By Vilas Parulekar and Binu Nair : From the Rafi Foundation : Mumbai

Mohd Rafi with Afgan Singer Jhela

Mai Bhari Mehfil se  Chala Jaaonga – said Mohd Rafi to mentor – Naushad Ali Saheb one day.

“Aap yun hi Jasbaati ho rahe hai” Rafi Miansaid Naushad Saheb and changed the conversationto the need of creating great musical works.

The point which speedily come to the mind is : Whetherthe divine singer Rafi saaheb had any premonition ofleaving our musical world so early at age fifty six.

Thirty One years have passed by but the aura of Mohd Rafi is only increasing says ace key boardist& arranger Pappan from Calicut, Kerala who has been in the midst of presenting musicals in South India for thelast forty years.

This Sunday, July 31st hundreds of Mohd Rafi fans and music lovers will once again assemble at Rafi SahebsMazhar located at the big mosque near Juhu , Santacruz and will pay homage to Mohd Rafi saheb.
The graves of Mohd Rafi and Naushad will be preservedthe mosque authorities had assured the Rafi Foundationdelegation as they are legends and have millions of supporters – world wide.

Rafi lovers will spend the day a Sunday at the Juhumosque and before that another group will be at theRafi Saheb Chowk at Bandra – offering flowers and decking up the place.

In July and in December Rafi bakhts go in to overdrive anda frenzy of musical programs can be witnessed. According toMr Miraz Ahmed (son-in-law ) of Rafi Saheb : some 9500 musicals were arranged during the last two weeks of Dec.around the world. This is a record if properly documented will enter the Guiness Book of Records.

Composer  Pyarelal talks animatedly about Mohd Rafi songs and oftenlists the six songs the L and P duo recorded in a single day prior toMohd Rafi’s abroad tour. All the songs were hits Pyare bhai adds.
“but the last few lines of the song : tu kahin mere aas paas hai dostwas done in a hurry. the producers wanted to shoot a few scenes andwe requested Rafi Saheb to come over. The full song was plannedto be recorded later but it never happened. We recorded few lineson July 28 and on July 31st past ten pm, the deadly news of Rafi Saheb passing away came. ”

Rafi Saheb’s Magnamity:

Volumes have been written about Mohd Rafi’s prolific recordingsand his unmatched  brilliance before the microphones. Rafi isthe real Bharat Ka Ratna said late Saxophone king Manoharidaat borivli’s Probodhan Thackaray Hall a week before he left us.(july 13, 2010). If Rafi Saheb’s renditions were masterpieces, his concern forthe downtrodden and needy were part of folklore in the muddledfilm industry.While going for the recording of ‘Ishwar Allah Tero Naam‘ the studio liftman had whispered a few words. After the recording, Mohd Rafi gave the singing fees cover to the liftman. It contained Rs.10,000 and the year was 1971. It was for themarriage of the liftman’s daughter. The man was bitterly cryingand telling the world of Rafi benevolence on Aug 1, 1980 when amammoth crowd (thebiggest by far for a funeral) was trying toreach the fallen Rafi Saheb.And, on one count, Rafi saheb refused to take his remuneration after singing few lines of ‘Aap ke deewane hai’. He had thensaid : ‘Maine gaaya hi kya Hai“. On the composers insistencethe master took the cover and handed over to the musiciansthat day saying :  ‘Aap ke bachon ko mithai le lena isi me se‘.

A Rafi museum is coming up in Kolhapur said Mr Sharad Vykoolace painging artist and Rafi friend for a long time. ‘Rafi Sahebamhala khoop madat kela aani aamhi tyaanche aatvan saathihe museum karna aahe‘. All the gifts given to us by Mohd Rafi would be kept there said Mr Vykool. And another Rafi bakht is Mr Shridhar Kulkarni who has writtena well appreciated book in Marathi. It will be translated in to English this year. Atleast three other writers are working onRafi books – to be brought out by december this year.
The Mohd Rafi magic is Unstoppable. In the times of near death of bollywood music – the golden era songs of Mohd Rafi is the only succour for the thirsty Musical souls.

Generations will come and go but Mohd Rafi Songs will goon for ever giving bread, butter and solace to many hungry souls.

This blog was published on Sunday, July 31st, 2011 at 3:42 am and Last modified on Sunday, July 31st, 2011 at 6:10 pm and is filed under Meri Awaaz Suno. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.