By Mr. K.S. Ramachandran

I firmly believe that it is a universal truth that Rafi Sahab is par excellence in every sphere of voice. He had that incredible combination of the best of the best possible factors that contribute to good singing. He was a gentleman who was ever smiling and pleasant. Good manners are seen from one’s face and Rafi Sahab was a perfect example. His music as Godly and literally all music directors exploited the inherent and invisible talents of the great legend. His voice had that magic spell. He had depth beyond limits when it came to pathos. Can anyone dare try singing “Din Dal Jaye Raat Na Jaye“, Kabhi Kudh Pe Kabhi Haalatpe Roma Aaya“? (more…)

This article is by Mr. K.S.Ramachandran

With yet another approaching 31st July this year 2007, we are seeing through the evergreen remembrances of the great legend Mohd. Rafi Sahib. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. Souvik Chatterji, Master of Law, Warwick University, UK, Master of Law Case Western Reserve University, USA.

Music had played a very significant role in translating Indian thoughts throughout thousands of years. Right from the time of maharajas and nawabs it used to be presented in their courtrooms either by ustads or by the ruler himself. There was music inherently existing at every place, every part of society, every geographical location irrespective of being sung by sants or bairagis or fakirs or majhimollas. Indian cinema in the last century had based its feet on the strong story base of such characters. Now one of the main reason of reaching (more…)

This article is written by Mr.H.V.Guru Murthy.

A regular browser to web site mohdrafi.com, having gone through the letters of Rafi lovers would assume that R D Burman did not utilize Rafi properly, instead he preferred Kishore Kumar. Because of this reason, Rafi Fans are still upset with RDB even though he passed away a decade back. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy.

Apart from regular Rafi heroes like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Shammi Kapoor, Pradeep Kumar, etc. Bharat Bhushan was one actor who was fortunate to have Rafi as his main playback singer in most of the hit movies of fifties and early sixties. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. B.Venkatadri (also known as Venkat) from Hyderabad.

Normally, Music Directors compose songs keeping in mind mainly the proposed singer’s voice range/scale and also his/her other qualities such as ability to do justice to sangat’s, etc. For instance, if they were composing for Mukesh or Talat, they would do so within a narrow span of scales, certainly not too high and also not that low also. Also, they would not keep many difficult sangat’s for them. For instance, can Music Directors compose a “Zindabad, Zindabad” or a “Tarif Karoon Kya Us Ki” for Mannadey or Talat or Mukesh or even Kishore, for that matter? Simply no way! (more…)

This article is written by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy

The sixties saw the emergence of two Bengali heroes on Hindi Screen, Biswajeet and Joy Mukherjee. The former was a serious threat to the great Uttam Kumar on the Bengali Screen and the latter was from the famous S.Mukherjee family. Though limited in talent, they were lucky to get the best songs of Sixties and the decade saw huge hits of these two Actors. Of course, Rafi was the main play back singer for both these actors and played a major role in their stardom. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. Azad Ilahibaks.

My name is Azad Ilahibaks. I am forty years old and live since 1991 in Holland. Before this I lived in Suriname, a country in South-America. I am a fan of Rafi. I am collecting Rafi songs. Now I have approximately 1.700 mp3 of Rafi. I have never seen a show of Rafi. I know that he has given shows in many country, also in Suriname and in Holland. When I meet people who saw the shows of Rafi, I liked to talk with those people and try to ask so many question as possible. (more…)

This article is written by Mr.A.S.Murty.

Each one of us must have heard close to a 100,000 songs in various languages, rendered by various artistes of all hues. Many great singers have entertained us with their thousands of songs over the last several decades and many more will continue to do so in the coming eras. We may not be familiar with singers of yore or the distant lands and how best they are comparable with the singers of the sub-continent. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. A.S.Murty

For Mohd. Rafi, ghazal singing must have come naturally. Having come from an Urdu background, he must have been influenced early in life with Urdu couplets and Ghazals, just like any other boy of his background. Hindi film music has produced many great Ghazal exponents and Mohd. Rafi is one of these greats. (more…)