Some Rare Diamonds Of Rafi Saab – 6
This article is written by Mr. Venkatadri Brahmandam.
(Suraiya’s Journey With Rafi)
Mohd Rafi
Between 1948 and 1958, Mohammed Rafi Saab had sung over 25 memorable duets with Suraiya. Probably, the first ever Rafi-Suraiya duet was “Taron Bhari Raat Hai Par Tu Kahan†in Film:Kajal-1948, composed by Ghulam Mohammed. Incidentally, Suraiya is known to have sung only for herself and only in Films wherein she was the heroine.
Today, let us have the listening pleasure of three of these rare and beautiful Rafi-Suraiya duets.
The first one may not be that rare to many and is from Film:Dastaan (1950). The MD is Naushad and lyrics are by Shakeel Badayuni . The Rafi-Suraiya duet we are talking of is “Tarari Arari Arari, Yeh Sawan Rut Tum Aur Ham, Tara Rara Ramâ€. It is picturised on Raj Kapoor and Suraiya herself. Incidentally, this is one of the few songs wherein Rafi Saab had lent his voice for even Raj Kapoor. ( I propose to discuss all of Rafi Saab’s songs for Raj Kapoor, in a separate article later.)
Suraiya
This song goes down in the HFM history as one of the first Western music based compositions. Lovely and peppy tune and orchestration by Naushad and excellent rendition by Rafi and Suraiya! And what a stylish use of the accordion and group violins by Maestro Naushad!
[audio:Dastaan_TaraRiAraRiAraRi.mp3]
Listen to Tarari Arari Arari, Yeh Sawan Rut and enjoy!
The second one is from the tragedy Film:Shama Parwana(1954). The MD is Husnlal Bhagatram and the lyrics are by Majrooh Sulatanpuri. The Rafi-Suraiya duet of today from this Film is “Beqarar Hai Koyi Aa Aa, Ae Mere Dildaar Aaâ€. It is picturised on Shammi Kapoor and Suraiya herself. One can notice the extremely fresh and young voice of Rafi Saab in this song.
What a heart-rending tune and what great renditions by both the singers! See how Husnlal Bhagatram have composed that divine Aaaap in the beginning of the song, in the end of the song and at the end of each Mukhda!!
[audio:ShamaParwana_BeqararHaiKoi.mp3]
Listen to Beqarar Hai Koyi Aa Aa and enjoy!
The third one is a fast and peppy number from Film:Mister Lamboo(1956). It goes thus: “Tum Zara Si Baat Se Khafa Na Ho, Tu Mera Dilrubaâ€. The MD is none other than O.P.Nayyar and the lyricist is Harsha. it is picturised on Kamaljeet and Suraiya herself.
A typical OPN composition and a sheer pleasure to the ears.
[audio:MrLambu_TumZaraSiBaatPe.mp3]
Listen to Tum Zara Si Baat Se Khafa Na Ho and enjoy!
Mohd Rafi
To conclude, I wish to present a humble view of mine. No doubt, the fifties and the sixties represent the Platinum era of Hindi Film Music. But, if I have to choose between the fifties and the sixties, I would certainly choose the fifties. Only, it requires a bit more of time spent by one with those songs to comprehend and enjoy the brilliance of the fifties music!
Thanks for the song Tarari – and for sharing that it is composed by Naushad ji; amazing composition!!
respected venkatadri ji, thanks a lot for sharing these gems with Rafi Sahab fans..best wishes for the time ahead.
some people are blaming the song jai ho. it is not a good habit because that song had won the oscar award to india in its history.i am also a great fan of mohammad rafi,mukesh talat and lata mangeshker.but at the same time a am proud of the song jai ho also.
mr hashim , it is unfair to under estimate the song jai ho.u should remember one thing that this song had reasoned india to won the oscar.old hindi songs of rafi, mukesh lata etc are good one ,but any one of it had the ability to capture a foreign award.mr v brahmanandan i really believe ‘taroam bhari raat’ is sung by shemshad begum with rafi.
