KOCHI:
Cochin Mansur sang only 14 songs today as against a marathon concert he gave a decade ago in a bid to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, but the latest was no less thrilling for the middle-aged musician. For, it was his offering to an iconic Malayalam film actor on his 30th death anniversary.
Golden ditties that have ‘evergreen hero’ Prem Nazir acting got a fresh lease of life and rare kind of sequence when Mansur presented them before a motley audience at the General Hospital, Ernakulam. The 100-minute programme was organised as the 251st edition of the famed all-Wednesday ‘Art and Medicine’ series of the Kochi Biennale Foundation.
Given that the therapeutic recital coincided with the date of Nazir’s death in 1989 and amid the 108-day biennale, Mansur chipped in nuggets of memories about the actor as well as stories from his association with the art festival currently into its fourth edition.
Only last year had the singer visited Nazir’s ancestral home at Chirayinkeezhu in downstate Thiruvananthapuram district, and sung a favourite song of the actor. Sitting in the room where Nazir had spent three decades of his life, Mansur rendered ‘Njan njan enna bhavangale’ from the 1972 film Brahmachari. “I am an ardent fan of Nazir sir,” he gushed at the Art and Medicine show. “I can never forget that occasion.”
As for India’s only biennale, Mansur, who has also been a dramatist, mimicry artiste and painter, earlier sang at the series during one of its initial episodes in 2015. “Who won’t be tempted by such a noble cause,” he said, referring to the show’s essential spirit of providing succour to patients and their gloomy relatives in the hospital. The shows are co-hosted by the Mehboob Memorial Orchestra, Fort Kochi.
The songs at today’s show included ‘Devi Sreedevi’, ‘Guruvayur ambalanadayil’, ‘Ramzanile chandrikayo’, ‘Chandanathil Kadanjedutha’ and ‘Kaananachhayayil aadu meikkan’.
Mansur, who sang nonstop for 19 hours and 20 minutes at a milestone concert in December 2009, has given another concert of ten hours featuring only songs written by well- known lyricist and poet Vayalar Ramavarma of the 20th century. That apart, Mansur has a repertoire of no less than 9,000 songs. He started singing at a very young age and participated in several concerts even while being a theatre person for ten years.
At today’s concert, Mansur was accompanied by his protégé Lisby Antony, who has sung with him at more than 150 stage shows. She, too, had earlier sung for the Arts and Medicine programme in 2015. “There is an element of nostalgia for me when I am here,” said Lisby. “That is because my grandfather was a famous doctor at this hospital and we kids used to drop in occasionally.”
