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
Another most melodious song of rafi sahab.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHzEL06FjjI&feature=related
Most Honorable Shri Binu Nair!
Kindly tell us how to register as i along with many of my friends & rafi fans do not wan’t to be removed from this great site, as this site is one of the greatest one on which we can endorse our comments, shower praises and respect on our sweet rafi sahab.
furthermore the amount of knowledge we have gathered over this site is amazing and i could not know so much about the legend before this site i discovered.
hence i am hopeful that the greatest admirers like me would not be thrown out of this site, because we know one thing,
mohd.rafi is the greatest playback singer of india, who was even much more talented than lata, what to talk of kishore kumar or some local singer foe instance whose name i have heard here for the first time, even though i have been listening to indian music for almost 30 years now.
one more think quite surprising was that i being such a great admirer of rafi sahab had not heard few songs which i came to know from this site. howcome, i missed such beautiful songs of rafi sahab was quite a surprise to me. even the most melodious songs of rafi sahab, such as ‘beqrar hey koi” introduced by maha devikaji, and even “tujhe kiya sunawun me dilruba” were not known to me. how these most melodious songs wer hidden from my ears was quite a big surprise.
please keep us informed of such information in future as well.
for this i am specially greatful to you, hansji, musharraf sahab and the only female commentator on this site, the teen-aged yet knowledgeable maha devika, especially who has a great sense of music even at this young age, and her liking for 40’s and 50’s song is extraordinary.
also let me know if there is any documentary or book on the life of mohd rafi sahab.
with best regards and lot & lot of respect
ratna renol tirwezi
——————
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou5J254n-wU&feature=related
plz listen to this rafi, lata duet, you will surely enjoy these tender, youthful voices
now each& evry singer,even 5/6 yr olds r singing kk’s songs like original.so if kk is agreat singer then evry 1 is a great singer. hope i make myself clear.
Mohd rafi was utilised for singing hindi songs in telugu movie bhakta ramdas in 1964 for the role “kabirdas” ji in the film. Here is the link – hope rafians enjoy this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cvlw5TJqBQ&feature=related
moderaterji
have you put all my posts under moderation. is there any laid down policy for moderation. i dont understand this logic.
this is the continuation of my post on point 1 reg kk’s training (as the moderator is not finding time to clear my posts i am reposting them)
as per my assessment rafi was totally untrained when he came to bombay. i have listened to his interview, where he says that they resided in a village in pakistan. to a specific question whether he had some training of music before coming to sing he replied in the negative and said that he went to school for just one or two classes. this canard about rafi was spread by kk himself. he used to say ‘arey rafi sahab to mahaan hain, wo to trained they main to aise hi ga deta hoon’. kk rafi ki tareef to karte the par uska dil kala tha. lata aur kk neeche hi neeche rafi ke bare men anaap shanaap baten failate they.
i have also seen the last interview of kk given to lata. there also he says he does not know about sa re ga ma pa etc. would one believe that after about 40 years in film music a person would not know about these basic things. and especially that person who was music direstor himself. he has even sung 3 songs (which come to my mind) in which sargam is mentioned in parichay, chupke chupke and abhinetri.
contd..
Post 3180>>>>>thanks han.
another fact of kishore kumar now. if, kk was not trained and “not” made many attempts at playback singing – how could the producer “give” him the song in Ziddi in 1948?
its a fact that opportunities were very less during those days. that’s why we saw mukesh ji doing the job of a choreographer – initial days, rafi himself facing the cameras in at least three movies, lata acting on stage and screen and so on.
back to kishore : seeing the talents of saighal, mukesh, talat, manna dey and later rafi – kishore had decided that the meagre dal will cook well in any other trades – other than singing – for him.
even in aradhana he was not willing to sing for rajesh khanna and he needed big cajoling from sdb and shakti samanta – to sing for rajesh khanna. KK had decided himself that he will sing only for dev anand – prior to aradhana which was vividly told by shakti samanta to yours truly – some years back.
pls sit with pyarelal ji of l P fame one time and he will tell you all these long stories about the struggles faced by todays heroes – yesterday’s nothing with big pleasure.
thanks hans for the reporting and nailing one more lie about kishore kumar.
