Melody queen Asha Bhosle electrified audiences at sold-out show Rahein Na Rahein Hum, Mehaka Karenge: A Journey of Timeless Melodies in Dubai on Friday night. The 84-year-old icon collaborated with the singer Javed Ali at Shaikh Rashid Hall, Dubai World Trade Centre, in what has been described as her farewell concert.
Clad in a sea green sari, the singer took the stage at around 8.40pm to wild cheers and enthusiasm. Such was the level of excitement and fanfare that audiences had started trooping in before 7o’clock. “I came all the way from Abu Dhabi. How could I not? You don’t get to hear an icon like Asha tai live every day,” Inder Saini, one of the audience members, told Gulf News.
The orchestra played a medley of her popular tracks but it was the familiar voice of Bhosle that set the mood for the evening. Starting off with her evergreen number Aaiye Meherbaan, Baithiye Jaane Jaan, Shauk Se Lijiye Ji Ishq Ke Imtihaan [come my beloved, sit down my darling. Then if you please, take the test of love], she went on to croon most of her hit songs.
As the night wore on, Bhosle, who regularly took breaks and sipped water during the show, interspersed her live performance with anecdotes from her life. Perhaps it was a combination of the nostalgia she evoked, her advanced age and the sheer effort that she put in onstage, the audiences were kept magnetised throughout the show.
Bhosle took to Twitter after the concert to thank her fans, “Dubai audience, you are absolutely amazing. I first performed here in 1978 & your love, affection & reception for me gets better & better.”
Among her compositions were Bhosle’s best known songs such as Chura Liya, Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main, Jhumka Gira Re and Pyar Karne Wale. In her characteristic mellifluous way, she sang a number of Bollywood tracks, sometimes improvising as she went along. Her rendition of a few numbers originally sung by Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar proved to be smashing, much to the delight of those present.
Filled to the rafters, the Shaikh Rashid Hall displayed a fan base that transcended barriers of age, background and borders, cementing Bhosle’s status as an icon for music lovers not only in India but also across the world.
With calls for encores and thousands of her ecstatic fans jiving along, the Dubai concert was a huge hit, as evidenced from the standing ovation that Asha received from a jam-packed auditorium.
