True Voice – Mohd Rafi
The following article was brought to my notice when Sharad posted it on MAS. The article has been trimmed down a bit keeping afloat Rafi details. However, anyone interested can go visit the source at http://tfmpage.com/forum/4980.6302.04.57.19.html
I am Swaminatha Iyer and I am 78 years old. I hail from Tiruchi and I am a part of music associations in Tiruchi, M’as as well as in West Bengal and Maharashtra.
I think it is wrong to condemn music or artists on either side of Vindhyas. Our Indian music is one of the few which has not been cleaned off by the western music though there has always been a influence. It speaks a lot of the richness of our music. Sometime back director of MTV had said that MTV westernized the music wherever it went but in India , MTV had to be Indianized for it to be accepted. A lot of this credit goes to the Indian film music.
I have been fortunate to have close personal association with Rafi, Sirkali, TMS, Dr. BMK, Kishore, SPB & KJY, PS, Mannadey and the one and only Lata Mangeshkar.
Comparisons are bound to come, but almost every artist or I have met considers Lata to be beyond comparison. Her talents are beyond anyone’s reach. Even Sirkazi used to talk of her singing like a die-hard fan as do countless others.
Now coming to the Rafi-SPB discussion. It might be difficult to convince an South Indian to believe Rafi is the better and at the same time Rafi crowd will never believe any other male singer comes anywhere nearer. There is one more mobile crowd, which is well conversant with Hindi and some south Indian language. Majority of them tilt to either Rafi or Kishore.
During one of my stays in M’as I had stayed with SPB. While talking of true voices he said, I don’t feel like half a singer when listening to Rafi. True voice is not a tech term but many in circle use it. Perfect example would be lata, but to understand consider our own PS who within her range is superb. People who do not have such true voices can never do justice to original. They generally underplay many parts of the song or fake it with bass/superficial singing. True voices make people like Sirkazi, Nusrat Fateh Ali khan, Lata… Inimitable. However since Sirkazi and Nusrat did not have the filmy voices their “real” following is limited to their local arena.
In addition to the true voice if the singer has a very good voice then in “most” cases he/she can better songs of others. It is this combination which makes Rafi stand out among the other male singers. There are many here who seem to have mistaken notions on a good bass and also on high pitch.
Bryan Adams does not require a monster bass in “Summer of 69” to sound real manly. It is the punch which gives that feel and that is decided only by the comfort level in most ranges (that is by what your throat can support). This you CAN never disguise with bass. Since people have talked about lack of manly voice viz. a viz. Rafi it was necessary to bring this point out. I have had the fortune of listening to most singers in studio and some times without a mike, practicing with MD’s.When Lata or Rafi do, the level is so high that people hesitate to even hum. It felt silly to sing in their presence (and it feels silly when someone says his voice isn’t manly).
In RD’s tribute when SPB sang “Aaja Aaja mein hoon” or “Chaand mera dil” it sounded only sweet and lacked punch if you compare with Rafi’s original.
Yesu once told me God has been partial to Rafi. He said “god gift term anavasyamaa romba common aa ippo use aardu”.. but idu Rafi kee thaan 100% porundu”. This person could sing “as intricately as a lady without sounding thin”, “cover any mood”, “versatility odey perfect example Rafi”. Yesu said most important is the comfort level over ranges which makes you feel God has been partial to Rafi. (But Of course in Rafi’s early career (1950’s) the voice was relatively feeble).
To people exposed to Rafi’s talent, these or any amount of praise can only seem less. I just wish he was alive and you people could get a live chance to hear him. Probably you can get hold of the DD album for the Geet Gaata Chal series where the first four episodes were dedicated to Rafi. Rafi is on camera singing “O Duniya Ke Rakwaaley” and many other songs. If you see and hear the last part you will realize why SPB said “impossible”. I think particularly those people who have talked about scales w.r.t Rafi should see this album. Its a known fact in industry that Rafi ruled high pitch and there is no male singer better in switching notes so easily. There are artists who can go beyond but then they sound strained or they don’t have pleasant voices when they venture into those territories.
Many singers of today are his compulsive followers. But they end up inheriting only part of his quality. Md. Aziz ended up with a sad voice. Mahendra Kapoor with a thick nasal voice. Anwar with a nasal voice. Sonu Nigam with a feminine voice. Rafi neither had a soft voice nor a heavy (bass) voice he had a good voice. Importantly did not strain at high notes, and voice if at all only became better at higher notes. If you see him singing it will remind you of Janaki. However diff the song is or the note is he will be smiling and singing. It is unthinkable that he cannot sing something.
There seems to be lot of talk about “Shankara Bharanamo” song. SPB has sung many a great numbers and things being said about this song in this forum are rather amusing, particularly b’cos 3 out of 4 people who can be called as singers will be able sing it and at least one out of 10 will sing it with the same effect. There are lot of other songs of SPB where this great singer has played with songs in total control. You will find most south Indian singers who have had a good exposure say that it is beneficial to learn Hindustani as it gives better breath control and improves expression.
