The Rafi Mystique
This article is written by Ms. Sajdah. Source: Mr. Binu Nair and Pradeep.S.Kumar.
Composers put his voice to good use for background numbers too – his voice was eminently suited for heightening the sense of drama. “Apna Hi Ghar Lutaneâ€, “Aaj Rota Hai Kyonâ€, “Kya Kya Na Sitam Tujh Pe Huyeâ€, “Kaun Apna Kaun Parayaâ€, “Gham Ho Ke Sitam Tu Kabhi Ansoo Na Bahanaâ€, ,“Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahanâ€, “Apna Hai Phir Bhi Apnaâ€, “Woh Kaunsi Mushkil Haiâ€, “Kise Ke Liye Ruka Haiâ€, how many do I list here?
Then there are the philosophical numbers – the songs might have sounded too preachy in any one else’s voice but not Rafi’s – here’s a quick look at some of the more famous ones – “Jaaga Naya Saveraâ€, “Ponch Kar Ashqâ€, “Jiyo Toh Aise Jiyoâ€, “Maati Ke Putleâ€, “Tu Hindu Banega†– what’s characteristic about all of them is his impassioned singing. You’ll notice the same purity of tone in the devotional numbers.
Every mythological movie that was ever produced those days felt compelled to have a couple of bhajans in Rafi sahab’s voice – they knew that was enough to pull in the crowds, in case the storyline didn’t work. They weren’t half wrong, so many of those mythological movies have sunk into oblivion, but the songs – the bhajans are still being sung in temples and in homes by the devout.
Chitragupta used Rafi’s voice in many of the scores he composed for mythological movies – it was some of those bhajans from Tulsidas, Veer Babruwahan, Shiv Bhakt that helped Chitragupt establish himself as the newest talent on the movie music horizon – a fact that he never allowed himself to forget unlike some composers.
There was always something novel about the way Rafi sahab would approach each song.
“Meri Duniya Mein Tum Aayi†( Heer Ranjha ) was sung with whispery tenderness.
The same voice could startle us with cold self loathing in “Hum Aapki Mehfil Mein†( Jab Se Tumhein Dekha Hai ), and “Mehfil Se Uth Janewalon†( Dooj Ka Chand).
Listen closely to the voice in “Itni Badi Duniya Jahan Itna Bada Mela†(Toofan Mein Pyar Kahan) – it is full of yearning for the unattainable; the song is a much underrated masterpiece. You feel guilty almost as if you are trespassing into his soul – a charge that can’t be denied.
The studied yet effortless nonchalance contrasted with that fierce, passionate intensity in his voice – no one had heard quite anything like that before. He wasn’t just modulating his voice to suit the accent, tone, and the lip movements of the actors – he was actually acting for them.
Joy Mukherji, Biswajit, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Navin Nischol, Rishi Kapoor, all earned their share of fame relying heavily on Rafi sahab’s versatile vocals. Some of them had the grace to acknowledge that Truth. Others didn’t.
There’s a lot of Rafi in the classic movies of Dev Anand – remind him of that, and he’ll try to change the subject. He should know that a “Khoya Khoya Chand†would be less than appealing in any voice but Rafi’s. Even Asha Bhonsle admits that. I would like to believe that he knows that too.
Envious critics have always tried to label him as a singer whose voice is best suited for romantic and light compositions. Well, tin-eared souls don’t get to preach what music is all about. At the zenith of his popularity in the late 60’s they even pronounced his career at a dead-end.
A lie told often enough is sometimes accepted as the Truth. Well, nothing could be further from the Truth. Rafi sahab simply took a well deserved break – he wasn’t allowed to enjoy it for long however. There was no question of a ‘comeback’ as the media claims – for he hadn’t gone anywhere. It took just a string of hits in the 70’s to silence the critics who still don’t seem to have got over the idea that they could be wrong. Horribly wrong.
Twenty seven years later, the fascination with the life and and music of Rafi has only grown stronger.
There’s a popular demand that he be awarded the highest honour of the country the Bharat Ratna – let’s examine the relative merits of the case. Recognition in any form is always welcome to an artiste, but what if the award in question is itself prone to devaluation? What then?
Any state award conferred on an artiste reflects the aims and aspirations ( read petty motives ) of the regime which is then in power.
That by itself undermines the credibility of the award – if not of the artiste on whom it is ‘bestowed’.
Sorry I had to say that, but that’s the sad Truth. And there’s nothing more distasteful than lobbying – the reason why no award is free from the ‘controversy syndrome’. ( A lot of folks are very partial to this relish – for the life of me I don’t know why ! ).
The true test of any artiste’s worth is the test of Time. If they pass that, then there wouldn’t be a shred of doubt in anyone’s mind that the artiste in question had even an ounce of greatness in him.
