Muscat – It is anybody’s wish to get soaked in the tuneful melodies of the legendary singer Mohammed Rafi. And when the presenter is none other than the king of radio broadcasting Ameen Sayani, you cannot ask for more. So, Thursday (tomorrow) night you have a golden opportunity to embark on a musical voyage, which […]

Muscat – It is anybody’s wish to get soaked in the tuneful melodies of the legendary singer Mohammed Rafi. And when the presenter is none other than the king of radio broadcasting Ameen Sayani, you cannot ask for more.

So, Thursday (tomorrow) night you have a golden opportunity to embark on a musical voyage, which will transport you to the golden era of filmi music when Mohammed Rafi reigned supreme. Meri Awaz Suno – A musical tribute to Mohammed Rafi is packed with an interesting audio-visual presentation specially prepared by Ameen Sayani and will be punctuated with live vintage Rafi songs to be rendered by five singers. It is a journey into some great nostalgia.

The event, under the banner of Melody Music Centre and Musicats, will be held at 7.30pm tomorrow on the lawns of Sheraton Oman, Muscat.

The three-hour musical evening is expected to unleash an unlimited dose of lilting melodies of Rafi.

The cynosure of all eyes will be Ameen Sayani who is visiting Oman for the first time.

Delighted to be in a country which he always longed to visit Ameen enthuses: “It has always been my wish that I visit Oman and now I am here eventually. When I heard that Musicats is organising a show which is different and that they want me to be a part of it, I agreed. From my archival wealth which I have collected throughout my broadcasting career, I have culled some fascinating nuggets of information about the legendary singer Rafi.”

He continues: “Six artistes, namely, Naushad, who first gave Rafi a break, Shankar, Laxmikanth, Kalyandji, Asha and Lata have paid glorious tributes and have talked about their association with Rafi.”

According to Ameen Sayani, who himself has staged 2,000 shows in India and abroad, the programme has been divided into seven segments, each segment narrating a story. Says Ameen: “My presence at different levels will be synchronised with the presentation of an audio-visual artiste.” He promises that the audience will have a rare opportunity to listen to first Rafi song in the audio-visual presentation.

During the show Ameen will also disclose how he was able to evolve such a unique style as a radio anchor. That the man with the golden voice will add a great element of excitement to the show is a foregone conclusion given his baritone voice which he has been able to retain for good. Little wonder then his Sangeet Kay Sitaron Ki Mehfil on Radio FM back home in India is being rated very high.

The voice of Cibaca Geet Mala was at his best at the press conference held yesterday at the ASAS Oman apartments where he is putting up. Harking back to his old days Ameen averred: “I lived in an era when Hindi music reached its zenith and was privileged to be in the midst of many great artistes. And Rafi was one of them who mesmerised the audience with his tuneful songs.

The poetically written, painstakingly composed and pleasingly rendered songs of that era still have more takers than today’s remixes.” Ameen’s saga with radio started when he stepped into the AIR studio in 1939, at age seven. Rest is history.

And to complement the grand mature voice of radio at the show will be another great artiste, Padmashri Anandji. The live songs will be rendered by two artistes from Mumbai, Srikanth Narayan of Keep Alive Group and Priya Panchal, winner of Zee Antakshari and Sa Re Ga Ma programmes. Keep Alive is a group dedicated to preserve and promote Hindi film music of the golden era from the 1940s to 1960s. Founded in 1997 in Mumbai, Keep Alive has brought together lovers of old Hindi film songs and has also honoured music directors, singers, lyricists and filmmakers.

These two singers will be supported by local talent Venkat, Shekar and Amita of Musicats. The orchestra will be conducted by Deepak Shah, the multi-talented son of Anandji.

Earlier at the press conference, Chitra Sridhar of Musicats, the key person behind the organisation of this event, intoducing her group said: “The group was formed in 1997 and offers a platform for budding musical talent to groom.” That they have been projecting some interesting themes all these years, speaks volumes about their creative activities. Musicat’s Diwali Dhamaka in 2003 had the audience burst into excitement, while Shammi Kapoor Se Mulaqat took the audience on a nostalgic trip when Shammi reigned supreme. Chitra noted: “This time we thought it fitting to provide the people of Muscat something different, commemorating the 25th death anniversary of the immortal singer Rafi.”

So, to relive the Rafi era and Cibaca days lend your ears to some enchanting soulful melodies which you will be treated with at the Sheraton lawns tomorrow evening.

This blog was published on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005 at 10:39 am and Last modified on Thursday, December 1st, 2005 at 10:40 am and is filed under Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.