Rafi was not only able to glide over a song, the important thing was that he could express each word/sound when singing. It is one thing to hold your breath, start and reach a crescendo (high note), as like in “Shankara”, “Anbey (Yennai kaan villaye)” it is different ballgame if you have to do it from low notes or suddenly switch notes. With practice the former can be done, latter requires a special gift. Rafi had a natural ability to do the latter. In “Tum joh mil gaye ho” there is such a transition in the “karwaan mil gaya” part. I have never seen anyone do justice to most of his songs in my life time. In “parda hai parda” quawaali the similar part is “kar doon to, Akbar mera naam”. In fact most of his songs will have these specialty as it was his natural ability to sing freely in a wide range at the same time giving that extra expression.
Whereas SPB takes us to heavens with “Idu oru pon maali”,”Ilaya nila” “bisiladarenu”(kannada), when he sings Rafi’s song it lacks the punch or expression, though it has the bass. But at least most agree that SPB does some justice to original, whereas most others murder the original.
One trivial point I would like to add is that singing in Hindi is harder. There are more “JHA”,”CHA”,”HA”,”THA”, “KHA”,”JA”,”FA”. These take away the breath faster. The more expressive you are the more air you are using up. Just singing from Nabhi will not help, your throat also needs to do a lot, for singing in Hindi, Bengali etc. SPB makes you fall in love with his south Indian songs but same cannot be said about his Hindi songs. If you just glide through words having these sounds, you will never be expressive. Doing this as well as reaching high notes is not easy. Rafi had this gift and that’s why it is difficult to imagine anyone else in his shoes. Song “Chalkaaye jaam” has so much expression that it is unthinkable how anyone can sing it. When Rafi switches to a high note with “Mitwaa” in the song “Chaahunga mein tughey” you cannot replicate it with bass. Most others will sound as if they are shouting in such cases. That man’s throat had the ability to freely sing at such levels.
Versatility is not just the ability to sing in various styles, more important is how good you are singing in those styles. You have lot of Ghazal singers today but when Rafi sings a Ghazal you will sit up and take notice. You don’t have to be part of the Ghazal listeners crowd. This is one important aspect. Whatever style you sing you should be able to pull the common man to listen and not just a particular crowd. Pick “parda hai parda” or any qawalli and it will stand tall among other qawalli’s.
Variety is amazing :
songs of Guru Dutt’s Khagaz key phool or songs like abhi naa jao chod key, Aaja teri yaad aayi, Aaj kal mein dhal gaya, Aaj kal terey merey pyaar, Aasmaan sey aaya farishta, Dil ney pyaar kiya hai, Deewana mujh saa nahi, Din dhal jaaye, Duniya paagal hai, Jaane walon jara, Dil joh na kaha saka, Dil key jharokon mein, Dil kaa bhavar, Chalkey teri aakkhon sey, Kar chaley hum fida, khilona jaan kar tum, Woh jab yaad aay, Woh hain jara khafa, Vaadian mera daaman, Pathar key sanam, Chaand mera dil, Main zindagi kaa saath, Mainey poocha chaand sey, sun sun jaalima, Koi jab raah na paay, hum to chaley pardes, badan pey sitaarey, laal chadi maidaan, Tum jo mil gaye, O meri shaahey, Sau baar janam lengey, Tum mujhey yoon bhula, Tumney mujhey dekha, Terey merey sapney, Tumny pukaara hum chaley aay
Name a situation/mood and Rafi’s song will be there on the top.
Swami
With due respect to all other great singers of the golden age of music in the sub continent i.e 40s to eary 70s…………Rafi sahib……… NO COMPARISON. I am really impressed with various comments about Rafi the great, however, yet another of his professional trait that no other singer could match in the entire subcontinent was his ability to personify. One can easily guess hero or actor merely by listening to Rafi sahib’s singing pattern. Only he could sing for Dilip, Shammi, Dev Anand, Bharat Bhoshan, Rajendar kumar, Joy Mukerji, Mehmood (kaley hein tou kya huwa dil waley hein), or even Jhony Walker (sar jo tera chjakrae ya dil dooba jaey)…in a way….that suited their natural voices….. may God bless Rafi sahib in paradise.
mr.myk,
in one of his interview with amin sayani,sardar malik(anu malik’s father) said that he was aspired to became singer but quit his singing after listening to rafi sahab, such was an impact of rafi sahab those days.
could you pls share with us your views on what do you think of the golden traits of rafi’s singing those days …
A poll to select your favourite mohd rafi website
http://www.twiigs.com/poll/Entertainment/Music/12264
mr.mehboob & mr.anil cherian,
thanks for your posts, yes indeed rafi sahab was angel with god’s voice, infact he was only singer from yesteryears who could turn up dust to gold … great voice!!
ref post 893:
Mr. XXX thank you very much for posting Shanker’s (of SJ) interview on Rafi sahab.
It brought tears to my eyes listening about what he had to say about Rafi sahab.
I fell in love with Rafi sahab’s music not knowing the man, but the more i hear about his personality makes me just even more crazy about him.
Indeed he was like an angel with a god gifted voice.
God bless his soul.
Thanks a ton, Mr.XXX for the wonderful piece. What great admiration Shankarji had for the baadshah and how they vibed. No wonder SJ could bring the best out of Rafisahab, time and again.
