Biennale Music: A Melodious Rendezvous with Playback Singer Mohammed Aslam

KOCHI:
Noted playback singer Mohammed Aslam led the crowd on a nostalgic journey through the golden age of Bollywood music at the Government General hospital here today at the weekly ‘Arts and Medicine’ show organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation.
Groovy as it is, the high tempo, foot-tapping music of today hardly matches up to the Kishore Kumar or Mohammed Rafi numbers from the golden era of Hindi music, which was the choice of songs today.
Arts and Medicine is an all-Wednesday joint initiative of the Kochi Biennale Foundation and Mehboob Memorial orchestra, sponsored by CAFS (Casino Air Caterers & Flight Services), aimed at providing solace to patients through therapeutic music.
The 195th edition of the programme this week featured the noted singer who came into the music field at the tender age of six and started performing at the age of 13 inspired by singers Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh. Aslam has a popular show ‘Aslam Nites’ for the entertainment of the public.
The south Indian playback singer from Bengaluru has performed all over India, the Persian Gulf and also has done playback singing in Tamil and Bollywood film industries. He has worked with A R Rahman for Rang De Basanti and Jodha Akbar and was also a part of Rahman’s world tour. Aslam has gained international acclaim after performing over 2,000 stage shows in different parts of the world.
The programme today went well past its hour-long schedule today as the audience plied the singer with one request after the other. Aslam began the show with ‘Badi Door Se Aayi Hain’, a hit number by Rafi Saab and closed with ‘Achcha To Hum Chalte Hain’.
“Mohammed Aslam, an internationally acclaimed singer has come to Kochi from Bengaluru to sing for the patients and bystanders of the General hospital in his own interest. This gesture will take ‘Arts and Medicine’ to new heights and is a great achievement for the organisers of the show”, said Bonny Thomas, KBF Research Coordinator.
He sang 18 songs, mostly Hindi melodies of Kishore, Rafi , Mukesh and Talat Mahmood, with a Malayalam and Tamil song thrown into the mix.