Bhakti Songs of Rafi
This article is written by Mr. H.V Guru Murthy.
When Music Director Naushad expired, in her condolence message, Saira Banu expressed her amazement at Dilip Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Naushad and Shakeel Badayuni, all Muslims joining together and giving hit Bhajans. Perhaps, this fact speaks volumes of the general public not bothered about the Hindu – Muslim culture but believing only in Indian culture. Well we never bothered to which religion these people belonged but only enjoyed their performance. I read somewhere that Dilip Kumar in his entire career has acted in only one movie where he had to don the role of a Muslim and that incidentally was MUGHAL E AZAM, otherwise, in all his movies, he has portrayed Hindu characters.
Similarly, Rafiji has sung umpteen number of Bhakti songs, which have become great hits. His pronounciation of certain Sanskritized words were better than other Singers. He was able to give something more than other Singers in all his Bhazans. The feelings he imparted to each and every word, the rising and lowering of the voice, and the modulation in his voice, made these songs memorable.
Mohd Rafi
I am particularly fond of listening to his “Sukh Ke Sab Saathi†from GOPI, “Ishwara Allah Tero Naam†from NAYA RAASTA, “Aana Hai To Aa Rahame†from NAYA DAUR, “Tu Hai Mera Prema Devata†from KALPANA with Mannadey and of course the evergreen “O Duniya Ke Rakhawale†from BAIJU BAWRA. In this particular song, Rafiji in the end sings “Rakhawale†three times in the Original record, each time raising his voice further and further. But if one listens to his stage show, he raised his voice the fourth time which I feel no other Singer especially the present lot could have achieved. I still remember this song which he sang at Shivajinagar Stadium in Bangalore in the mid-seventies and that night the approximately three hours I spent along with my friends in the adjacent Bus stand listening to his songs are still fresh in my memory.
Other popular Rafi Bhakti songs included “Insaaf Ka Mandir Hai Yeh†from AMAR, “Jai Raghunandan Jai Siyaram†from GHARANA with Asha Bhonsle, “Tune Muzhe Bulaya Sherawaliye†from ASHA with Chanchal, “Badi Daer Bhai Nandalala†from KHANDAAN, “Kuch Aur Nahin Bas Dhyana Tera†from HEERA MOTI with Mannadey, “O Sherowali†from SUHAG with Asha, “Badi Daer Bhai†and “Duniya Na Bhaye Mohe†from BASANT BAHAR, “Shirdiwale Saibaba†from AMAR AKBAR ANTONY, “Sainath Tere†and “Saibaba Bolo†from SHIRDI KE SAIBABA, “Radhike Toone Bansiri Churayi†from BETI BETE, “Ramji Ki Nikali Sawari†from SARGAM, etc. Rafiji’s non-filmy hit Bhazans included “Tere Bharose He Nandalala†and “Paun Padoo Tore Ramâ€.
Mohd Rafi with Naushad, Shaqueel-Badayuni, Lata and others
Only few other Bhakti songs of other Singers can match the high standards of Rafiji. One such song was “Allah Tero Naam†from HUM DONO sung by Lataji. Of course, Lataji has sung very many Bhakti songs like the melodious “Jaya Jaya Hai Jagadambe Matha†from GANGA KI LEHRE, “Prabhu Tero Naam†from HUM DONO, “Kannah Re Kannah†from TRUCK DRIVER, “Kanha Kanha†from SHAGIRD, etc. apart from non-filmy and Meera Bhazans. Other notable Bhakti songs are “Jai Jagadeesha Hare†sung by Geetha Dutt and Hemantha, “Na Mai Dhan Chahun†by Geetha Dutt from KALA BAZAAR, “Om Jai Jagadeesha Hare†and “Raghupati Raghava Rajaram†sung by Mahendra and Company for PURAB AUR PACHIM, “Shyam Dhale Jamuna Kinare†sung so melodiously by Mannadey and Lata, “Bhagavan Ke Ghar Me Sub Kuch Hai†by Mannadey from YAAR MERA. Another really wonderful song was “Bhay Bhanjana†from BASANT BAHAR sung by Mannadey picturised on Bharat Bhushan.