And what a humble man Rafisahab was, singing for the public, accompanied only by harmonium.
http://www.rafifoundation is the new website for rafi saaheb lovers to send in thier
views about the rafifoundation. mr. murthy is the moderator and we have the best wishes of mr.pradip ji , the moderator of this site, a great rafi lover and one who has played the “biggest” singlehanded role of bringing rafi lovers of the world on a single platform. his mentor is shammi kapoor ji, he informs.
my respects and best wishes to pradip ji and shammi kapoor who is now vacationing in london.
binu nair, rafi foundation, mumbai.
for all rafi fans::
i have a jpeg image of an article by shankar in which he is paying rich tribute tribute to rafi ji, this article was published in some magzine or news paper in 1980 after Rafi’s demise, i have uploaded this image in my orkut id, plz go through this wonderful tribute by shankar to rafi ji….
http://www.orkut.com/AlbumZoom.aspx?uid=15767943241200197485&pid=1210644438792&aid=1210619209
english translation for those who are not comfortable with hindi
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Tere bagair zindagi dard ban ke rah gayi……….’- Shankar(Jaikishan)
Madhuri, September 5, 1980, page 23
Rafi Miyan is no more. My mind became numb, the moment I heard the news. My heart was not ready to admit that, leaving us behind, he has left to the world from where no one comes back. If ever anything comes back, it is one’s memories ! Rafi Miyan was that flower of the garden of music with whose departure the entire garden has turned into a `veerana’ and yet, the mild, mesmerizing fragrance of the flower still exists around ! While remembering him, I feel a lump in my heart and my heart feels liking singing :
`Aaja ki intezar mein
Jane ko hai bahar bhi
Tere bagair zindagi
Dard ban ke rah gayi’
The Soul of (our) Music !
Rafi Miyan had a very big role in our success. Our career started from him only. It was way back in 1947. Raj Kapoor gave us the opportunity of music direction in `Barsat’. First of all, we composed the tune of `Main zindagi mein hardam rota hi raha hoon…’ . We were just pondering which singer to engage for this song since this composition covered a wide range of musical notes. Everybody felt that no one except Rafi Saheb could do justice with this song. Being new, we were wondering whether or not Rafi Saheb will agree to sing for us. The day he was to come to listen the tune, we kept on improving and polishing the `sthai’, ‘antara’ and `music’ of the song in the same way as a new young army recruit keeps himself busy in trimming and keeping himself smart and ready. After all, our career was at stake ! When Rafi Saheb did turn up, we became nervous and said, “This is the tune; however, you may please sing as you likeâ€. Rafi Saheb kept on smiling and then, enthusing confidence in us said “you are the music composers, I will sing exactly as you will ask me to do ! †Thus began our association and along with him, we went on achieving greater and greater heights of success and never looked back. Rafi Miyan’s voice was the soul of our music. If the lyric is good, tune is melodious but the singer can not express its depth, then all is vain. Whatever Rafi Saheb sang, he used to sing with full concentration and total involvement. He used to insist on rehearsals and retakes till everybody concerned was satisfied. He regarded his work as worship and never took notice of the clock (time) while working.
I am deeply hurt by the attitude of Radio and TV, after Rafi Miyan’s demise. What is the meaning of playing only his sad songs ? (Agreed that) since he has gone we have to face the grief. However, we should remind ourselves of his virtues. The enthusiasm, the fluency, the pathos and the `tadap’ in his voice can not be matched by anybody ! Whatever be the type of the song, he was so completely immersed in the mood of the song that it appeared as if some electric current is flowing from him into the song. After hearing his voice one could wonder how young, sexy and charming the singer would be !
Not a human but god !
In personal life, he was not merely a man but a god ! In this film land, people usually think ill of others but Rafi Miyan never indulged in harming anybody. Once he just came to know that Shankar and Jaikishan have developed differences on some issue. He straight away came to us and sitting near both of us lovingly, counseled us “This pair (Shankar-Jaikishan) should remain intact till death. Do not let your success, earned through such a hard work, go waste. Don’t ever listen to those who are out there to create differences between you two !†My and Jaikishan’s eyes became misty with tears and we embraced each other. One might wonder what was the need for him to think of our welfare ?
We never overlooked Rafi Miyan’s advice. This is the reason why whenever I had an argument with Jaikishan on the suitability of the tunes for any song, Rafi Miyan was the only person whom we both used to accept as the judge. On whichever tune he used to put his seal of approval, we used to accept the same without any hesitation. He was a versatile singer and was completely at ease while singing. There was no question of any tension; he kept on smiling while singing. Sometimes, he even used to tease us. We decided to insert the sexy voice of a female in one of the songs of `Aman’ `Aaj ki raat ye kaisi raat .’. When we told him about this, mischievously he exclaimed `Wow, there is a girl too (in this song) ? There you are; this will create proper mood for the song now !
Rafi Miyan was not only extremely melodious in singing he was equally knowledgeable about music. Whenever anything occurred to him for the betterment of a song he used to point it out without any hesitation. In the duet `Main chali main chali….’ from the film Professor, Rafi Miyan’s line `Sajde mein husn ke jhuk gaya aasmaan….’ initially carried a different tune, however, while rehearsing the song, he suggested ` how do you think it will be if I sing this line from a lower note starting from `shadaja’….? When he demonstrated the same by singing, we almost jumped in pleasure and immediately agreed to his suggestion.
