Songs of Mukesh, whose unique voice stood its own against bigger names in the Hindi film music in the Sixties and Seventies, have been so identified with Nayan J. Shah that he is referred to by his idol’s name. For the past 30 years, he has been singing Mukesh’s songs on stages across the State and outside.
On the late singer’s 90 birth anniversary this year, Nayan wanted to pay a special tribute to him. Kozhikode city witnessed that tribute on Sunday when he sang 12 hours non-stop, breaking many a record. Each of the 90 songs, which spanned the entire gamut of Mukesh’s repertoire, was greeted by the packed audience with loud cheers.
“Over the years, Nayan has become synonymous with the voice of Mukesh, at least in Kerala. Singer Yesudas once called him Kerala’s Mukesh. This is a unique tribute, the kind of which we have not witnessed in recent times. We planned it for 540 minutes giving a maximum time of 6 minutes for each song,” says Jayanth Kumar, general convener of Kozhikode Art Lovers Association (KALA), which jointly organised the programme with the Music Artists Association.
Nayan, who took very short breaks between the songs, was visibly tired as the hours went by. But the tiredness was not reflected in his voice. The video recording of the programme will be sent to the Limca Book of Records.
The singer has been based in Kozhikode ever since he came here from his home town Ahmedabad as a three-year-old.
