Kathmandu, Aug 29 (Inditop.com) More than two months after he died of a drug overdose, which has now been ruled as homicide, `King of pop’ Michael Jackson lives on – in Nepal.
On Saturday, the day the American superstar would have turned 51, an extraordinary tribute is being paid to him by an amazing look-alike, who also has talent and grit.
Fee Faridi, a 27-year-old African dancer also known as the “Michael Jackson of Zanzibar”, began a vigorous solo show in Kathmandu Saturday, intending to set a world record for the longest dance performance in the style of the pop icon.
“(I) am aiming to do the longest solo MJ performance in history in his memory,” said Faridi. “I’ll be dancing MJ on the roof of the world on his birthday. We remember and will love you always, MJ.”
The performance began at 11.30 a.m. local time at The Factory, a four-month-old party place and restaurant in Thamel, Kathmandu’s tourist hub.
“It was virtually an impromptu thing,” said Nishant Shrestha, manager at The Factory.
“Two days ago, Faridi, who was on a visit to Kathmandu, came here to eat and liked the ambience so much that he proposed to us to do an MJ solo on the star’s birthday.
“We told him that since we didn’t know anything about his skills, he would have to sit through an audition and he agreed. The performance was electric and we took him up.”
Dressed in a golden suit and wearing Jackson’s trademark black hat, Faridi began pirouetting to Michael Jackson numbers, watched by an admiring crowd that slowly began to swell.
Faridi, who teaches the MJ style of dancing as well as African and hiphop, says he began imitating the star’s unique dance steps from the age of six. During the time of Jackson’s death, he was in Mumbai where he threw in a performance as a tribute.
Last month, Nepal hosted an Elton John-look alike. Prior to that, it was a Chinese businessman who looks like the spitting image of Mao Zedong and can copy to perfection the Chinese leader’s way of writing as well as prose style.
Faridi’s plan for a 12-hour non-stop performance pales in comparison to the world record for rock impersonations.
Suresh Joachim, a Sri Lankan-Canadian, holds the most impressive impersonation record so far with a 43 hour 11 minute non-stop rendition of singing Elvis Presley songs a la the King of Rock and Roll.
rounak