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now, requesting the moderator to “check” malafide comments by disgruntled fans masquerading under false identities – on this site.
and to publish automatically the comments of “registered users” who are music and rafi lovers – on the site.
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ganesh festival is on and one can hear mohd rafi’s : deva ho deva, ganpati deva, tum se badhkar kaun, tum se badhkar kaun……beaming from many corners in the country.
Jai ganesha…….
In the melody “binna tumhare ‘muzza’ kia hey”, rafi sahab has done righteousness to the term ‘muzza’ and consciously articulates this word to sound it “sweetened” than the other words in the lyrics of the song.
One can notice that this individual word is sounding “pleasing” to the ears, whereas the rest of the song is filled with despair.
This is what i have been terming in my former annotations the””rafi-magic”.
In the same song rafi sahab giggles very sweetly after delivering the lyrics, “hassi hey unki””
Likewise, after ‘ ke jese “”””zakhm’’’ ho’ is followed by the extremely agonizing voicing of the alap, conveying to the listener the immense pain once soul is injured.
Rafi sahib is one such genius holding this prodigious ability, matched by nobody else.
hansji & binunairji!
One unique facet of rafiji choral is his ‘urdu’ enunciation which was so impeccable, and people who dearth to cram this prodigious linguistic, can cram from rafi sahab song.
rafi sahab has the skill to transform a mediocre song into a classical one.
J.K. Bhagchandani JI:
THANKS FOR INTRODUCING YET ANOTHER GEET OF IMMORTAL RAFI SAHAB. HEARD THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE AMOUNT OF CHANGE THAT RAFIJI HAS BROUGHT IN THIS PARTICULAR SONG IS JUST AMAZING. HAD I HEARD THIS SONG WITHOUT KNOWING THE VOCALIST, I WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THAT IT WAS ACTUALLY RAFI SAHAB SINGING. RAFIJI’S EVERY SONG GIVES ME SURPRISE AFTER SURPRISE, NO TWO SONGS OF HIM ARE EVER IDENTICAL. EACH ONE OF HIS SONG CARRIES IN IT ITS OWN UNIQUENESS. SOMEBODY HAS MENTIONED THAT RAFIJI COULD SING IN 14 VARITIES, I WOULD SAY THAT HE HAS ACTUALLY SUNG IN 25000-30000 VARIETIES INDEED AS HE ALWAYS INTRODUCES SOMETHING NEW IN EACH OF HIS NUMEROUS SONGS. RAFI WAS A GENIUS, A CLASS OF HIS OWN. ITS VERY FUNNY WHEN PEOPLE TRY TO COMPARE HIM WITH REGIONAL SINGER, OR EVEN SINGERS LIKE KISHOREDA, AS KISHOREJI HAS SUNG ALL HIS SONGS WITH THE SAME BASIC (DENOMINATOR) VOICE, BUT THE AMOUNT OF MODULATIONS RAFI SAHAB RENDERED ARE INFINITE.
Bhagchandaniji, 3176. Thanks for the beautiful non-filmy song of rafi sahab. You are right. There is a bit of Pankaj Mullick.
Going through your link I again had the privilege to listen one of my favorite non filmy song of rafiji. “Main kya gaun mere swar mein, pyar kisi ka gata hai”
I would request all my fellow friends to listen to this great song.
