For three-long hours, Thummalapalli Kalakshetram reverberated to the tunes of legendary Hindi film playback singer Kishore Kumar as Mayur Orchestra’s Mohammad Khaja and his team rolled out a series of melodies in tribute to the maverick crooner on Sunday.
Mr. Mohammad began the musical journey — “Gatha Rahe Mera Dil” with “Aye Khuda” from film Abdullah based on Arabic tune and set the mood in the hall by crooning “Khilthe Hai Gul” from Sharmili and “Tere Bina”, a duet from Aandhi.
The evening witnessed a couple intricate songs such as “Ek Chathur Nar” from ‘Padosan’ and “Pag Ghunguroo” from ‘Namak Halal” which needed a great deal of vocal manoeuvrings. The coordination between singers and accompaniments was near perfect that the renditions resembled the original compositions. “For two days, we rehearsed passionately to get close to the original,” said Mr. Mohammad Khaja, who has been in the field of music for 35 years. He kept the audience busy by rolling out several interesting facts about the singer and his lifestyle. The team also represented a medley comprising ‘Pallavas’ from best of hit films.
‘Mazilen Apni Jagehai’ (Sharabhi), ‘Rote Hua Aate Hai’ (Mukaddar Ka Siknader), ‘Deka Ek Khwab’ (Silsila), ‘Naino Mein Sapna’ (Himmatwala), “Aari AAja’ (Kunwara Baap) and ‘Roop Tera Mastana (Aradhana) were well received and applauded by audience. Giving vocal support to Mohammad was Sudharani, an exponent in classical music as female lead along with Md. Rehman, Shanawaz, Ameen, Riyaz, Vaishnavi and Pragna. The programme saw felicitation to senior rhyme player A.V. Ramana of Nandigama.
