Yusuf Muchhala is a practising lawyer and a senior advocate. At 76, he is prepared to sing at his first live show with his group Humming Birds, which is made up of 28 amateur singers aged above 30. On February 6, the group will give its first live performance at Mysore Association Hall in Matunga, delivering 28 songs accompanied by a professional orchestra.
Yusuf Muchhala is a practising lawyer and a senior advocate. At 76, he is prepared to sing at his first live show with his group Humming Birds, which is made up of 28 amateur singers aged above 30. On February 6, the group will give its first live performance at Mysore Association Hall in Matunga, delivering 28 songs accompanied by a professional orchestra.
Although they have been together for more than eight years with a separate music group, they formed their own last year. The group meets every Sunday afternoon at Amulak Amichand High School in Matunga for practise sessions.
The tickets for the show have been distributed amongst family and friends at a voluntary price of Rs200 which will help them cover the auditorium rent and cost of the professional musicians accompanying them.
"More than 20 members of the group are aged above 50 and around 10 to 12 are above 60. Most of us have no training and do it as a hobby, but many of us have begun taking lessons and learning from music teachers.
Whatever is left from the sale of tickets will be distributed amongst ourselves or given to NGOs that a few of our members work with," said 57-year-old R Parthasarathy, who works at an education institute. He added that they had shows earlier for their family members and friends on a smaller scale, where they organised something in a small room for 80 people.
The eldest member is Muchhala, who will be singing a song from the 50s called 'Jaag Dard-e-Ishq Jaag'. "Most of us come from a different professional background and do it as a hobby. Gradually, we are taking it more seriously and want to perform in a better way," he said.
The group boasts of individuals from various walks of life — Hema Gandhi, a CSR professional and working for the paraplegic and disabled, Subodh Ekbote, an interior designer and a founder member of Yuvak Biradari (Bharat), a voluntary youth movement of India for the last 35 years, and Dr AL Sharada, director of NGO Laadli, working for women empowerment, among others.
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