Regards
contd from last post
as per my assessment rafi was totally untrained when he came to bombay. i have listened to his interview, where he says that they resided in a village in pakistan. to a specific question whether he had some training of music before coming to sing he replied in the negative and said that he went to school for just one or two classes. this canard about rafi was spread by kk himself. he used to say ‘arey rafi sahab to mahaan hain, wo to trained they main to aise hi ga deta hoon’. kk rafi ki tareef to karte the par uska dil kala tha. lata aur kk neeche hi neeche rafi ke bare men anaap shanaap baten failate they.
i have also seen the last interview of kk given to lata. there also he says he does not know about sa re ga ma pa etc. would one believe that after about 40 years in film music a person would not know about these basic things. and especially that person who was music direstor himself. he has even sung 3 songs (which come to my mind) in which sargam is mentioned in parichay, chupke chupke and abhinetri.
contd..
i posted two long posts on 30th august which are still held up under moderation, though the third one in that sequence posted on 31st has been cleared. so i am forced to repost them in parts.
***
now it is the turn of kk. kk fans have forwarded basically 3 points in their recent posts. i will take them pointwise.
1. rafi is a trained singer and kk is untrained.
2. some mds have commented adversly on mds.
3. the rise of kk since 1969
1. this is a big canard. first read excerpts from my post no 75 in the thread – rafi versus kishore the rivalry that never was’:
“kk was not a trained singer is the biggest canard spread by kk apologists who try to show him superior to rafi and this has been believed by rafi fans. kk received more training than rafi. i have the song of kk ‘koi hamdam na raha’ ( this is not gala-fadu, so you may not like it ) which was introduced by the great ashok kumar and he told a story that ‘kishore ka gala bachpan men chhil gaya tha aur bahut kharab ho gaya jo lagatar riyaz karne se kafi samay baad theek hua’. i have also watched an interview of anoop kumar on dd long time back, where he said that ashok kumar tried to teach music to anoop and kk both and employed many teachers and was very strict in this regard. kk received training but not the fruit of it because he was never sincere in anything. you may have heard the saying ‘kitna hi kumkum se poojo kaajal sindur nahin hote’. while rafi learned too much from too little training, kk could not. rafi has the magnanimity to acknowledge the persons from whom he learned, but kk never acknowledged his gurus.”
contd..
one of my most favorite ghazals of rafi sahab.
listen, & enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoPosac5-3Y
There is a real story related to this song,
which goes as,
One of Rafi’s soulful song under music direction of Suraj. (Shanker of Shanker Jaikishen gave its music in disguise of Suraj) Chandrasekhar being bosom friend of Shanker asked him to give music for this film. Since the film was a low budget film and at that time SJ’s name was associated with big films and banners, for the sake of business, They did not use SJ as MD of this film. And see Shanker did not ask Jaikishen to give music free for his friend Chandrasekhar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wqUzFwGg6g&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL0216B8160FFFB628
Notice the intense emotions rafi sahab is able to generate with his voice.
This is one of the earliest song of rafi sahab, and look at the depth in his voice.
seems words coming directly from the injured soul of the character
Post 3177…..Zaheendanish ji:
i agree with u totally . but, i have seen you tooo giving shor and salan fans the much needed “timely” doses.
these mad bulls instead of writing on their barren heroes sites, strays like a mad bull herein.
a strong dose of medicine is needed for these “mad Bulls” – Periodically.
yes, of course while not losing sight of evergreen songs of mohd rafi sahib to be mentioned here.
yeh mad bulls kithna “jalenge” yeh dekhna hai. its a research too on these fanatics.
hans ji : apne research shuru rakho aur ache gaaane bhi yahan par note kijiye taa ki yeh “mad bulls” aur bhi jale….
I have a small “vinati” to rafians.
Rafi fans arguments are similar to ” Bhains ke aage been bajana” ya phir ” pathar ke aage maatha ragadna”.
Leave this KK fans and G. Sala fans on their pathetic condition. They have completely lost their minds and need to admit in mental asylum. The great rafi fans devote their “anmol samay” in discussing about rafi sahab rather than talking about KK or Salans, as they have their own sites, their fans will do that if they love their idol really. What we have to do all is to concentrate on rafi sahab and only rafi sahab.
Please take care about yourselves. No need to “apna sar phod le”. Talk about Rafi sahab for which purpose of this site had been created.
