The mellifluous melodies of ace singer Mukesh came as an aural feast to the music lovers of Tirupati. Academy of Fine Arts organised a programme ‘Suhana Safar' at Mahati auditorium last week, which was dedicated to Mukesh's hits. In fact, the programme was an experiment to gauge the temple city's appetite for vintage Hindi music and Sufi mystical numbers, as Tirupati has mostly witnessed Telugu/Tamil classical Carnatic songs. The packed auditorium proved the experiment successful.
Hyderabad-based Samson Mukesh, an ardent fan of the ace singer and known in the music circles as ‘South Indian Mukesh,' gave an impressive performance by singing soothing pieces. With excellent support from Indrani Basu Thakur and Veena wielding the mike, Allabaksh on organ, Solomon on accordion, Partho on tabla and Neeraj on guitar, Samson gave the best of Mukesh to entertain the audience.
The eternal songs from films like Mera Naam Joker , Awara , Sangam , Shri 420 and Anari made the members of the audience go down memory lane on the ‘good old days'. Some went beyond the rhythmic clapping and joined the troupe by singing and dancing along. The troupe members also sang old Telugu numbers, in deference to the wishes of some locals.
Academy President S. Jayarama Chowdary, Secretary M. Chandrasekhar Reddy, past Secretaries E. Phalguna Kumar and D. Kirankranth Chowdary, Vice-President K. Krishnamurthy, Treasurer E. Bhaktavatsala Naidu, Joint Secretary K. Ramesh and programme coordinator G.L. Manohar felicitated Samson Mukesh and his troupe later.