Whether the song was Bhajan or patriotic or Lori or romantic or serious or classical or Yahoo type or comedy or ordinary ched chad or qawali or pop or any other type of song, MR always excelled and showed his class. In fact, due to MR some ordinary songs also became hits. Well, we will never get another Rafi again as people like Rafi Sahab are born once in a millennium and are divine gifts. Goddess Saraswati perhaps had bestowed some special boons to Rafiji. As Naushad admitted Rafiji came to him with a smile and was always having a constant smile on his face. An ordinary human being cannot attain that level. We are lucky that we grew up listening to his songs and even now twenty seven years after he left for his heavenly abode, we are still enjoying his songs.
"I wish you please grow
September 13th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Guru murty sir,
Since you have mentioned some bhajans rendered by singers other than rafi
Sahab I would like to add another superb bhajan you have forgotten to mention. its rendered by lata ji for ‘ Do aankhen barah haath ‘
Ai maalik tere bandey hum, aisey ho hamaara karam,
neki par chaley, aur badisey taley, takey hastey hue nikley dum ‘
secondly with this I request all our rafians to buy the CD ‘ tere Bharosey nanda lal’. Here all 16 bhajans are rendered by our rafi sahab. some filmi and some non filmi. The CD starts with the bhajan ‘ Hari OM ‘ . Listening to this CD similtaneosly doing our daily pooja to the almighty creates a very spiritual feeling.
I have experinced this my dear friends & thats why i am writing to you.
September 14th, 2007 at 10:52 am
The fact is rafisahab sang all types of songs, the bhajans which he sang was remarkable, take for eg. Sukh ke sab shaati or the first slogan of Jahan daal daal par sone, which we pray everyday, how he sang. I think this bhajans is a real gem & should think how he sang it in a pure dictation.
shashank_72@rediffmail.com
September 14th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Rafi ji ke bhakti songs in films like:
Shri Ganesh Mahima,
Ram Leela, Shri Krishna BHakti,
Shakshi Gopal,
Sant Jana Bai, Sant Raghu,
Raj Vikram ,Janamasthami
and many more.
September 14th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
The stupendous bhajan rendered by one and only one rafi sahib” Man re tu kahe na deer dare” is one of the most wonderful and soul touching bhajans ever sung on the indian soil
It has been declared as the most popular sung piece by an artist by the prestigious INDIA TODAY MAGAZINE WHEN IT CONDUCTED A SURVEY ALL OVER INDIA LAST YEAR.
September 14th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Hi Gurumurthy,
Nice piece of work. Rafi Saab has sung unforgetable devotional songs in several other languages. His contribution to Gurbani (Punjabi Devotional) is just incredible.
The ‘Perfect Voice to Praise the Almighty’.
September 15th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
rafi for all seasons:
In Mumbai and in the country we celebrated 3 religious festivals.
first one was sri krishna : janmashtami and from all corners :
an evergreen number recorded nearly 40 years back was playing
universally. the number : Govinda aala re aala jara mathki sambhal
brij gwala.. a cult song from shammis “Bluff Master”.
Today, we have Ganesh Chaturthi : the biggest festival of Maharashtra.
The people are hearing : deva ho deva , ganapati deva, tum se badh
kar kaun, tum se badh kar kaun : again the rafi magic filled cult
number.
ramzan also has started and my countrymen of the islam faith are
all observing fast. I now remember rafi saabs many numbers on
this fasting and pious month.
This is mohd rafi – the man for all festivals and seasons. Love all
religion and co-exist. Love all human beings. this was the credo and
the principles of life – our great rafi saab followed.
binu nair the rafi foundation bombay.. binus2000@hotmail.com
cell + 9833 250 701
September 15th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
One song which comes to my mind and which is an unparalleled hindi bhajan and so brilliantly sung by Rafi sahib and with a great combination of Mohd Shakeel (lyrics) and Naushad Ali (music director) and to end it all a krishan bhajan from Baiju Bawra..Man Tarpat Hari Darshan.
