By Shweta

As the monsoon showers drench the lush landscapes of South India, there’s an undeniable charm in the air. The rhythmic pitter-patter of rain, the earthy fragrance of wet soil, and the cool breeze create a symphony that perfectly complements the mood of the season. It’s during such moments that one is reminded of timeless melodies that celebrate the rain, and one such song is “Rimjhim Ke Tarane Leke Aayi Barasaat” from the 1960 Bollywood classic, Kala Bazar.

By J.K. Bhagchandani
E-mail: jagdishkb@rediffmail.com

Mohd Rafi

Music and especially a song has been a very potent and perhaps most natural medium of expression of love and romance. Hindi films have very effectively used the songs at innumerable occasions to narrate the romantic facet of the story-line of the movie in a very creative and inspired way. The extent of depth, the passion or any other aspect of the romantic feelings that a 3 to 4 minute song can convey outshines the series of romantic dialogues lasting many-fold minutes.

A well known jazz vocalist Joe Williams once said, “I think that musicians should never forget about the intimacy of bringing two people together, and the aesthetic transference where you’re almost vicariously involved in a romance between other people.” This one sentence aptly signifies the nuance of a romantic song, the benchmark of ‘passion for performance’ that the performer (singer) needs to integrate in his/ her renderings. And at that benchmark Mohammed Rafi’s name will remain the foremost for not only achieving that but surpassing the same by many a mile. (more…)

By: H.A.K. Walijah

Among so many female singers, Geeta Dutt name is unique and rings a different sensation. The evergreen songs like “babu ji dheere chalna“, “jaa jaa bewafaa“, “yeh lo main haari piya“, “aaeeye meherban“, “mera naam chin chin chu”,  “ae dil mujhe bata de”,  “na jao saiyan chuda ke bahiyan”, ‘tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer banaa le”, “jaane kya tune kahi”,  “waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam” and many more such gem like songs paved directly into the hearts of music lovers and made her name immortal in the Annals of Hindi Film Music.

by Sarah Modi

Mohd Rafi

There are several people who compare Rafi saab with Lata ji and debate who is better.  I believe, that the premise, structure, and conclusion of their arguments are all flawed.  There is no doubt that if there is any other singing legend that matches up to the greatness of Rafi, it is indeed none other than Lata ji.  However, Rafi is Lata, Asha, and Geeta all combined into one.  If Lataji represents the serious, pristine, and classic flavors of Indian music and Asha and Geeta represent the western, naughty, and seducing flavors, Rafi saab alone portrays all of these flavors and more.  He can impeccably sing classical songs, westerns songs, bhajans, ghazals, cabarets, light romantic songs, qawalis, etc.   A music director had to look no further than Rafi saab for any kind of song whether it inculcated southern, northern, eastern, or western styles of music. (more…)