Umbayee

This man, this ghazal singer extrodinaire`, I would rank him among the best in India . In fact, I am willing to stick my neck out and say that had he been born in Mumbai or Delhi , he would have been up there with Jagjit and Udhas and the like. To his misfortune, he was born on the wrong side of the country, in Kochi , Kerala.

He started out being a tablist. Went all the way to Mumbai to learn the nuances under the great Mangeshkar Rao himself. He was there for about 14 years or so. Probably, it was during this time that he picked up the nuances of hindi and urdu. But later on, he realized that his true calling lay in rendering soulful ghazals. He has been a regular on the hotel and wedding circuits in Kochi till very recently. In fact, that is the first time I ever heard him sing. At a niece’s engagement function, rumours had it that Colonial Cousins were to perform. But to my surprise I saw a dark, garishly dressed man, smoking away and I heard them tell that this was Umbayee, the ghazal singer. I enquired and was told the details. He looked a far cry from our concept of a ghazal singer, to say the least. But the minute he opened his throat and sang Baat niklegi…. I was hooked. Since then I have been looking for a chance to get him play for my friends in Calicut . Once, during my JC days, the concert almost took off.  

Since then, he has made huge strides in popularity. Mainly due to his appearances on various TV channels and also due to his foray into malyalam ghazals. His couple of albums where he has covered old malayalam and hindi film songs in ghazl style have sold a plenty. I had the pleasure of being there for a malayalam ghazal album launch.

Ultimately, I got a chance, though only by proxy. A few of my friends, die-hard fans of his through his albums decided to get him down. Basheer and Ashique were the main guys. Venu and Ganesh and Althaf and others pitched in. Once they decided that, they wanted me to be their consultant and wanted to use the making Waves  name. I happily agreed and the show was on. 

It took place on 26^th September 2004. The venue was the Taj Residency banquet hall. The sounds were by Swapna Sounds. This time we tried a package deal. 500/- per couple, inclusive of dinner and a welcome drink. The hall was packed.  

The man began with his usual opening number Jagjit’s Baat niklegi. He went on to sing Chupke Chupke by Ghulam Ali, Tasveer Banata Hoon by Talat, Indravallari poo choodi, Oru Pushpam mathram, Pranasakhi njan… all by Yesudas and other songs by Mukesh, Rafi, Kishore etc. The show started at 7:30 and wound up at 10:30. He just took a very short break of 5 minutes or so. An excellent show by any standards. People have been raving about that program.