I request to Hansji, Maha Devika ji, and Binu Nair ji to avoid writing about this silly fans of KK and salans and about their idols.
Maha Devika ji/ Hans ji and other Rafi fans:
Seeing the wonderful interaction going on between Rafi-fans through the gems rendered by the greatest Rafi saab, I thought to make a small contribution. Permit me to deviate a bit and give a link for non-filmi song of Rafi saab: Tum aao rumjhim karti payal ki jhankaar liye….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhdJkguRiKo
Hear the way Rafi saab renders the words ‘paayal ki jhankar liye…’ There is a bit of Pankaj Mullick in it. See how Rafi saab changed his voice modulation to
make it sound different from a filmi song: totally non-filmi. Simply amazing. There are many such non-film songs of Rafi saab
J.K. Bhagchandani
binuji referred to a top class rafi-lata duet. but in the matter of rafi-lata duets who is better than chitragupta. here is a list. all are top quality and all were highly popular.
1. chhupa kar meri aankho ko – bhabhi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGj2XT4BRaM
2. chali chali re patang meri – bhabhi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOPkIpYEWlA
3. teri duniya se door chake hoke majboor – zabak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6w95xDeUxo
4. chand jane kahan kho gaya – main chup rahungi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgS3QSJ48Mg
5. wo door jo nadiya behti hai – barkha (a duet between brother and sister)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxKbJyoiU58
6. koi bata de dil hai jahan – main chup rahungi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKjERAB2l00
7. lagi chhoote na ab to sanam – kali topi lal rumal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ehzyhHsztU
8. ye parbaton ke daire – vaasna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt-VwxLU37M
9. ae meri zindagi hum nahin ajnabi – pyar ka sapna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-t6Abr_fUM
enjoy
“KHAMOSH ZINDAGI KO AWAZ DEY RAHE HO”
LISTEN TO THE WORD, “AWAAZ”, SO BEAUTIFULLY RENDERED BY RAFIJI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOMZLxpcvnQ
IT’S MY CHALLENGE THAT WHOEVER LISTEN TO THIS MESMERIZING VOICE, WILL DEFINITELY FEEL FLOWING IN THE WAVES OF THIS SOOTHING VOICE
JO BAAT HONI HAI WO BAAT, THE MOVIE OF 1951.
RAFI IN HIS EARLIER VOICE SOUND SO VELVETY.
“ONE FALLS IN LOVE OF THIS VOICE, THE SOONER THIS VOICE GETS INTO ONE’S EARS.”
AESA LUGTA HEY KEY JANAT MEY KOI FARISHTA GARAHA HEY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j9ZIObVXn4&feature=related
LISTEN TO THIS HONEYED VOICE.
HEARD THIS SONG FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.
ONE CAN VERY EASILY RECOGNIZE THAT RAFI SAHAB WITH HIS MOST MELODIOUS VOICE HAS MADE THIS SONG SOUND SO SWEET.
KITNI MULAYUM AUR MADHUR AWAZ HEY RAFI SAHAB KI.
JO BAAT RAFIJI KI AWAAZ MEY HEY, WO HURDUM GOONJTI RAHEYGI.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaVcIc5Nsi8&feature=related
Mr hans, wow! Kahan se ye songs ley kur attey heyn app, meney pehli baar sunna aur rafi sahab ki awaz me kho sa gayya,
rafi ki awaz me kuch aesa hey jo sub ko apna deewana bunna dey. such a melodious and youthful voice.
now listen to two gems from chitragupta bank of melodies.
‘kahin se maut ko lao ke gham ki raat kate’ from ‘mera qasoor kya hai’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1tRp9fl_Qs&feature=related
‘itni badi duniya jahan itna bada mela’ from film ‘toofan men pyar kahan’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSduDIS_v9Q
AFTER HEARING RAFIJI FOR THE FIRST TIME, I NEVER WANTED TO LISTEN TO ANY OTHER SINGER. BECAUSE I NEVER GET BORED OF HEARING ANY OF HIS SONGS FOR NUMEROUS TIMES.
THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF SINGING SET BY THIS GTREATEST SINGER, MAKES OTHER SINGERS SOUND SO ORDINARY.
Binu nairji!
You must be as sweet as your name is.
You are actually undertaking a prodigious work by giving so much acquaintance & information about our most dearly loved & astonishing singer, rafi sahab.
I have also read so much of your annotations on certain other networks as well.
I am so blissful to have this channel where i can post as many remarks as i can. I came to know so much about rafi sahab, which i never could have without the utmost commentaries from so many diverse & scholarly individuals like you, who have consumed all their breathes collecting material round rafiji.
I think rafiji still after voluminous ages is the most chattered about singer of India. People, who tried to bring their not so known singers to publicity, by associating them with the point of reference in singing, are at the instant hushed, they might be working on by piecing together, joining their crania to strategize somewhat fresh, & innovate, to counter the colossal popularity of Rafi sahib. THE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BY NOW THAT Rafi sahib prominence is invincible. They must now proclaim their defeat with bigger hearts.
It was rafi sahib enormous talent which enabled the music directors to experiment as much as they could. They were now free to make songs in the highest octaves humanly possible, and even then rafiji would surprise them with the ability to sing in much higher octaves, which he used to sing in his private live shows. Even in live shows his voice would be as good as in the recordings. I am surprised when I hear music directors that rafi sahib would take rehearsals for a song. It was merely because he was such a perfectionist and always would try new things to better the songs even more. It is also a known fact that few of his contemporaries had the talent to sing in high notes but rafi sahib had the distinction to keep this high pitch for such a prolong time. And his voice would become sweeter the higher he went, & would never have any strain in his voice.
Rafi sahib had the ability to shift notes with utmost ease never seen in any other singer. I once heard asha ji that, “Me & didi would be always very nervous to sing a duet with rafi sahib, and singing with him would always need lot of extra hard-work, and we had to rehearse a lot to compete with him”.
Such was the class of rafi sahib. He sends the music of India to such great heights not imaginable before.
Rafi is indeed the greatest singer Hindustan has ever seen.
mere dilbar mujh par khafa na ho – film dharamputra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaVcIc5Nsi8&feature=related
hansji & binunairji!
One unique facet of rafiji choral is his ‘urdu’ enunciation which was so impeccable, and people who dearth to cram this prodigious linguistic, can cram from rafi sahab song.
rafi sahab has the skill to transform a mediocre song into a classical one.
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one more thing, on every occasion, when singers attempt rafiji songs, i at all times perceive a lot of hassle over the expression of that specific singer & strain in his voice while executing the songs. this was because even in a seemingly modest song, rafi sahab would have so many inflections in his voice, particularly diverse ‘harkaten’, he would take, which would be so tough trying & to imitate.
it is always easy to render any other singer voice, but even to do some “justice” to rafi sahab songs, it is always so challenging.
and the similar song rafi sahab would always deliver with ordinary expressions. you can see this in his life rendition of the song ,
“o, duniya ke rakhwale”
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in a live show mohd. rafi sahab, sung the term ‘rakhwale” in 3-4, diverse panaches, this was undeniably a new trend, a benchmark, this type of vicissitudes were later on inaugurated in the songs. particularly the ghazal singers got lot of prominence with these inflections, such as ‘mehdi hasan’ & ‘ghulam ali’, of pakistan.
if you listen to rafi sahab song ‘chalkaye jaam’, the word “jam” has been rendered by rafiji in 7 different modulations, in the whole song, this one word is different from the other rendered.
this was the genius of rafiji, known famously as the rafi magic.
binuji! you are doing a great job in organizing programmes in the memory of our beloved rafi sahab. good work, must keep going always, my loads of regards to you & the organisers of arranging such events, & for preparing new singers.
God bless you!