Recently, about three months back, I had gone with him to Raipur for a programme. When Rafi Miyan started singing he went on singing but public applause and sequence of `once more’ did not stop. Even the musicians in the orchestra were tired, but not the audience. Eventually, Rafi Miyan sang five songs accompanied only by the harmonium. When the public was not satisfied even by this, he sang the (national anthem) `Jan gan man….’. But the public still kept on waiting, longing for more. Oh , how much people loved him ! Who new that he will leave us so soon ?
———————————————————————————————————————————
Sudhir Raoji
my 891 is addressed to you.by mistake i typed suhir and didn’t check it before submitting it.my apologies for the error.
dear suhir rao
thanks for information about baat chalat.
tastes in music have got so degraded today that some of the finest songs have gone into total oblivion.One such song is raif’s duet with lata or suman:neelee neelee aankhon mein duba duba jaoon main kahan hai kinara kacchuu samajh na paun main.
another lovely song is man mohan man mein ho tumhi.a classical singer also sings it alongwith rafi and a female singer(lata or suman) but who is the classical singer?the classical singer might have been the requirement of the situation in the film otherwise rafi could have sung the classical singer’s part equally well or even better.
i also want to know your and others’ views on yeh raaste hain piar ke film song:zulf lehrai teri aur meri taqdeer bani.the song appeals to me immensely.rafi switches genres admirably in this song but it seems to have been forgotten..
two more songs of rafi that deserve fame are:aankhon mein tumhare jalwe hain hothon pe tumhare afsane and cabuliwala song:dil tadapta hai tere deedar ko ho sabah kehna mere dildar ko.
For Mr.XXX:
No, bro.. I didn’t mean L.P is greater than Roshanjee, What I wanted to convey was that both Roshan jee and L.P. operated over a none-too-huge range (unlike S.J or SDB) and within this range it was L.P who showed more variety. Roshanjee was indeed one of the greatests and I wouldn’t dare pronounce L.P. to be greater or even close to him. And Variety is not all, though it adds to one’s overall charisma and longevity (Rafi sahab is the prime example). Am I right? And thanks for enlightening me…
laila majnu was the movie in which rafi had all the songs and all of them were hit. it was a rich spread – for those innumerable rafi starved fans.
in college during those days we used to wait for a song of rafi saaheb to arrive and we all would savour it up like the sweet kheer – with all it sweetness.
at a concert, rafi ji at shanmukhananda hall had sung the Majata yamla, pagla diwana before the release of the film and the song became a great hit.
l and p were the masters of the decade who gave decent and great songs to rafi with the other singer always complaining of good songs going to rafi. if jaikishan would have not passed away we would have more songs of rafi – according to the ‘trends’ of the times and the second ‘resurgence’ of the maestro would have been earlier.
by the way, how many singers in the history of film music have made a comeback? not one, i believe.
binu nair.
‘Jis raat ke khwaab’ if am not wrong Mohd Rafi singed this song free.
As I think 90% of songs singed by Mohd Rafi was hit in 1970’s.
People jest want to make RD great they said that Mohd Rafi came back was with RD but the true is that Mohd Rafi was at the top in 1970’s jest listen to Rajesh Khanna songs which was singed by Mohd Rafi and pealse give one single song which was singed by Mohd Rafi was not hit as to Mr Bachchan.
Mohd Rafi was at top and still he is at the top
Ref Post 884:
Mr. XXX, out of the three films you mentioned, I think I would go with Laila Majnu. Also, this film was the first time Rafi playbacked for Rishi Kapoor, and after this film, Rafi became Rishi’s voice.
Here is an excerpt from an article about MM, by his son:
“On July 30, 1980, the day before he passed away, I spent over five hours at Rafi Saheb’s residence for a photo shoot. Whenever we asked him to pose with the harmonium for a photograph, he would play and sing the song Tumhari zulf key saaye mein from Naunihal and keep telling me that this was his favourite and why it was such a brilliant composition. It was my first encounter at being told by somebody I worshipped, that my father was way above the others. He also told me that MM had given him a new lease of life with Laila Majnu.”
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/07/20/stories/09200708.htm
—————-
About the Roshan-Rafi combo, I would rate it as one of the best. This combo certainly produced the best qawwali’s in HFM history. Their solos were in a class of its own, as were their duets. Rafi saab has definitely sung many of his best songs under Roshan. Like SDB and MM, Roshan brought out the technical best in a singer.
As mentioned by Mr. XXX, there was class written all over their songs. One thing about Roshan, is that he loved high-pitch notes, and his son RR also took a liking to that as well. If you observe many of his songs, you will see for example, the melody is at a high scale, the violins and instruments are played at a high pitch. Ofcourse Roshan’s tunes and music was full of variety, so it wasn’t only at a high pitch or scale, it was also at a low/medium/or any other pitch/scale. One of Roshan’s favourite instruments was the saxophone, and he’s used it to haunting effect. In many of his songs, you can also see the sax trail off at the end played on high notes. Roshan was able to create songs and music at that scale because he had Rafi and Lata to sing them.
