A nice experience sharing by Chitra from Bahrain

Oru cheriya experience share cheyyan aagrahikunnu paatukal ishtamulla ellavarumaayi..... Chanced to spend a beautiful evening in a concert held here in bahrain yesterday.....and then got to spend a precious 20 minutes to meet the great singer and hear him share his experiences...and as we wait to meet him the most unassuming Shahbaz Aman walks up to us from the dark corridor, greets us and falls into conversation as if we all have been acquainted since long... We are just getting to know this great singer...a most humble and pathetically unlucky singer .....I wished to tell our friends and anyone who comes across this page what we have missed ..it is sad even music industry is so helpless not to be able to promote music through the voices that can truly touch the soul...we have missed many songs ....great songs that died before being born....some snatched away so pathetically .... its truly pathetic in our music industry....and i really feel "ithaloornnu veena panineer dalangal" would have fetched a better emotional response in shahbaz amans hands ...and he picks up this tanmatra song as one of the most painful experiences...an extremely emotional and humble man who says "njan bhagyathil viswasikunilla...engilum ... cinema irangi theatreil kanan chellumbo njanpaadiya paatu illa ...athinte mattoru version vere aaro paadiyirikunnu" ...he shared such an experience about the film 'Cycle' too....cannot imagine a song Shahbas' voice can render being given to Vineeth sreenivasan..but again that's comercialisation of music.It would be wrong to pick and point such instances because Shahbas Aman never talked of it as a way of accusation or blame upon anyone..he may have never intended....he just said in resposne to the query if he isnt getting many songs....it's sad but that how things go today! The two lines he scribbled on my notebook touched..."madhvikuttiyude randu varikal ente kaipadayil ezhuthatte...only the soul knows how to sing.....".The emotional dedication and bonding to music rings in his songs and it comes truly from within.... indeed only a soulful musician can sing so ..true ...! The concert was grand....started off with jagjit singh's golden nazm baat niklegi to.....traversed to mehdi hassan's "pyar bhare do sharmeele nayan".....pankajudhas "darwaza khula rakhna "and towards the end left the crowd totally emotional with mohd rafi's "aaj kal mein dhal gayaa, din huaa tamaam..meri haath dhaame tu bhi so jaa...." just couldnt hold back the tears ...the small ghazal crowd's response was tremendous! ...the song requests statred off with Saigal's "chupke chupke" and then shahbas' own creation "pakaruka nee" in pakal nakshatrangal sung in harijis voice..must say a musician knows to feel his own song more than a singer even it be hariji..he conversed a lot with the crowd esp. during the song request rounds..."kurachu velicham taru...njan ivarude oke mukham kaanatte"...and the dim lights were put on unlike for the normal ghazal evenings...."pakaruka nee" was created not for the movie..it was created on a tired evening ..oru unarvu pakaraanyi..says he... in a casual conversation with the director of the movie........they later added it to the movie. Shahbas aman said before his song..in all humility.."great ghazal maestros sing their own creations..we are just on the way...its great someone requests for my own creation..." again Neeyum nilavum..another one by him..soulfully rendered...he then switches to the never dying classic malayalam movie ghazal "oru pushpam matram ..." adds up typical ghazal improvisations beautifully. the crowd requests his non ghazal songs and it was amazing the way he blended his "chaadukudanjkoru sooryan maanathu" and "istamalle"...to some great pankajudhas ghazals...it was unbelievable the medley. The request pours down...but the singer is tired...3 hours!!! and finally he says..."ella kandummutalukalkkum shesham piriyuka ennathu anivaryam anu...innathe saayahnam innathode kazhyunilla...oru taalakaalika vidavaangalinu shesham nammalkku iniyum kandumuttam...praanasakhi njan verum oru paamaranam paatukaran paadi inatheku matram nammal piriyunnu....."

-Chitra, Bahrain