KOCHI:Umbayee, who mesmerised millions with his soul-stirring ghazals, passed away at a palliative care centre in Aluva on Wednesday. He was 68. He is survived by wife Habeesa and children — Shailaja, Sabitha and Sameer.
P A Ibrahim, popularly known as Umbayee, was born in 1950 to Abu and Fathima. His childhood was a battle against hardships, but he bravely fought his way forward. As a youth, he worked as an oarsman and fish vendor for livelihood. In his biography titled Ragam Bhairavi, Umbayee has described all those struggles in detail.
The leniency of West Kochi’s sister towns Fort Kochi and Mattanchery to art and culture had its impact on Umbayee too. Singers like Mehboob and Yesudas from the region inspired many people including Umbayee. He started playing tabla for Mehboob.The burial will be held on Thursday at the Kalvathy Juma Masjid khabarstan.
Mumbai changed Umbayee’s life
Umbayee went to Mumbai and joined a company as trainee electrician. The city changed his life as he became a disciple of Ustad Mujawar Ali Khan.Coming back to Kerala, Umbayee got a chance to compose a song for John Abraham’s movie Amma Ariyaan. It was the ace filmmaker who first used the name Umbayee in the titles.
Umbayee later started actively associating himself with Fort Kochi’s cultural events. He began rendering popular ghazals by legends including Mehdi Hassan. He also came up with the ghazal version of popular Malayalam songs, which in turn created an affection among the Keralites towards Malayalam ghazals.
The album Paduka Saigal Padoo (2006), which has nine tracks penned by ONV and composed and sung by Umbayee, turned greatly popular. He also associated with music director M Jayachandran for the movie Novel.