Also his violins were classy too, they had an element of surprise, and could be flashy and catchy, and the same time brilliant. I think RR also picked up this trait from his father, when it came to using his violins.
ref to p 885::
anil ji,
is variety is everything?? i mean rating l-p over roshan just on basis of variety is not fair, roshan’s range within his own style was amazing, for instance juss take his “bhairavi” with manna “laga chunri mein daag” and “bhairavi with mukesh “aaya hai mujhe fir yaad” .. both were top class compositions in same raag casted differently, how about his quawallis?? he revolutionized hfm with quawallis, and above all unlike l-p he remained consistent throughout his life, served divine music for us, no one from the group of 2nd gen mds ever came close to the class of the roshan ..
here are few roshan-rafi gems for you ::
1.hum intezar karenge , bahu begum(1967), sahir ludhiyanvi
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hWZjUHiFdoI&feature=related
2.mile na phool to, anokhi raat(1968),kaifi aazmi
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qfT-3O6DRAM
3.kajal wale nain milake,devar(1966),anand bakshi
http://youtube.com/watch?v=b9qJtYSw1s8
4.aaj ki raat badi shokh badi natkhat hai,nayi umr ki nayi fasal(1965),neeraj
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6vWgOOFUNXM
For Mr.XXX
I don’t consider myself competent to answer the querries, I was a toddler when Laila Majnu was released and became a serious HFM and Rafi sahab follower years after the gentle giant departed this world. Still I think I’ll give it a try. From everything I’ve heard and read, I think Rafisahab’s comeback (actually he didn’t go anywhere), if we can call it that, was a gradual process. Even in that so-called lean period, he did produce some beauties, many of which got submerged in the ‘wave’. ‘Teri galiyon..’ was one of the turning points, I believe.. Laila-Majnu was another (more notable one).. HKKN (esp. kya huaa…) got much attention because of the awards as well as the fact that it was an ‘in-song’, I mean it was the kind of song that went with the tide of those times. AAA was noted because it was a big banner multi-cast film which was a huge commercial success. In short, I wouldn’t like to pin-point a song or movie as ‘the’ come-back vehicle of Rafisahab, the ‘return’ was a gradual and natural process. Personally, I would rate Laila-Majnu higher than anything I’ve heard in HFM in the mid-’70s and after.
Yeah.. Rafi shab and Roshanjee created several gems and made a formidable team. However I find Roshanjee to be a creator of songs (despite being in a class of its own)which are in the same mould. Please correct me if I’m wrong. I mean he didn’t have the huge variety associated with SJ or SDB nor the subtle variations of Naushad saab. Even LP scored higher in this respect (despite their trade-mark tunes).
mr.anil cherian and mr.myk,
which movie do you think from late 70s revived the career of rafi ji- laila-majnu,aaa or hkkn?? …. many believe that manmohan desai’s aaa or naseer’s hkkn did the job but i don’t think so, i think it was laila-majnu which let these rafi fans to use him again for their movies, 1972-75 was lean phase for rafi ji and manmohan desai was using kishore by that time(e.g. aa gale lag jaa, roti, rampur ka laxman)… nasir came up with ykb and rafi got two fab duets but kishore was dominating singer there too, i think it was lalia-majnu that changed every thing, revived the melody of hfm and madan mohan’s music was great…
———— ——————– ————— ——————
how would both of you rate roshan-rafi combo??
i think this combo is one of the best we ever had, specially their association from “barsaat ki raat” to “anokhi raat” … what i like about roshan music is its shayari and great classy touch … sahir, majrooh,shakeel and prem dhawan wrote some of their carrer best lyrics for roshan ..
how about albumms like aarti, tajmahal,chitralekha, dooj ka chand,bedaag,bheegi raat, nayi umr ki nayi fasal,mamta … where rafi ji sung some of his career best songs …
also express your views on quawallis like “chandi ka badan”, “na to karvan ki talash”.. etc.
Ref: Mr.XXX:
‘Jis raat ke khwaab….’ is a fab song. I understand that this particular movie got delayed and finally got released in the mid-’80s. This song is actually a throw-back on Rafisahab’s gems in ’50s and ’60s.. the typical-Naushad touches, the compactness, the smoothness.. everything could be felt in this song. As you rightly put it, Rafisahab does a terrific job, in his effortless, smooth style. Incidently Naushad sahab did one Malayalam movie in the late ’80s and this tune was adapted in it (as a duet). That particular song was rendered by Kerala’s own Rafi (K.J.Yesudas) along with P.Suseela and those two did a great job. There is another song ,’kahi ek masoom nazuk….’, in the ’70s which evokes a similar ’50s/’60s feel.
ref to p 881 of mr.anil,
yes you are right, rafi ji’s voice is bit heavier in some of the songs from later 70s but we can attribute this to his health problems, still he sounds great to me in his almost every song from later 70s, no one was there to deliver the verses og “darde dil” so well, and just look at that innocence in his voice like a man with heart of child, i think this voice change came in later 70s, just check his voice with hard task masters(sdb,mm), but still we can sum up the end less list of rafi songs from his later career as well, he recorded some nice songs with rr and ravindra jain too… by the way what is your take on that great gazal by naushad from later 70s-“jis raat ke khwab aaye” … it was great song, rafi’s divine and sublime voice taking this composition to some other level … and i think it was favorite song of rafi sahab too from his later career … naushad’s music was great…
Thanx XXX for the reply and observations. Several followers have opined here and there that they didn’t quite like that deeper-than-usual voice of Rafi sahab’s in ‘dard-e-dil….’. Nice to see that a serious and knowledgeable follower is with me when it comes to adoring this particular song.
