KOCHI: Baharo phool barsao mera mehaboob aya hei... Mohammad Rafi’s evergreen song comes flowing from the food court of a luxury hotel in the city. It is eight in the evening. The diners, sitting under twinkling lights around tables laden with food, seem completely under the spell of the melody.
One by one popular numbers fill the restaurant. After G Devarajan’s classic Sundara swapname..., the hits of Kishore Kumar, Ghulam Ali, Mehndi Hassan and Yesudas follow.
The enchanting voice that cast the spell belongs to Sadique. A well-known mehfil singer in many a city, Sadique is the nephew of renowned ghazal singer Umbayi. Having studied music from Devarajan master for 13 years, he now presents mehfils all over the state.
Initially, Sadique was more interested in the tabla. “I learnt tabla for about seven years. But later I discovered that my calling was music,” he says.
Sadique’s parents did not approve of his choice of career. “I was pulled out from my tabla class and warned never to go there again. But I was sure that I would return to music some day,” he says. Sadique realised his dreams by finding the right teachers.
“One person I always wanted to meet and seek advice from was music maestro G Devarajan master. I managed to meet and talk to music director M K Arjunan master and requested him to help me meet Devarajan master.” On their first meeting, Devarajan master asked him to sing something and later gave him some tips on various aspects of music.
He met Vijayarajan master too at Sangeetha Kalaniketan. On the eve of Vijayadashami, he got a call from Devarajan master saying that he could begin music lessons the very next day.
Sadique was overjoyed.
“The first piece of advice he gave me was to not give stage performances for five years. Every weekend I travelled to Thiruvananthapuram to be with Devarajan master." "The rest of the week would be spent at Sangeetha Kalaniketan.
Devarajan master taught me film songs and cultured my voice. I was asked to learn the songs that he composed, especially those written by Vayalar,” he says.
Sadique made his stage debut six years ago at Devarajan master’s 75th birthday celebrations in Kochi with an old song - Enthamme kochu thumbi.
Sadique, who runs a fish business at Vypeen, comes to city hotels after work in the evening.
“Singing in hotels is very challenging.
I make it a point to sing the songs the guests request.
Most North Indians want to listen to songs by Saigal, Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar while the locals ask for the hits of Devarajan master, Baburaj and Raghavan master.” Sadique has done concerts at temples too and is a regular at many festivals. “Music has no religion,” he says.
With a repertoire of more than 5000 songs in Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil, Sadique attributes his success to his guru Devarajan master and continues to entertain people with his soulful rendition of popular songs.
kochi@expressbuzz.com