KOCHI:
As a professional singer, Nasir Ibrahim has sung over 500 songs on stages of various kinds, but the chance to sing at Ernakulam General Hospital for a noble cause, he says, has been the most memorable in his life.
Nasir led three other singers in the 210th episode of the ‘Arts and Medicine’ programme, a weekly music concert organised by Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) on Wednesday. A joint initiative of KBF and Mehboob Memorial Orchestra, sponsored by CAFS (Casino Air Caterers and Flight Services), the programme offers therapeutic music to patients at the hospital.
Together they sang 18 songs, including memorable numbers by Bollywood legends Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar such as ‘Jeena Isika Naam hei’, ‘Tere Mere Sapne’, ‘Hume Tumse Pyaar kitna’ and Musafir hu Yaro’. They also performed Malayalam hits such as ‘Manikya Malaaraya beevi’, ‘ Chandrakalabham chaarthi’ and ‘Thaliritta kinaakkal than’.
“It was an overwhelming experience and I did not realize how time flew by. I would have been happier to have the time to sing more, perhaps I will do that maybe next time,” said Nasir.
Nasir, who is from Kolkata, has been staying in Kochi for the past several years and has 15 years of experience in the music industry. Besides writing and composing 18 songs, he has sung over 500 songs in the regional languages of the Maldives, Lakshwadeep and Minicoy Islands. He was previously employed in the Merchant Navy.
Nazeer Minnale, Rishad and Merin Diana were the others who performed along with Nasir. Nazeer Minnale is a playback singer who has sung for Malayalam movies ‘Police Academy’ ‘Real Fighter’ and has done an album called ‘ Mazhayil’. His band ‘Minnale’ performs regularly on Captain TV ( Tamil)
Rishad, an amateur singer and a native of Fort Kochi, is working in Sharjah. Merin Diana has been a professional singer at Kalabhavan for three years and is currently doing stage shows.