I feel that Rafi sahab’s voice did undergo a change in flavour starting somewhere in ’73-’74. The voice became a tard deeper and at times coarser (ofcourse Rafisahab was a master in voice modulation). ‘Hai agar dushman….’, ‘Aaja teri yaad aayi…’, are examples. Towards the later stages of his career, the voice (personally speaking) was rather light, I mean it did lose a bit of its intrinsic heaviness. However there were some songs in which he sounded pretty heavy (even heavier than before), like ‘Baahoon mein there…’, ‘dard-e-dil…’ and sajan ki saheli songs. Why the inconsistency in vocal tone/texture? Could it be the result of deliberate voice modulation or did the age finally catch up with that divine voice? Could you throw some light on this?
ref to p 878,
mr.anil,
rafi’s voice in “dard-e-dil” was great, i love that innocence in antaras, ya it was sexy, killer and romantic too….
rafi sahab’s voice in 70s was great, look at the way he started in early 70s, here are 3 duet songs by the top most mds of their times(mm,sdb,lp)
1.meri duniya mein tum aayi
2.ye dil diwana hai
3.mujhe teri mohabbat ka sahara
now one can see that how well rafi sahab could change his voice acording to mood of the song, lata’s approach to these duets was somehow similar, but rafi used his ultrasoft voice in first duet, deep bass in second one and high pitch pathos in third one, lata also did great job but rafi was exceptional in these duets…
in general his voice was as golden as it was in 50s and 60s but the impact was never same because of the aging and death of the legendary mds and lyricists who exploited rafi so well in 50s and 60s, i love rafi for 50s and 60s, but he was greatest in 70s too…
ONE OF THE GREATEST ROMANTIC SONG BY RAFI SAAB-DIL KHUSH HAI AAJ UNSE MULAQAT HO GAYEE-FROM GHAZAL ,BY THE ONE & ONLY ONE MADANMOHAN SAAB,AND GREAT LYRICS BY SAHIR SAAB.
THE COMBO GIVES YOU THE FEELING OF A LOVER MEETING HIS LADY LOVE.
@XXX
Thanx a lot bro, for the links… By the way what do you think of Rafisahab’s voice in ‘Dard-e-dil…..’? I think it’s a sexy, killer voice. Could you tell us what you feel about Rafisahab’s voice in the ’70s in general?
rafi ji ki aawaz mein masoomiyat barkarar thi 55 ki umr mein bhi…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DaHLqyRv9Nc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-eV-Mp6vwUI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=leRDOA0pOwA
rafi ji ki aawaz mein masoomiyat barkarar thi 55 ki umr mein bhi…
1.http://youtube.com/watch?v=DaHLqyRv9Nc
2.http://youtube.com/watch?v=-eV-Mp6vwUI
3.http://youtube.com/watch?v=leRDOA0pOwA
here is great rafi-lata duet, music by chitragupt…….
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UHb7_7y_R24
Dear Dhani Ram, Reference No.871 : U had asked Mr. Binu Nair about the song `baat chalat nahi chuniri`. Since Mr Binu Nair is good friend of mine, I dont mind snatching the prevelege from him and answering.
This song is from film `rani rupmati` and the singer who is with mohd. rafi in that duet is a small time singer by name `krishnarao chonkar, but the song is also one of my favourite song. I really admire such persons who still have interest in such songs.
By the way this song is written by great poet `bharat vyas` and music direction is from s.n.tripati and filmed on bharat bushan.
ref to p 871 of dhani ram ji,
baat chalat nayi chunri rang dari was first sung by geeta dutt from movie “ladki”
here is the link::
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pVZsHxvsGPY
few years later, rafi ji and krishna rao chokar again sung this bhairavi tune in hardcore classical style(movie-rani roopmati) ::
here is the link::
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Klpyc2OWR10
Post 871: yes: ashish kapoor or raju korti will help u out as they have the masterpiece collection with them. the song sounds like a manna dey-rafi duet classical one at that , but its not mann saab.
I love the song and try to get the details. in the meantime, even sanjiv of chennai can send u the song with details.
a great choice of a song. thanks dhani ram:
binu nair… mumbai.
Nair Sir
There is a classical song sung by Rafi Sahib with an established classical singer whose name I am not able to recall.The song is:Baat chalat nai chunri rang daari/aiso hai nat khat banwari.Rafi Sahib excels in this purely classical song.Can you find out for me the name of the film for which it was sung?
Regarding filmfare awards you may recall that Pran refused to accept it on the ground that that year the film that deserved it was ignored.Take Mukesh’s case.He got fewer than Kishore which was unfair.He was given filmfare award for Rajnigandha song but was ignored for Saranga,Awaz na do,Kanhaya songs etc.
post 861:
pls do not talk of filmfare awards as they were all “bogus” and third grade movies got the music awards.
a film like mugul-e-azam lost to dil apna preet parayee, s.j. being the winner. s.j. lost out to l.p. in dosti and ravi lost many a time and also s.d.b.
the simple trick was to buy thousands of copies of filmfare and vote for the films music. a nephew of a neighbouring composer used to make good pocket mony by sending all the bogus votes as in a “rigged” election.
majrooh sultanpuri used to scorn the “filmfare” and once the man who purchased the award for a composer in which naushad saaheb lost out (mughul-e-azam) came to naushad and apologised to him.
similarly , binaca geet mala also was rigged many a times and unknown songs suddenly used to spring up in the geetmalas. the product and the programme – had to be dumped in the long run.
binu nair, rafi foundation, mumbai.