mr.anil raj, you are a brave man indeed! u had shown the courage to say the trouth that old rafi+suraiya melodies are far more better than the ‘jai ho ‘ song of ar rahiman.india would have bagged more than three dozen oscar awards for music & songs if they had heard the old songs of mohd rafi, lata,mukesh, talat,mannadey,geeta dutt, asha and mahendra kapoor.there may be many music lovers who agree or dis agree with me in this case.dear venketji, ofcourse 1950’s songs are golden one compared to other decades songs.
hi thangalji. as u adviced i heard the song in the filim shaan, ofcourse it is super fine song. both rafi and sureya had sung ‘ hum tumse wafa ‘ very beautifully.if the authorities of oscar had heard that song they might have given it the best song award. sorry to say, our ‘jai ho ‘song will not reach hundred km near to it.
hi venkatji, i don’t know whether u had heard the rafi suraiya duet in the filim shhan the song begins like ” hum tumse wafa kar ke tum ham se wafa..” it is a fine song. you can hear it from the web “hans raj behle” page ‘behle’. pl. write about it after hearing .with great thanks for ur “rare diamonds of rafi saab”
Amar Sagar Ji,
Many thanks for your kind words of appreciation.
But, I wish to tell you that the duet, “Tum Zara Si Baaat Se”, is, without a shred of doubt, a Rafi-Suraiya duet only. Well, at times and in some songs, Suraiya can sound like Geeta Dutt, as both the voices have that simialr nasal tinge!
Regards,
Venkat
Dear Venkatadri Brahmandam ji,
Great article and really rare diamonds of Rafi Sahab.
Many thanks for continueing the series. I personally was waiting the same.
Thanks and best regards.
Anwar-ul-Haque
Dear Venkatadri,
I greatly appreciate your write-up on Rafi-Suraiya duets; more so as this beautiful combination is hardly ever celebrated. I’ve immense admiration for both the legendary singers.
However, if I can trust my ears, the female singer accompanying Rafi Sahib in the song: Tu Zara Si Baat Se Khafa Na Ho from Mister Lamboo is not Suraiya. Most likely the singer is Geeta Dutt!
Best Regards.
amar
Pl. send me all the songs through e-mail if possible. I shall feel highly obliged.
All of us love rafi
can somebody kindly mail me d song “tum zara si baat ” . please a humble request. sunnychourse@yahoo.com
venkat ji,
thanks for sharing the rafi-suraiya songs. I heard “tarari arari arari” for the first time and really enjoyed it. If you hadn’t told me that the composer was naushad, I would have guessed it was salil, though the antara has op-ish touches. Actually the mukhda reminded me of the popular talat-lata duet “aha rimjhim ke ye pyare pyare geet liye” from usne kaha tha. This version doesn’t have accordion, but the bengali version recorded a couple of years later has beautiful accordion accompaniment. I am posting the link for this song:
http://www.deezer.com/en/shyamal-mitra/aha-oi-anka-banka-je-path-A150832.html
Dear Venkatadriji
Thanks a lot for your contributions.Looking forward to see more from you.
Regards
Vinayababu
Dear Venkatadriji,
Wish you a very Happy New Year.
Thank you for these wonderful numbers. Both Suraiya and Rafi were rare gems. How can I download these songs please??
Could you possibly emai these to me, please.
Many Thanks
With Regards,
Bhupinder bhup162@gmail.com
Dear Venkatadriji,
Can u send me the 1st song to my email samshad@rediffmail.com.
Thanks
With Regards,
Samshad
Venkatadriji, many thanks for the wonderful write-up and the accompanying gems of songs of rafi sahab and suraiyya. It is good to see you back with your series “some rare diamonds of rafi sahab” and we look forward to your next write up on rafi sahab’s songs on raj kapoor. keep it up and do give me your email id so that I can forward to you too all activities of the rafi foundation, hyderabad chapter. you are an asset to any organization, what with your knowledge and assembly of the songs of rafi sahab. my email id is rafimurty@gmail.com
thanks.
respected vekatdari ji
hearty congratulations and thanks a lot for sharing of rare wonderful songs of Rafi-Surya combinations with audio attachments. best wishes for other writeups in future.
Marry Chirstmas & Happy New Year, 2009 to all Rafi Lovers.
with warm regards
bimanbaruah