Mohd rafi is god gift and the real Bharat ratna….
maha devika ji…
recent research has shown that mohd rafi culd sing in 14 voices – all different styles according to the actors – on the screeen.
there is no actor for whom mohd rafi has not sung on the screen – during 41 years of his modest tenure in the industry.
even difficult songs enacted by kishore kumar had mohd rafi songs. such was the confidence of op nayyar, shankar jaikishan and other composers “had” for mohd rafi.
maha devika ji..
ek aur hamara rafi saaaheb ka ‘gem’ is baar lata ji ke
saath……
Agar mai poochu jawab doge, dil kyon mera dhadak raha hai…
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asha b. is on record saying on a tv show that :
“rafi saaheb paanch aur che maaale par ek dum chale jaaate the in the recording aur hum un se kehte the, thoda neeche uthar aaayiye.”
listen the gem pls on youtube the god sent medium for music lovers.
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let me tell you modestly that we take “such great songs” in our live musical events. the singers ‘who’ are unprepared wants change of songs and sing only the songs they have “set” for themselves. but, when they ‘do’ take up such songs, they become elated by the public applause.
then, what happens in mumbai is that : “other event organisers take up the same songs in their forthcoming shows”.
at any time, one would find innumerable organisers at our rafi foundation live musicals in mumbai.
pls listen to rafi saheb/saira banu gem : “aaj ki raat , yeh kaisi raat ke humko neend nahi aaati”.
this number was eventually taken after the singer had great doubts about the song. after the rendition live, the singer was very happy. and withing a week another organiser took the same song.
in short, mohd rafi saaaaheb gave countless hits. lets us not just listen the same songs again again – as an ocean of songs wait to be discovered, heard and appreciated.
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its amazing that somebody can have the ability in so many, rather so numerous ways, voices
rafiji is infact actually the voice of god, because no human can be so talented, if not he was a saint atleast, spread so much love through his voice.
i am always short of words to adequately praise this lovely singer. he is beyond comparison, may it be a male or a female singer
wah hansji wah
mentioning gem over gem, rendered by ‘the voice’
i thought i was the greatest admirer of this pride of india, but i must say i am nowhere near people like you, heard these for the first time
ek sapera ek lutera. the firoze khan (double role) film though was a flop, yet through this film usha khanna declared that providing top class music is not only men’s prerogative. this film contains three sad solos by rafi, all with different shades of sadness and so rendered in different styles. ‘hum tumse juda hoke’ became so commonplace (word popular or craze would not suffice) that it was played at least 5-6 times daily (this number is quite conservative guess) in people’s choice programmes, though there was only all india radio and radio ceylon to broadcast.
the links for the other two, lesser known and less popular but top quality, are given below. you yourself decide.
tera bhi kisi pe dil aaye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFsjDy5lLhw
mera ban jaye koi ye meri taqdeer nahin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy_9ESnDqFE
‘koi mujhse poochhe ke tum mere kya ho’ from film ‘ye raste hain pyar ke’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJk6QYoamUE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJk6QYoamUE&feature=related
tere pyar ne mujhe gham diya, tere gham ki umra-daraj ho from film chhaila babu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMBPJRUisss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbGKWA1CUX0
please, listen to rafiji brilliant voice of 1951 movie, enjoy
can any other singer be more sweeter voiced than rafiji’s
post 3071
DEAR RAFI FANS!
PLEASE REFER TO MY POST THAT OUR BELOVED RAFIJI HAD THE BEST SONGS IN THE 70’S AS WELL. KINDLY DO NOT CARRY AWAY WITH THE PROPAGANDA THAT 70’S BELONG TO KISHORE KUMAR. EXCEPT FILM ‘ARADHNA’ SONGS, THERE ARE VERY FEW SONGS WORTH MENTIONING TO HIS CREDIT.
MY FAVORIT MOST OF KISHOREJI IS HIS DUET WITH LATAJI,
“TERE BINA ZINDAGI SE KOI SHIKWA TO NAHIN”
Mere pyare bhaiyon aur bahanon,
Aap sab ko hamari bohut bohut dhanyavad.
