Umbayee is one of the more popular ghazal singers in Kerala. The full house at the Bhatt Road Beach on Thursday night was further proof of that.
The Kochi-based singer drew the biggest crowd of the five-day festival, organised by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi and the District Tourism Promotion Council.
Umbayee’s was the final show of the festival. He knows how to entertain people, chooses songs that are familiar and narrates interesting anecdotes. On Friday night too, he presented an interesting mix of ghazals. Among them was Ghulam Ali’s Chupke chupke raat din… , one of the most popular ghazals of all time. The huge crowd was delighted.
They were thrilled when he rendered Oru pushpam maathram …, a song from Pareeksha . The song was composed by M.S. Baburaj, about whom Kozhikode is proud of and passionate about. “I once had the honour of placing the harmonium in front of Baburaj when he performed at Mattancherry,” said Umbayee.
He had collaborated with O.N.V. Kurup, the legendary poet and lyricist who died a year ago. On Friday, he presented one of ONV’s poems, Tharumo oru nimisham …, from the album Paaduka Saigal Padoo.
Another contemporary poet he has worked with is Sachidanandan. He rendered a song from an album they worked on together, Akale Mounam Pol , from which he chose Madhuramee nin mukham … for the show.
Singer Gayatri was also scheduled to perform with Umbayee, but she had to drop out after the festivals dates were revised following the demise of MP E. Ahamed.
Though her absence was a big disappointment for music fans, the festival was a resounding success.
