100 years of Mehboob: A legacy that lives on

Reverse Aspinwall Home in Fort Kochi stands the workplace of the Mehboob Memorial Orchestra — a sanctuary of recollections devoted to H Mehboob, Kerala’s beloved singer who by no means failed to thrill his audiences, on the stage and off it. 

Mehboob’s legacy stays intact right here — previous pictures grasp on the partitions and the stage within the central corridor showcases work of him and singer Mohammed Rafi (Mehboob idolised the legendary singer).

Members of the “membership”, as they name it, get collectively right here each Friday and provide their modest stage to aspiring musicians. “That is how we preserve the spirit of his music alive,” says Ok A Hussain, secretary and one of Mehboob Memorial Orchestra’s (MMO) earliest members. The constructing itself is over 130 years previous, provides Hussain. 

Seated in a chair beside the window overlooking the road and the traditional raintree, Hussain talks about Mehboob, curating his phrases with care. “Bhai was one of a form — a real maverick. Nobody may guess what he had up his sleeve and that was half of his enchantment.” 

KA Hussain of Mehboob Memorial Orchestra at Fort Kochi.
| Photograph Credit score:
Thulasi Kakkat

Based as an off-the-cuff collective referred to as Raag a yr earlier than Mehboob’s dying in 1981, the MMO was formally launched in 1985, to rejoice his life and music. Among the many founding members was the late ghazal singer Umbayee, who shared a detailed bond with Mehboob and has carried out alongside him on a number of phases. 

Mehboob, an emotion

Over 4 a long time, the MMO has continued to unfold the enjoyment of music, very like Mehboob himself, whose story was among the many most dramatic and vital in Kerala’s music historical past. For everybody who grew up within the Fort Kochi-Mattancherry area throughout his heyday, Mehboob was an emotion, says Hussain. “He was ‘Bhai’ to everybody. He had a uncommon knack to attach with folks. There was a time when his stage reveals would draw extra crowds than even KJ Yesudas’s,” says Hussain, stopping typically to recite a couplet or two from Mehboob’s well-known songs. 

H Mehboob
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

“His model was distinctive — there was a contact of humour, soul and spontaneity in all the pieces he sang. Even his sartorial selections had been somewhat distinctive. He wore unfastened shirts, which added to his persona,” remembers Hussain. 

Born in 1926, Mattancherry, Mehboob grew up in an impoverished household; he virtually spent his childhood within the army barracks at Pattalam, Fort Kochi. His intrinsic expertise endeared him to the folks, and he was singing all over the place — at weddings, mehfils, or simply with a bunch of mates below Fort Kochi’s benevolent canopies. 

Together with lyricists Nelson Fernandez and Meppally Balan, Mehboob created a quantity of authentic songs, some of which had been later utilized in mainstream Malayalam movies (akin to Annayum Rasoolum (Kayalinarike…).  

Movies and fame

It didn’t take lengthy earlier than his expertise was observed by the movie world. Actor TS Muthaiah beneficial his title to composer V Dakshinamoorthy, who gave him three songs within the movie Jeevithanouka. Nevertheless, it was Ok Raghavan’s composition ‘Maanennum vilikkilla’ from Neelakkuyil (1954) that catapulted him to filmy fame. Quickly, he was singing for all the highest Malayalam movie music composers.

H Mehboob
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

However Mehboob didn’t actually look after fame. In line with music historians, he was the “elusive”. “That was additionally half of Mehboob’s Sufiesque attraction. He was a poetic wanderer, who didn’t need to possess something. Ask anybody — from a barber to a fish monger in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry and they might communicate with a way of heat that few artists can elicit,” says Ok Pradeep, veteran journalist and one of the founders of Kraft, a literary and thought pageant. The current version of the pageant included a session, ‘Mehboob@100’, which spotlighted the singer and his life in music.

Junior Mehboob
| Photograph Credit score:
Thulasi Kakkat

A mentor to Junior Mehboob

Among the many few surviving musicians in Kochi who’ve shared the stage with Mehboob is Junior Mehboob, who says he earned his title from the legendary singer. He began singing with Mehboob on the age of six. “He actually took me below his wing; I might accompany him to his reveals and sing with him. I’m a musician immediately as a result of of him. He confirmed me the best way,” says Junior.

At 75, Junior stays a dwelling archive of Mehboob’s musical legacy. “I do know all of his songs by coronary heart. He has sung over 60 songs. I’ve been a component of virtually all of the Mehboob memorial concert events, and have even carried out at concert events devoted to him overseas,” says Junior.

“His model is inimitable. Take the music ‘Kathu sookshichoru kasthuri mambazham…’ from the movie Nair Pidicha Pulivaal, as an illustration. His added his magic to the music, composed in a qawwali format. Few singers may infuse with such individuality and charisma,” says Junior.

He describes his mentor as an affectionate individual. “He used to deal with me as ‘kutty’ (which means baby in Malayalam). And he was certainly like a father to me. He was the one who took me to Madras (Chennai) for the primary time,” Junior remembers.

For the previous 40 years, he has been singing at Lodge Abad Plaza, a ardour he attributes to his mentor. “The Bhai I do know is a superb human being,”

Everybody has a Mehboob story

For TV producer and director Diana Silvester, the bond with Mehboob goes again to her childhood. Diana’s father CR Silvester was a patron of the humanities and would host mehfils at their house in Nazreth, Fort Kochi. And Mehboob was an everyday.

Diana Silvester
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

Nevertheless, most of what Diana is aware of about Mehoob is thru the colorful tales her mother and father Silvester and Amy advised her. “Anecdotes about Mehboob abound, however what strikes me essentially the most is that he would sing the identical music in numerous tunes. His life was like that too — each one has their very own Mehboob story,” she says.

Within the late Nineties, Diana made a documentary on the musician, which captured the essence of his genius. 

H Mehboob (in black), an previous {photograph}
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

“What was meant as a two-episode documentary went on to grow to be ten episodes. Whereas taking pictures, we had folks are available with their very own tales of Mehboob. It was an expertise price cherishing,” says Diana.

In his ultimate days, Mehboob spent a couple of days at Diana’s house. She remembers a faint reminiscence of him sitting within the backyard of their then new home in Chullikkal, with a bunch of folks, singing a lilting English ditty, ‘Tomy and Laura had been lovers….’

Mehboob died on April 22, 1981, on the age of 55. Forty-five years later, his tales, songs and antics proceed to be retold in vivid colors, by generations of music lovers.