I feel blessed: Sonu Nigam on paying tribute to Md Rafi on his 100th birth anniversary, his first Rafi show in India

In his 47-year-long career as a musician, Sonu Nigam has considered late singer Mohammed Rafi a guru at every step. Now, the singer is set to pay homage to the veteran by performing at a tribute concert on Rafi’s centenary birth anniversary on December 24. Titled Sau Saal Pehle, the show will mark Nigam’s first-ever Rafi concert in India. “Rafi sahab was a phenomenon. He is not just my guru, but also my peer (spiritual guide) and seer (prophet), who I have worshipped and sought permission from before every song I sing on the microphone. I’ve cried profusely in admiration multiple times listening to him. To realise that he chose me to do his centenary show only reassures me that my respect and reverence have been reaching him in the other world. He is blessing me,” Nigam tells us, exclusively.

The singer adds that the show, which will be held in Mumbai, “will not be an ordinary concert”. He explains: “It’s akin to my entire life getting encapsulated into a concert. Every song and every emotion his music conveyed will be relived by me and the audience on Rafi sahab’s 100th birth anniversary. It’s going to be a festival -- the Mohammed Rafi Festival.”

Nigam goes on to talk about this show being his first-ever Rafi concert in India. “I performed three shows, titled Rafi Resurrected, in 2008 in the UK, which marked my collaboration with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. I can’t believe it’s been 16 years since I did an out-and-out Rafi concert! The one on December 24 will be my first-ever Rafi show in India and I can’t wait to take the stage.”

Ask how the idea of this tribute show, organised by NR Talent & Event Management, came about, and the singer says, “Can you imagine, the idea for this show comes from both my gurus’ families -- Firdaus Rafi ji and Shahid Rafi ji from Rafi sahab’s family, and Rabbani Mustafa Khan and Namrata Gupta Khan from Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan sahab’s family.”