And ‘greatness’ is not something that a here-now-gone-tomorrow political regime is competent enough to confer on anyone – least of all an artiste.
Art, culture and politics just don’t mix – by rights they shouldn’t.
The state has no business whatsoever patronising art & culture ( especially popular culture ) – it’s known to have very harmful consequences in the long run.
What must be emphasized is that Rafi sahab has no use for an ornamental decoration on his ‘resume’ – his legion of fans far exceeds all of the certified Bharat Ratna holders put together. There can be no higher distinction than that.
Despite all the testimonies of family, friends and composers, the Rafi phenomenon will never be fully explained. The one thing that can be agreed upon is the inviolable Truth that once he came into your life, you’re never the same again.
I suppose it would be quite in order to say that we miss him, his gentle presence, every moment of our lives – the Truth is we don’t, because he is so much a part of it already. We would be acting greedy if we asked for more.
Rest in eternal peace, Rafi sahab – your legacy is safe with us.
Well, Rafi saab was a class apart. No doubts! And I fully agree with Irfan saab that after Rafi saab and Kishore Da, Mohd Aziz, who sounded so vibrant (in fact magica!)l was the best. For me post Rafi-Kishore era, Mohd Aziz had been the most all-round, versatile, and gifted singer – and I am including everyone who joined the singing bandwagon post 1980 era – to date.
Aziz had the range and that something-special in his voice. But, I feel he didn’t get his due – perhaps he joined the industry when the music was not at its best. I am really surprised he is not given any songs nowadays. I imagine some of today’s hits in his voice, and I feel itchy as to why he is not asked to sing all these numbers.
Music Directors, for God sake, bring back Aziz saab, Wadekar ji, Amit Kumar, and Nitin Mukesh.
Jai Hind!
Vikky
The true voice of rafi sahab’s is the inspiration of joy & love
when Rafi sahab sang a most sorrow song , we feel so joy. with his only voice
quality.
Mohammed Rafi is one of the most magnificent singers that India have ever produced
Ms Sajdah Sahiba,
The best article read by me so far and in touched an emotional chord. Kindly write more such articles and also can we all request u to publish these in the print media where many music lovers can read n gain immense knowledge.
What a wonderful tribute exquisitely written about Mohd Rafi – Ms. Sajdah!
I have often wondered what it was like for famous hindi film lyricists (Sahir, Shailendra, Majrooh, Shakeel, Rajah Mehdi Ali Khan, Kaifi Azmi, Hasrat Jaipuri, Indivar and several others) and composers (Naushad, Roshan, Shankar Jaikishan, SD Burman, OP Nayyar. Madan Mohan etc.) to take their masterpiece songs to Mohd Rafi and have him sing it back to them and start practice sessions before the recordings. Obviously, there is no doubt in my mind that they were all mind-blown away when they heard the master recite back their poetry and tune. If Rafi required extra time to practice and fine-tune their work, they obliged very willingly fully knowing that in return they would receive the best rendition of their creation. Since very few individuals (currently living and residing in the neighbourhoods of Mumbai and elsewhere) who were involved as musicians, recordists or assistants are willing to open up and discuss those heady days, we the fans will never know the minute details that racked the brains of Naushad, Roshan, Madan Mohan and other famous music directors.
Just to take this subject matter a bit further, a couple of years ago Kerala Film Music fans were stunned to hear the sudden passing away of ace music director Raveendran due to cancer. MD Raveendran ruled Malayalam Film Music world from 1979 onwards until 2005. A combination of Naushad, OPN, Roshan, Madan Mohan, Illaiyaraja and others all rolled into one – he composed some absolutely everlasting songs for legendary singer Yesudas. Raveendran’s compositions were nearly all raaga based and had extremely complex structures. His penchant was to test the skills of the vocalist to the extreme –and see if the singer could handle the scales, the gamakas, the swaras and all the other intricacies of the tune. As he acquired more film assignments, Raveendran fully utilized Yesudas’s magnificent bass voice and gave him some very difficult tunes, daring that the singer would be unable to reach the scales. Till the last song they recorded together, both the MD and singer tried to outdo each other – and both of them came out very even in their friendly tussles, and ultimately the music lovers were the winners fully enthralled with several delightful compositions. Commenting at the sad demise of his close colleague and friend, Dr. Yesudas commented, “Whenever we recorded our best songs together, Ravi would come to the singer’s booth and tell him – brother, I have created this tune for you only; the musicians are ready, the recordists are ready. You may take this song and fly away like a bird. Soar as high as you want and come back to earthâ€. Yesudas always obliged and sang some of his best songs for Raveendran.