Naushad in one of his interview says that before the recording he had asked all musical accompanists to come to the studio afer taking bath and be clean to respect the religion.
Such was the dedication and passion which people believed and respected.
September 16th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Sargam : a rafi saab special magazine from Mumbai…
rafi lovers please click on the right hand side on sargam. U will
find the details of sargam magazine launch function on october
2nd at 8.30 p.m. in a mini auditorium in Mumbai.
There is a 3 hour musical show too with rafi saab rare and popular
songs.
Kindly send in your subscriptions urgently. please note that the
circulation of the magazine is by “paid subscriptions” and I thank
those who have taken the lead by sending them.
The magazine will be sent to their postal address. Another good
news is that rafi saabs younger brother : mr. Mohd Sadiq will
arrive in mumbai from lahore.
He is very happy with the works of this website and the rafi foundation
and he spoke to me.
Another good news is that now we have the rafi foundation branch in
Lahore , Pakistan too.
rafi lovers are trying to form the foundation in dubai, usa, england
and other countries. as said : we need to build 50 units of rafi
foundation : worldwide. Lets all spread the fragrance of rafi songs.
binu nair. the rafi foundation : cell : + 9833 250 701
binus2000@hotmail.com
September 16th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
FRIEND HERE R SOME OF BRILLIANT BHAJANS BY ONE AND ONLY RAFI SAHIB-
1.VRINDAVAN KA KRISHAN KANHAYIA(WITH MATA(LATA))
2.BADE DEER BAYE NANDLALA.
3.MAN RE TU KAHE NA DEER DARE
4.MADUBAN MAIN RADHIKA NACHE RE
5.SUKH KE SAAB SAATHI
6.DEVA O DEVA GANPATI DEVA
7.RADHIKE TUNE BANSURI CHURAYI
8.MOHE APNE SHARAN MAIN LELO RAM
9.O DUNIYA KE RAKHVALE(WHO CAN FORGET THIS MASTERPIECE)
10.MAN TADPAT HARI DARSHAN KO AAJ( YET ANOTHER GEM)
11ANA HAI TO AA BHAGWAN KE GHAR
12.INSAF KA MANDIR HAI YEH BHAGWAN KA GHAR HAI
13.JAI RGUNANDAN JAI SIYARAM
14ISHWAR ALLAH TERO NAM SAB KO SANMATI DE BHAGWAN
15.GANGA TERA PANI AMRIT
16.KAHA JA RAHA TU AYE JANE VALE(I ALSO REGARD THIS AS A BHAJAN)
17 SAAB SE BADA TERA NAAM O SHEROVALI BEGDE BANA DE MERE KAM
18.CHALO BULAVA AAYA HAI MATA NE BULAYA HAI(WITH NARINDER CHANCHAL)
19.DUNIYA NA BAYE MOHE AB TO BULA LE CHARNO MAIN CHARNO MAIN
20.AB MORE VINTI SUNO BHAGWAN
I KNOW I M MISSING NUMEROUS EXCELLENT AND UN COMPAREABLE BHAJANS COZ NOBODY CAN ESTIMATE THE RECORDS OF THE CAREER SPANING MORE THAN 30 YEARS.
WHILE IN PUNJABI FILMS RAFI SAHIB HAS SUNG NUMEROUS BHAJANS SOME OF HIS BEST COMING IN THE FILM DHANA JAAT IN WHICH DARA SINGH WAS IN LEAD ROLE-
1.BANDE NU SAMAJ NA AVE(PICTURISED ON DARA SINGH)
2.MITAR PYARRE NU HAAL MUREDA DA KEHNA
THE PHENOMENON HAS SUNG MANY SHABADS AND HIS CASSTTESS HAVE BEEN RELEASED
RAFI WAS THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER SINGER IN PUNJABI FILM INDUSTRY TOO AND HAS SUNG HUNDREDS OF EXCELLENT PUNJABI SONGS.
