd cheered each entry as if a headliner had just walked on.

It was a glamorous end to an evening that proved SPJIMR’s ears are as sharp as its case-solving minds. B-Major delivered a night worth remembering, and true to its name, the echo of Goonj will linger long after the last note.

Participant reflections