But the essence of those songs is slowly vanishing into thin air. Due to contemporary film music, people are forgetting songs of the golden era.
It comes as a shock to my friends when I tell them that I prefer olden songs over modern ones. Sometimes I feel that not many fans of those golden songs are left.
But, I change my mind when I see the crowd at “Lamhe,” Dubai’s longest running annual music concert to pay tribute to legendary singers of the forgotten era.
A team of young singers imitate the original singers Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, so perfectly and flawlessly that the audience feel as if they are virtually living in those times.
This year too, some of the songs were sung so nicely that they sounded better than the original ones. For example, a popular song “Ek chatur naar” was originally sung by three veteran singers but at the concert it was sung by one singer.
Despite being a solo performance, it was mind-blowing. It was very difficult to sing the song without forgetting some or the other words. Similarly there were other mind-boggling performances. There were songs from the films of Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor and other popular actors.
There were songs such as “Mana janab ne pukara nahin,” “Leke pehla pehla pyaar” and “Laal chhadi.” But the similarity between all the songs was that they all refreshed our minds.
In between the musical performances, the compere shared anecdotes from that era thus connecting us to those special moments of the film and music celebrities of that era.
Like its name, “Lamhe” gives us many unforgettable moments to treasure. It has already been 14 years of this concert and I just hope that it is held every year so that those evergreen songs keep inspiring youngsters like me.
(Published in The Gulf Today on November 28, 2015)
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