Post 851: sudhir ji . agreed 200 % with ur views .
but consider this : there is a khan worm who enters this thread every few months and write that ghantasala has sung two songs better than rafi-ji and hence the former is a better singer than rafi-ji. (the fact is rafi-ji has’nt sung the comparable song hence it’s absurd).
like true worms this man will write “thrash” and see the fun from the sidelines of rafi lovers arguing over this – crossing all levels of accepted debates.
so, rafi lovers beware of troublemakers in this site : namely the worm khan and the other : x y z.
binu nair. mumbai
Post 856: the first “rock & roll” song could be from the stable of composer n.datta , assistant to s.d.b.
the song is rafi’s : lal lal gaal, jaan pe hai jaadu, dekh dekh dekh………
the composer has made some great songs including : tu hindu banega na musalmaan banega, aurat ne janam diya mardon ko,Maine chaand aur sitaron ki tamanna ke thi, talat’s ashkon me jo paaya hai; rafi’s daaman mein aag laga baithe ; Dhadakne lage dil ke taaron etc.
a great composer who got sahir as his writer who penned the immortal : tu hindu banega na musalmaan banega…….
binu nair, rafi foundation, mumbai;
Dear vikramji, : i shall definitely forward u telugu songs which is there in my ipod, give me some time, rafi has sung most attractive songs in telugu also, one song u will love to hear is the telugu song which is hindi version of `bar bar deko, hazar bar deko` from `china town` which is got 3 antras. I am still a novice as far as computor is concerned, One day i shall forward it u.
rafi & op nayyar together gave so many golden rythmic numbers, some peoples believe that kishore was best in playful mood songs but i think rafi was far away from every one in this genre too, rafi’s playful or happy mood songs with op nayyar were full of melody and music with utmost quality, here are two utter examples ::
1.http://www.dishant.com/album/Cid.html
2.http://www.dishant.com/album/kashmir-ki-kali.html
kaifi aazmi’s best from 70s was pakeezah, pakeezah was standout album having beautiful lyrics by kaifi aazmi and great music by gulam muhammad … its really disheartening that this movie lost filmfare to “beimaan” … i think some times awards were manipulated in hfm to favour the mds having big names…
similar thing happened in 1977, hkkn was clear winner there, if not hkkn then there were two more standout albums, jaidev’s “aalap” having great songs by yesudas and “kinara” classy album by rd burman… but filmfare favoured l-p.. aaa was nice album but comparatively weaker than “hkkn” and “aalap”
here is link to aalap having great songs in golden voice of yesu….
http://www.dishant.com/album/Alaap-(1977).html
in 1981 award was given to the right person. khayyam deserved that award, but 1982 was again disappointing, ravi’s “nikaah” outweighed every album in quality as well as in popularity but award was given to rdb for “sanam teri kasam” which was nice album but comparatively weaker….
ref to 858::
rafian1,
“aayi baharon ki shaam” is a great song by rafi ji, very soothing number by ,rafi was best in these type of songs as well followed by talat, by the way here is one more fast number where rafi ji is sounding great, not that much popular though
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QzLhmvlzU4Y&feature=related
With Referance to post #858, I totally agree with you. These two numbers of this legend are master piece. Thanks , making aware of it.
Also with the referance to post # 851, it is true that, do not compare any singer with Rafi Sahab.
With best regards to all Rafi lovers,
Dr. Khaja Aliuddin
post-856
Exactly xxx .This is a thing I found possible by Rafi saab only.’Deewane ka naam to poocho’.It is a fast song,but extremly melodious.Take another song ‘Aayi baharom ka shaam’ actually is a happy mood song,but that song made me cry on listening.
May 4 : 10 .00 a.m. at Chennai — rafi lovers are meeting. for full details see http://www.rafifoundation.com. thanks to proposed rafi foundation members at chennai.
binu nair, rafi foundation, mumbai…..0 9833 250 701
rafi totally redefined the rock ‘n’ rolls, usually rock ‘n’ rolls(all over the world) had the lot of energy and punch into it and lacked melody, but rafi ji added melody itno rock ‘n’ rolls as well….
here are some melodious energetic punches by rafi ji
1.aaj kal tere mere pyar ke
2.badan pe sitare lapete hue
3.jan pehchan ho
” Dear rafian1 and music lover,
The top ‘play back singers’ India has ever produced
1-will be Mohd Rafi
2-is Mohd Rafi
3-was Mohd Rafi ”
Dear Unknow post 819
Your passion for Rafi is understandable.But We Rafi fans are quite different from other lunatic fans who just writes ‘** is the best’ 24X7.We have great respect to all the artists because all of them are legends but Our Rafi saab is Legend of legends.But to say 1-Mohd Rafi,2-Mohd Rafi, 1….10 Mohd Rafi etc are logically wrong.By your on words even if India beat Argentina by 500 runs still India is champion and Argentina is Second prize winner.Ok.So please give respect to Legends like Lataji and Shree yesudas and others.
