Singer from Oman Haitham Rafi to sing ‘Vaishnava Jana To’ in Vadodara International Marathon
Wish to visit Porbandar the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi.
‘Vaishnava Jana To’ the popular bhajan written in 15th century by Narsinh Mehta in Gujarati language is still recreated by many artists from India and across the world. This year as the whole nations is celebrating 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi people will have a glimpse of his favourite bhajan in this year edition of Vadodara International Marathon.
For the first time in Vadodara well known singer from Oman Haitham Rafi will sing Vaishnava Jana at the start of Marathon scheduled on 6th January Sunday. A self trained singer Rafi so perfectly sings the popular bhajan even without knowing the meaning of it.
“I never take any music class or proper training and compose my own songs. One day I got the call from Indian embassy about singing the bhajan but I thought it would be difficult for me. However after three days continuous practice I am able to sing and record the bhajan. I don’t understand the words but able to catch the tune and soul of the popular Gujarati Bhajan and have the previlige to sing it in Vadodara,” said Rafi.
From personal banker to a singer musician Rafi grew in his career watching videos from Youtube and now awaits his entry into Bollywood. He records his first song in the industry and wants to introduce his own style of singing.
“Dil Hai Hindustani is my stepping stone and like a school for me. I already record my first song with Dilshad (Assistant of A.R. Rehman) for the film Devil’s Daughter and wants to do more in the industry. From there I experiment my style of singing in different languages and now wants to introduce it in bollywood. I want to bring Arabic style in the songs and steadily moving ahead to achieve my dream,” said Rafi.
On his first visit to the state of Guajrat Haitham Rafi will be visiting some of the popular places during his brief stay. “I wish to visit Porbandar the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi but due to time crunch will visit Sabarmati and get to know more about of him. I also will be visiting Statue of Unity and some other places during my stay in Gujarat,” said Rafi.
