By Biman Baruah

Today 24^th December, 2013 is a very special day for Rafi Lovers as 89^th birthday of voice of God: Mohammed Rafi. He was born on 24^th December 1924 at Kotla Sultanpur, a town near Amritsar in undivided Punjab. In childhood, he started singing by imitating chants of a Fakir in his village. He started his career at the age of 20, as singer in a Punjabi film GUL BALOCH (1944) and then moved to Bombay. In Bombay he started his career as a chorus singer in PEHLE AAP (1944) and film BAIJU BAWRA (1952) established him as the number one playback singer of Hindi Cinema. Thus, he was the crown playback singer of Hindi Film Music from AAN (1952) se SHAAN (1980) tak. He is the only singer of generations as well as millennium. (more…)

By Achal Rangaswamy

These are the first two lines of one of my top favourite songs.

Do you know why?

Because Dev Saab sang these words. Yes, I actually thought that it was that tall, not so dark but very handsome and charming young man in a dark suit with a champagne glass in his hand, smiling and flirting away as he sang these lines to further say Chheda mere dil ne taraane tere pyaar ka in the film Asli Naqli. (more…)

By Mr. Aejaz Saiyed

Tribute Portrait for Rafi sahib’s Birthday by Ahmadabad based Painter, Mr. Aejaz Saiyed

By Nasreen

Salaams to you all. On this 89th birth anniversary of Rafi Saheb, I decided to pen a few lines in dedication. I wil be a simple write up as I don’t have that much talent in writing nor do I have any real musical knowledge. (more…)

By Chandan (KS Ramachandran)

89th birth anniversary of Rafi Saab falls on Tuesday, the 24th December 2013 and all of us, without exception, are still mesmerized with his renditions and are never tired of listening to them. (more…)

By Mr. Biman Baruah

This Article is dedicated to my Kids.

Krissh-3 released on 1^st November, 2013 is declared blockbuster for record breaking collection of more than 100 crores in the Indian Box Office in 10 days which crossed now 300 crores worldwide. I was very fortunate to see the movie on demand from my kids on 3^rd November, 2013 in a city multiplex. Till date it is the paramount Indian special effect, science fiction and superhero movie like Superman, Batman, and Spiderman of Hollywood. A 60 plus director Rakesh Roshan made a break-through with this film. The film will be definitely nominated for Filmfare Awards for categories like Best Film, Best Director, Best Music Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Villain. (more…)

Article written by Maaz Shaikh, a young fan and ardent follower of the great man

Sunil Dutt – Mohd Rafi

Greetings to the Rafi community.

Keeping in mind the need for a proper introduction, I’ve decided to begin this article with a brief overview of… well, myself!

My name is Maaz Shaikh and this is my very FIRST article since the emergence of this fantastic site. Over the past 4 years now (2009-2013… and running), I’ve been diligently reading all of the brilliant pieces of literary praise, appreciation and approval that have been bestowed upon this noble soul and his amazing body of work… both, inside the recording studio and outside it. (more…)

This article is compiled by MR. BIMAN BARUAH, Gokuldham ONGC Colony, Goregaon(E), Mumbai-400063

Mohd Rafi and Mahendra Kapoor

On 15^th August, 2013 we celebrated INDIA’s 66^th Independence Day with most famous celluloid patriotic song like “Jahan Daal Daal Par Sone Ki Chidiya Karti Hai Bassera, Woh Bharat Desh Hai Mera” sung by golden voice of Mohammed Rafi. The song describes the exclusive and well-heeled natural, cultural, social characteristics of our country. The song was written by Qamar Jalalabadi and composed by Hansraj Behl from SIKANDAR-E-AZAM (1965) based on the story of Alexander and Puru.   (more…)

By Dr. Souvik Chatterji

Jaikishan with Mohd Rafi

Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal is remembered on 12^th September, his death anniversary in 2013. The listeners of music all over the world wished happy birthday to legendary composer Jaikishan better known as Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal on 4^th November, 2012. He was part of the legendary duo Shankar Jaikishan who dominated bollywood music during the 1950s and 1960s. Rafi had a very sweet relationship with Shankar Jaikishan but unfortunately their relationship had not been glorified in bollywood history. Whenever contribution of composers relating to classic creations involving Rafi are highlighted the name of Naushad, Roshan, Madan Mohan, OP Nayyar are glorified and the contribution of Shankar Jaikishan is ignored. (more…)

By Dr. Souvik Chatterji

Only genius singers have the capability of simplifying difficult ragas and Hindustani classical music simplified into the version which is understandable by the common mass. Both Manna Dey Sahab and Mohammad Rafi Sahab had the capability of making those complicated tunes simple, melodious and romantic. There were huge numbers of difficult songs composed for both of them in the 1950s and 1960s. (more…)