KOZHIKODE: The atmosphere looked tremendous when 15,000-plus ghazal aficionados flowed into Swapna Nagari to listen to the magic voice of legendary singer Ustad Ghulam Ali from his own lips here on Sunday.
Long queues could be seen hours prior to the event, and at around 5.30, all the chairs were occupied by the music lovers cutting across caste and religion. Many who were not lucky enough to get seats, stood on the sides until the event came to a close.
And if there was any dissenting voice outside the stage, it was all drowned out as Ali cast his charming music spell on this wonderful night titled ‘Chandni Raat’ organised by socio-cultural organisation ‘Swaralaya’, in association with Grand Kerala Shopping Festival. One of the best ghazal singers of this era, Ali began the night with popular song ‘Hum tere shahar mein...’ followed by ‘Me nazar se pee raha hoon...’ evoking a huge response from the packed audience.
“I am truly blessed to be here. Ghulam Ali is not that great as you think. But I must thank the almighty for the love and affection you show me. I have never seen such a big audience,” Ali said before he began the night. Inspired by the audience response, the ghazal maestro continued his concert then with ‘Ye kahani phir sahi… and Kal chandni ki raat. Meanwhile, Amir Ali joined Gulam Ali to sing his popular ghazal Chupke Chupke... which he kept to end of the session. Pundit Viswanth, who shared the stage with Ali also left some memorable moments by singing ghazals Piya bin ayee chamdni raat...and Yaad piya ki ayee... which elicited huge applause from the excited crowd.