Dear Editor,
I went to the Sonu Nigam live stage show at the National Stadium, Providence, and while the show was an enjoyable and entertaining one, with Sonu singing for three hours non-stop, Guyanese Indians see Sonu Nigam as a reincarnation of the late Indian playback singer, Padma Shri Mohammed Rafi, so we Guyanese were expecting him to sing the old (golden) hits made popular by Rafi.
I saw many older folks, including pundits and imams, as well as senior citizens walking with sticks and in wheelchairs expecting to hear the Rafi songs of yesteryear.
Sonu Nigam sang only one old Rafi song from the film Dosti, with all the other tunes being modern songs.
The late Mohammed Rafi sang over 20,000 super hit songs in many hit movies of yesteryear – Aan, Dularie, Barsat Bahar, Arzoo, Shahab, Mela, Guide, Neel Kamal, Deedar, Bhabi, Kohinor, Ram Aur Shyam, Hera Ranjah, Junglee, Geet, Jeene Ki Raat, Anmol Gadi, Barsaat, Sangam, Beti Beta and Haathi Mere Saathi, just to name a few. We did not expect to hear ‘Phulorie bin a chutney’ from him.
When President Donald Ramotar requested the evergreen song ‘Suhanie Raat nee dal chukie’ while he was on stage, Sonu sang one line and the President had to sing the other line himself. I feel that the onus is on the promoters to advise singers about what songs a Guyanese audience will be looking for. Many overseas based Guyanese came in especially for this show, expecting the man with the closest voice to Mohammed Rafi to do justice to the latter’s songs.
Yours faithfully,
Parmanand Sukhu
