Musician, singer, guitarist; Mohamed Raffee is a man of many instruments. Interviewing him is like being on a musical roller coaster filled with high notes. Discussing his early days as a disciple of his talented father to his journey as a musician across India and Singapore, interspersed with his serenading in multiple languages, time flies with Raffee.
It is a wonderful coincidence that Raffee’s 50 years in music coincide with Kalaa Utsavam’s 20th anniversary. On November 19, a special show, Raffee 50 – A Musical Jubilee by Vasantham Boyz, will be held at the grand Esplanade Theatre as part of the festival lineup.
From working with the legendary AR Rahman from 1995 to 2007 to creating scores for local productions such as ‘The Coffin is Too Big for the Hole’, films such as ‘Gurushetram–24 Hours of Anger’ (2010), Kollywood, a name for Tamil-language motion pictures, film Jaggubhai’ (2010), rearranging and producing Tamil song Munneru Vaaliba for the National Day celebrations in 1998, Raffee, who started performing at the age of 10, has done it all.
His band Vasantham Boyz, which includes his longtime friend and bassist Daniel Sitranen, his two brothers – pianist and keyboardist Mohamad Bashir and drummer/percussionist Mohamed Noor – will be joined by other musicians who the band has worked with over the years for the commemorative performance.
In a world of show business where tom-tomming is extremely common, the veteran musician still considers himself a student, “I need to get there first.” Hear what the man with the golden voice, Mohamed Raffee, and his Vasantham Boyz have to say in a special Connected to India Spotlight interview.
Here is the link to buy tickets for the show.