Coming to the comparisons I heared Rafi or Lata,Rafi or Manna,Rafi or Mukesh,Rafi or Kishore,Rafi or SPB(Telugue people),Rafi or Yesudas(Keralites),Rafi or Ghantsala.Even I heared Sonu fans comparing him with Great Rafi saab and the last I heared when Himesh compared himself with Rafi saab(Was himesh in his wits then?).
So things are clear.Inside of inside every one knows who is the greatest but their eago or complex does not allow them to accept the reality.For that they keep telling themselves the other way.Lets not take them seriously and continiou our discussion about Rafi saab the singer and Rafi saab the person.
i don’t know any think about music but i can understant what said people how know about music and i feel the magic of mohd rafi,
Naushad,Madan Mohan,OPN who know more than u and me about music plz listen what they said about Mohd Rafi and singer like KK said when some one compared him better than Mohd Rafi,KK said you don’t know about music I am fan of Mohd Rafi.Lata ji said singer like Mohd Rafi born once in like time,Asha Ji said no one can win mohd rafi,mukesh I am a fan of Mohd Rafi,Talat Mohd Rafi voice is god gift and Mohd rafi gift it to God.
I don’t know who is Ghantasala but I am sure can can’t be 50% of Mohd Rafi.
when you compare Mohd Rafi with any singer that mean you want to say that Argentina can beat India in cricket………!!!!!!I hope u undrestant what I mean
Sudhir Ji,
I am yearning for Rafi sahab’s telgu songs. It would be wonderful if you could provide a YouTube link to these.
Ref: Post 850.
You have put things in the right perspective. And thank you for the informations on this great singer, Ghantasalaji. Personally, I’d like to thank every one who introduced this great singer in this community of Rafi sahab admirers and I have really enjoyed listening to him.
As a ardent fan of music, I would like everybody to note that Ghantasala was a great singer and a great human being like Mohd. Rafi. Ghantasala voice was very melodious and had a velvet touch and his songs on lord venkatesh from Tirupati were very popular as well his songs for Telugu stars like Nageshwar Rao and NTR, he was purely a family man and god fearing person without any vices like Mohd. Rafi. But still Ghantsala had limitation like Mukesh, who could not match the skill and art of rendering songs like Mohd. Rafi.
Ghantsala, or for that matter any singer from the world over had limitation in terms of melody, high pitch notes, punch, expression of words, compared to the greatest amongst all SHRI MOHD RAFI.
For everybodys information, Mohd. Rafi has sung many songs in Telugu also and with ease keeping all the ingriedents intact, thus making the songs very melodious. Infact NTR requested Mohd. Rafi to sing for him all the songs in film Salim-Anarkali which became a milestone in telugu films.
Anyway, with due respect to Ghantasala and other singers, None of the singers of the past or present can match the magnitude of Mohd. Rafi’s skill.
Hence it is not correct to compare any singer with Mohd. Rafi.
post 837 : stupid xyz:
you are an ignorant fool, rafi ji started his career with a punjabi song from : Gul Baloach, a duet : heeeriye, and then slowly and steadily burst in to the national scene after a struggle of many years , displacing all top singers.
why did gnantasala not able to do the same. grapes are sour , xyz. we are bored by your mischief. and definitely i promise you i will miss hearing songs of shri ghantasala ji due to lunatic fans (handful) like yourself – xyz.
binu nair…. mumbai
rafi saaheb hamare bhagwan hai said s.balakrishnan the jovial rafi singer and times of india journo when i first called him and invited him.
yes. i second it. rafi saaheb is one of our “gods”. this stupid ghantasala fan (he does’nt even have a proper name : xyz) is a behroopia; a man under disguise. discard him and throw his stupid thoughts “into” the arabian sea.
binu nair.
Binu Sir
I endorse your admonition to the troublemakers.A nincompoop says that if Rafi were a regional singer he wouldn’t be known.This person should know that Rafi was from Punjab and has sung wonderful songs in that language.By sheer genius he broke into national scene which the likes of Ghantsala couldn’t do.
Has anybody heard a non-film gazal masterpiece of Rafi: Gazab kiya tere waide pe aitbaar kiya.Leave aside Ghantsala no singer living or non-living in any genre can even approach Rafi.
Ref: post# 843
Likhkar tera naam…. is perfection. Great lyrics, great tune, great picturisation and then the absolutely great singing. Rafi sahab sounds exactly like the deperate, suffering lover abandoned in the desert. The smoothest of voices is coarse and even scratched in several parts of the song (the way a suffering chap is bound to sound like).
Let me cite another song which I believe is outside the capability of any singer (trained or not). It’s ‘aa jaare aa zaraa’ . Just listen to the song and one would be simply awe-struck.. with a modulated and quivering voice (exactly what happens to male species when aroused), as if the words come out with great effort… I feel like laughing when people go ga-ga over ‘roop thera mastana..’ this Rafi sahab song leaves the ‘roop thera’ or any other mastana song miles behind…