Wonder in his eyes

Hectic practice over the last two months has got singer Neale Murray the one responsible for organizing Celebrate Bandra a little under the weather So now the quintessential Bandra Boy well he is 54yearsold is resting at home to give both his body and his voice rest ldquoEven when I am practicing the songs I am just playing it in my head so as not to exert myself I donrsquot want to reach my peak before the showrdquo says Murray when we meet him at his Bandra home ahead of his tribute to Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles at the National centre for Performing Arts on SaturdayMurray and Sharon Prabhakar will be at the vocals during the tribute concert at NCPA this week PICNimesh DaveTo set the mood he plays Ray Charles before we begin the interview ldquoThis is essentially the music I have grown up withrdquo says cofounder of Fountainhead an experiential marketing company that also organises the annual Celebrate Bandra festivalldquoLast year we had done a tribute to the magic of Motown the Black music label that was founded in the last 1950s Wonder still records music for them and Charles cut a few albums with them Thatrsquos when jazz critic Sunil Sampath suggested that we do a tribute to Wonder and Charlesrdquo adds Murray who attributes his vocal skills he is also a guitarist to the years of training at the church choirA child of the rsquo60s Murray is a fan across genres mdash we spot a Jethro Tull CD lying in a stack behind the Christmas tree still decorated from last week He then rattles off the others he is fond of Deep Purple Pink Floyd Rolling Stones Crosy Stills amp Nash The Eagles and Michael Jackson Among the newage musicians he is fond of Pharrel Williams Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake ldquoMy kids are studying at a music school in California and they often update me about new musicrdquo he says adding that while his son a drummer will be performing at one song his daughter a vocalist will be leaving before the performance Not before sharing tips on how to keep his vocal chords in perfect shape however he laughsMurray who is being accompanied on the vocals by Sharon Prabhakar says finding musicians for the 21song tribute was a tough jobldquoMost musicians in the city havenrsquot played this kind of music so they had to undergo a lot of practicerdquo he adds While pianist Clifton Rodricks is the director for the night others who have been brought include Carl Peters on bass Cassey Fernandes on the drums and Bradley Tellis from The Colour Compound will be on the guitar On the saxophone aside from Anand Vaithy is Carl Clements a New YorkBoston based artiste who has performed across the world and has performed in India as well ldquoWe realised that he would be in town for the show and asked him if hersquod join inrdquo says MurrayMusic sheets were sent via WeTransfer and final rehearsals with the entire team in one place will start on Monday Murray knows delivering Wonder and Charles to an audience is no easy task ldquoI am only trying to live up to their legacyrdquo he adds His bag of songs includes popular numbers like Fever I Canrsquot Stop Loving You and I Got a Woman among others ldquoThe idea is to give something the audience can connect tordquo