Mumbai:
After offering his evening namaaz and thanking the Almighty for a life of love and contentment, Musa Paik gets ready to invoke the Divine Mother. Known for his devotional songs and Gujarati numbers, the 55-year-old singer is a crowd-puller at the dandiya event at the Mhada Grounds in Kandivli.
"This happens only in India," says Paik, referring to the fact that a practising Muslim participates with wholehearted fervour in Hindu rituals.
"I sense the presence of God everywhere. Hence, I can sing bhajans, aartis and qawwalis with equal devotion and sincerity," adds the crooner, who has been regaling audiences in India and abroad with devotional and traditional ditties for the last 30 years.
When he is not making Navratri revellers sway to his traditional Gujarati songs, Paik is busy performing at private shows and weddings along with his band Crazy Beats.
"Music is not confined to any region or religion," feels Paik, who originally hails from Gujarat but has been brought up in Mumbai. "There is unmatched beauty in Indian songs. I am filled with great joy and peace when I am performing for thousands of Navratri revellers every year," he adds.
Incidentally, Paik has no formal training in his art and learnt everything he knows on the job. "I have been a music lover for as long as I can remember. All these years later, I feel humbled by the love that I receive from audiences of different communities. It makes me proud to be an Indian," he says. Paik has recently been felicitated by the National Education and Human Resource Development Organisation for his contribution to the performing arts.
And has he ever been on the radar of fundamentalists? Paik insists that radical elements have more or less left him alone. The singer feels that it is only vested interests who indulge in religious discrimination. "The common man wants a simple life away from the hate propaganda of fundamentalists," he says.
He believes that religion is nothing but a way of living. "Who are we to believe that one faith is superior to another, when all religions preach brotherhood and tolerance?" Paik says.
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