Aap sab log salaamat rahein aur sada khush rahein. Rafi sahab ke liye hamari yehi dua hain ke khuda ne unko Jannatul Ferdous naseeb karein. Aur hamari yeh bhi kamna hai ke Rafi sahab ke liye hamare sabon ke dil mey pyar aur mohabbat hamesha barqarar rahein.
Musharraf
bhushan
bhai ye kahan andar bahar ke photo ke chakkar men pad gaye. in film walon ki baat ko jyada sach na mano, khaskar jab singer doosre singer ke bare men bole aur actor doosre actor ke bare men bole. spb jab ghantasala ki tareef kar raha hoga to andar hi andar kah raha hoga ‘are kahe ka great, mere se great kaun hai’.
to bhaiya agar philosopher hi ban rahe ho to aaj ki philosophy bhi samjhne ki koshish karo.
binuji
aap bahut jaldi khush ho gaye ke ye sab bhaag gaye. inki khaal gainde, haathi, magarmachh aur rhino se milkar bani hai. aur aapko pata hai hybrid cheej men kitni takat hoti hai.
inke paas ek aur fayda ye hai ke abhishek ke naam se pit gaye to bhushan ban kar aa gaye. bhushan ke sath kuchh hua to raj hai, wagera wagera. to hamen inki khaas chinta nahin karni chahiye aise hi inpar apne hathiyar ajmate rahna chahiye, ek kharaab hua to doosra sahi.
abhi to maine kk par teen lambi posts daal rakhi hai jo moderation ke baad aayengi tab inhen pata lagega kk kitne paani men hai.
aur inke sahare apna record bhi to ban raha hai.
sandeep
kis baat par itna khush rahe ho. itna khush to bachcha bhi lollypop milne par nahin hota. aisa kya kaha hai spb ne. kya usne ye kaha hai ke hans ne jo research ki hai wo sab galat hai.
are bhai akal ke dushmano kuchh to kabhi samjho. kisi ko ghantasala award doge to kya wo ye kahega ke award to main ghantasala ka le raha hoon par rafi se bada koi gayak nahin. ek lakh hajam hone tak to shayad spb ko ghantasala kee tareef karni hi chahiye warna main bhi use bura aadmi samjhoonga.
spb samajhdar aadmi hai aaj ke yug ka. ab thodi si ghantasala ki tareef se ek lakh bhi mil gaya aur kafi photo-woto bhi khinchwa li. warna op nayyar ne to un dinon lata mangeshkar award ke saath ek lakh ko thokar maar di thi jab use paise ki sakht jaroorat thi.
ek aur kaam karo bhaiyya is p. susheela ko jaldi se ghantasala award dekar apni taraf karlo. abhi to wo pata nahin kya anaap shnaap bak rahi hai aur telugu logon ko bargala rahi hai ki rafi ‘master of melody’ the. par ye tareeka bhi tumhare jyada kaam nahin aane wala kyonki agar rafi ki tareef karne wale har aadmi ka ek lakh dekar yunhin tum moonh band karte rahe to bhai jaldi hi kangaal ho jaoge.
jaao bhaiyya jao koi achhi si cheej lekar aao. ye thermocol ki talwar se kisi aur ko darana.
ek aur salah hai bhai tum logon ko ke bhai ab ek lakh ka zamana lad gaya hai kam se kam dus lakh to karo. ek lakh se tum kitne din logon ka moonh band karoge. aur jin logon ko rafi ki tareef karne ki aadat ho jati hai wo bade hi dheeth hote hain aur kutte ki dum ki tarah wapas wahin pahunch jate hain yani rafi ki tareef karne lagte hain.
kuchh samjhe ya nahin.
waise bhaiyya sandeep tum kis state se ho srivastava to waise u.p. men hote hain. ye batana jaroor.
