KOCHI: The 1960s and 70s witnessed the flourishing period of Malayalam film music. It was also the age when Muhammad Sabir Baburaj moulded a music world of his own with his evergreen hits. At a time when most composers attempted to borrow tunes from popular Carnatic ragas, Baburaj boldly induced sweet slow-paced Hindustani Ragas to provide musical wings to the immortal lines penned by poets like P Bhaskaran.
Babu had always been very keen to give a touch of the Ghazal for his songs like Innale Mayangumbol, Thamasamenthe Varuvan and many others.
With his harmonium and sitar, Babu could make nostalgic melodies with the matchless voices of Yesudas, S Janaki and P Susheela and others, all of which still remain immortal tunes in Malayalam filmdom.
And now, his admirers have a chance to recall those evergreen songs. The Bank Employees Art Movement Ernakulam (BEAME) will present a Baburaj Mehfil evening on 22nd May at the Fine Arts Hall. The songs of Baburaj will be rendered in the soul stirring voice of Firoz Babu, a noted ghazal singer who has been presenting selected Baburaj hits for nearly a decade.
Infact Firoz Babu has made an identity of his own with Baburaj’s songs. Along with Firoz Babu, the Gandharva Sangeetham fame Prathibha will present the songs.
Along with the evergreen hits of Baburaj, Firoz will also sing some little known compositions of Baburaj, which Babu had sung for his intimate friends. Not many know that Babu has also scored hundreds of songs just for his close associates which remain fresh in their minds.
The Mehfil evening will have the same accompaniments as that of the Ghazal, with a harmonium, sitar, flute, keyboard and tabla.
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