MUMBAI: Music, Comedy, lots of emotions and several songs of yesteryear Hindi films creating nostalgia for several....such was the 'The Versatile - Javed Ali' live in Concert organised by Swar Aalap; an organization committed to bringing recognition to the great musicians of the Indian Music Industry for the past 14 years.

This time in its 14th year Swar Aalap honoured the Great Gorakh Sharma ji , Mohammad Rashid Khan saahab and Shashikant Kudalkar ji in the presence of several big wigs from the film industry like Javed Ali, Johnny Lever and corporate head honchos. At the event, awards are conferred upon outstanding great musicians who by their work and art have inspired many and created numerous melodies to cherish for millions forever. Founder Dinesh Ghate elated with the gathering, says, "Every year we are trying our best to reach out to as many musicians in the country and provide financial, medical and emotional support.” The event was supported by Godrej Properties upcoming thane project Godrej Emerald, Bank of India, Radio Partner - Big FM 92.7 and PR Partner - bubble communication.

Swar Aalap’s initiatives to keep the soul of the music industry alive and have found support from many legends of the industry like Pyarelal Sharma, Hariharan, Shivamani, Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Vishal-Shekhar amongst others. There are numerous other properties that the organization is working towards. Concerts are in addition to support needy Artistes and also restore the documentation of these living legends work in the form of digital data and coffee table book ‘The Unsung Heroes’.

Gorakh Sharma is an Indian guitarist who is well known for his work in the Indian film industry. He is the younger brother of Pyarelal Sharma of the famed music duo Laxmikant- Pyarelal. During his entire music career that spanned from 1960 to 2002 he has played various string instruments in more than 1000 songs and over 500 films including Rishi Kapoor starrer ‘Karz’, Rahul Roy ‘Aashiqui’ amongst others.

Mohammad Rashid Khan is Master of ‘Bulbul –Tarang’ and ‘Banjo’. Rashid Khan has been playing the instrument since 1962, One of his first assignments was for the movie ‘Shankar Shanbhu’(1976) under the baton of Kalyanji Anandji. There is hardly any famous qawwali-s in our films in which Mohammad Rashid Khan has not displayed his skills - eg. ‘Burning Train’, ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’, ‘Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai’, ‘Qurbani’, ‘Karma’, ‘Naam’, ‘Sarfarosh’, ‘Rowdy Rathore’, ‘Ishaqzaade’, ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’.

Shashikant Kudalkar the elder brother of the famous composer, Laxmikant Kudalkar (Laxmikant-Pyarelal) was a very skilled tabla player. A strong pillar in the edifice of the ‘Laxmikant-Pyarelal Brand’. He organised the rhythm-section for almost all songs, right from Parasmani till the early 1990-s.He played tabla in the movie Guide for S D Burman. He has also worked for R D Burman, Kalyanji Anandji, Naushad, Sardar Malik, O P Nayyar, Khayyam, S N Tripathi and many more as a tabla player for many memorable songs of the 1960-s, 70-s & 80-s. He played the famous passages of ‘duff’ for the on-screen Rishi Kapoor in the blockbuster, ‘Sargam’.

Requested by the present audience, Gorakh Sharma ji recreated the moment at the concert by playing Film ‘Karz’ signature tune on stage.