mahadevika
sorry for including you in others, because you yourself have been fighting them in your own special way, by bombarding them with gem after gem of rafi songs. every gem seemed to say ‘shame shame’ to them but they are real thick-skinned.
musharrafji
aapko bhi aur sabhi ko id mubarak. aapka message dek kar maine hatim tai ka gana ‘parwar digar-e-aalam’ phir se suna.
rafi aise ganon men kya bhavna daalte the chahe wo hindu gane hon ya muslim, jinhen sunkar nastik bhi aankhen band karke sune bina na rah sake.
ye gana youtube par hai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXypSLdb1qo
Morever binu nair ji, keeping a outside photo does not matter much, it is the photo inside heart which is of more importance and which one cannot hide and have to pour out at times i.e what spb does.
Binu Nair ji,
Thanks for the admirations. I do not disagree with what you have stated as that is correct. At the same time, I expect you and others also to accept/believe what I have stated is also correct on similar lines.
kk fans have been claiming that kk dominated the 70s, he finished rafi etc. some even said kk’s reign started from 1969. some rafians have also been carried away by such comments and try to give explanations for this. i will give figures to show that rafi was never dominated even in the 70s. as the starting point of kk’s rise is aradhana of 1969 which was released on 27.9.1969, i am taking the 11 year period from 1970 to 1980 combinedly.
here are the figures for the 11 years from 1970 to 1980:
year kk rafi
1970 47 131
1971 102 131
1972 137 95
1973 146 80
1974 137 83
1975 106 68
1976 103 67
1977 147 101
1978 122 91
1979 77 84
1980 126 103
if we total these, kk figure comes to 1246 and rafi figure comes to 1034. if we add 102 songs of rafi which were in films released in 1981 and 1982, which must have been recorded upto july 1980, then the total comes to 1136. i have not included more than 50 rafi songs which were from films after 1983 because i reckon there were some kk songs also which may have been recorded earlier. one point to note is that rafi passed away on 31st july and 5 months of that year were left then.
so what it comes to. kk recorded on an average 113 songs during this 11 year period and rafi recorded 103 songs per year. so there is a negative difference of just 10 per year. as everybody knows that rafi’s hit ratio was much better than kk, his hits for the entire period surpassed kk by far.
kk bhai bechare ko 25 salon ke anshan aur adhe pet khane ke baad khana naseeb hua tha, to wo bhukhe sher ki tarah khane par toot pada bina ye soche ki jo wo kha raha hai wo hiran ka masns hai ya gadhe ka ya kutte ka. the result was that more than 50 percent films for which he sang are not even remembered. even in his most popular phase he could not give more than 20% hits out of the songs sung by him. there are three dimensions to songs to judge the dominance. one is the no of songs, the other is hits from them and the third is the quality of songs. kk can be said to be ahead in quantity for just 5 years from 72-76. in the matter of no of hits and quality he never could dream of reaching near rafi.
in quantity rafi kept with kk despite the fact that many of actors like shammi, rajender who used just rafi went out of market and many old mds also either inactive or less-active.
the figures i have given are the most authentic, taken from geet kosh. they have been even given by other people in this website and also elsewhere.
i would request rafians to never budge on this point in future. rafi recorded the most no of songs of all the singers busy then and never looked back since. from 1949, when he recorded 125 songs he totally dominated hfm. it is a fallacy to say that his dominance started after baiju bawra. as i said he had recorded 125 songs in 1949. he recorded 92 in 1950, 73 in 1951, 80 in 1952, 82 in 1953 and 104 in 1954. he surpassed the fugure of 1949 in 1955 when he recorded 172 songs.
so from 1948 till 1971 i.e. for straight 24 years he recorded the highest no of songs among all male singers. on the other hand kk started in 1946 and for 25 years from 1946 to 1970 (yes 1970 also) he never reached the no of 50, though he was singing almost all of his songs in the films in which he acted. during this 25 year period he passed 25 just 3 times.
so see for yourself where kk stands as compared to rafi.