The primary reason for Rafi Saab’s songs being immortal and still fresh as if it were just recorded yesterday is the full dedication, practice-till-perfect behavior that he imparted to every assignment that he undertook. I would assume that the MDs, lyricists, musicians and everyone involved in those recordings of yesteryears were fully willing to let the bird soar as high as he wanted….fly freely with abandonment…and then softly land back on mother earth.
Thanks Haldarji
Although this issue is irrevelant but since you have mentioned i would mention I do not consider sonu’s voice to be that much close to Rafisaab,Given his range I think Mohd Aziz was the best clone if you consider totality.This is one reason why he has maybe more than 200+ songs for LP only.,Considering Voice resemblance Anwar was the nearest to Rafisaab.Even if you hear sonu’s songs in the early part of his career,specially his first song ‘Agar aasman tak mere haath jaate’ from Meherbaan he seems to copy Mohd Aziz.The problem was that Aziz used to get nasal at high pitch whereas for sonu you have songs in which he has sung in such hoarse voice ‘Hum tujh ko utha kar le jayege’ -Jab pyar kisi se hota hai’.plus hsis voice seems feminine at times Have you heard his title song for the serial Man mein hai vishwas that is coming on Sony TV’.He has just throated it.Well that is just my personal opinion.Its nothing against Sonu.
ref post 8:
Irfan bhai, thanks for sharing the links. I’m sure you know who Tendulkar was named after, so his taste for good music is not surprising.
I’ve seen Bheja Fry but I can’t remember the actor’s name. He really acted well in the film and sang a few Rafi numbers to impress the producers. I agree with his views on the Rafi-Asha masti. This is my personal bias, but I consider that pair to be one of the very best in terms of duets. I’m not going to say anything more on this topic because there are some knowledgeable people on this forum who don’t even consider Asha to be a great singer.
Anyway, I just loved the picture with Geeta and Rafi; there was so much chemistry between the two of them in the 50s and early 60s: Udhar tum haseen, Hum apke aankhon mein, Jaane kahan mera jigar gaya ji, Aankhon hi aankhon mein…. Geeta’s voice had Lata’s sweetness and Asha’s oomph. I can understand why OP started ignoring her in the 60s, but for the life of me, I don’t understand why SD didn’t use her more in that period. There’s this lilting duet from Manzil (probably 1960), “Chupke se mile pyase pyase kuchh hum kuchh tum”, but after that, SD started easing her out of the recording room. Granted that she was self-destructing herself with alcohol, but she still had so much left in her even in the 70s (listen to her Avishkar and Anubhav songs).
Given the buzz around Sonu Nigam nowadays, I recently attended a concert of his. He sang six or seven numbers but half the time he was talking while singing. The other thing I’ve noticed in the new singers is their tendency to alternate between singing and pointing the microphone towards the audience. So the audience is expected to sing half the time! Last time I heard Rafi live, he sang 17 songs, without hardly ever speaking. Last year, when I heard Manna Dey at a concert — he was 84 then — he sang for more than three hours and that too some of the best classical songs in films. And I saw this Sonu Nigam chap trying to mimic “Hari Om, man tadpat” in a video. If you want to sing such songs, you should try to sing them properly with due respect. I don’t know how people can compare Sonu with Rafi.
Again, thanks for sharing the links.
Greetings all rafians
check this out
http://www.mid-day.com/smd/play/2007/july//161507.htm
If you are not a fan of Sachin tendulkar by now, this one ought to make you for sure
http://www.mid-day.com/virtual_gallery/gallery_slideshow.asp?GalleryID=26&ID=216&CurrentPage=9
DEAR MS SAJDAH
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR FANTASTIC ARTICLE ON OUR BELOVED RAFI SAHAB !
YOU HAVE HIGHLIGHTED SOME RARE PATRIOTIC SONGS WHICH WERE TOTALLY UNKNOWN TO ME TILL DATE .
THANKS ONCE AGAIN FOR THIS INFORMATION !
BEST REGARDS/A.T.M. SALIM
Excellent article!
Ms.sajdah is a well informed rafi lover and i love her writings…She
used to write for shama magazine in urdu before , I suppose..
Sajdaj ji well done… please keep it up .. and I request is to be in
touch with the nascent rafi foundation of Mumbai and Sargam magazine
which is the voice of rafi lovers – around the world.
binu nair… binus2000@hotmail.com the rafi foundation.
Excellent
Wah Sajdah,Wah!
Aesthetically-packed recounting of a fecund life, if accounted romantically, by means of one’s aesthetic wits “astheticizes†the aesthetic sensors of the readers’ aesthetic system. The author valuably evaluates the values of a valuable life through value-rich description.
Cheers!
A simply brilliant article!