September 16th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Hi friends !
I am awfully sorry to correct Mr. Vikas Sharma’s letter (mail) as some of the songs he has mentioned as ‘BHAJAN’ are actually not BHAJANS…like___
1. Man Re Tu Kahe Na…
2. Madhuban Me Radhika..
3. Insaf Ka Mandir Hai Ye… and a few more
Mr. Sharma will definitely forgive me for this daringness, but every song that is having words like ‘mandir’ or ‘bhagwan’ or ‘ishwar’ is not a bhajan. I once again apologize and I appreciate his love towards the greatest legend…that is Rafi Saab. Please keep it up.
September 16th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
a humble request to mr. Vikash Sharma…
Sir, can you send me the bhajan “deva ho deva ganapati deva…” if it is having with you ? my e-mail id is__
raajkumarakela@yahoo.com
Thanks !
September 19th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Very neatly composed article Mr. Gurumurthy. Canyou pls send this and all of your other articles already posted on this website, since I am collecting all articles of substance for my record. This request also goes out to Mr. Haldar, Mr. Sourav Chatterjee and Mr. Ramachandran (Chennai) and all others who have contributed by way of articles to this site to please forward soft copies to my email id asmurty2@rediffmail.com. I shall be highly thankful for your efforts.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Guru Murtyji & Vikas Sharmaji,
I think both of you & others have overlooked the beautiful rendition of “Nav Kalpana Nav Roop Se” from the film Mrig Trishna, a classical-cum-bhajan by our Rafi Saab.
Ramaswamy
September 20th, 2007 at 12:52 am
Rafi Saab’s non filmy bhajans are equally great. one of the such bhajan I like most is ANKHIYAAn HARI DARSHAN KO PYASI. Another is BHAJO RE MAN RAM GOVINDA HARI which really creates the mandir like environment!
just to add, song is mistakenly written as Ram in the eternal song of Rafi Saab, Pao parooN tore shyam……….
September 25th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
There is another gem of a song (bhajan) sung by Rafi “Bhajan bina baawre tune heera janam ganwayaa……”. Will someone tell from which film the bhajan is?
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 am
We always heartly welcome & loveMohd. Rafi Ji.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Dear all,
I am a singer of Nepal. I have done a no. of songs for state run radio “Radio Nepal” and also Nepali movies. Rafi is my idol. I am proud to born during the time when Rafi Sahab was singing. He is the most versatile singer I have ever heard in my life. My morning starts with the vajan “Mana tara pata Hari dara shana ko aja” and “Manare tu kahena dhir dhare…” I try to sing some of these type of classical based Bhajans of Rafi. I also sing his Gajals, romantic songs and non-filmy songs. Singing these types of songs has enriched my voice. Please forgive if I spoke much: I feel that Rafi Jaisa singer Na Kavi tha, na ab hai aur na kavhi hoga.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I still feel there is no voice parralel to Rafi Sahib. He is great. There are thousands of songs that will live forever just because of Rafi Sahib’s voice. Nav Kalpana Nav Roop Se is one of those songs….
August 7th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
rafi is the greatest !!! ……….. ab kya misal doon main tumhare shabab ki insan ban gayi thu kiran aftaab ki
February 17th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Rafi sahab is very nice & he is a like a diamond in Indian music/film industry.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:07 pm
DEAR H V GURU MURTHY JI I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION ABOUT FILM:SHIRDI KE SAIBABA LYRICS BY MANOJKUMAR JI MUSIC BY PANDURANG DIXIT JI THERE ARE 2 BHAKTI SONGS BY RAFI SAAB WITH ANUPJHALOTA JI AND USHA MANESHKARJI FILM PRODUCED BY MANOJ KUMAR JI TO WATCH THIS SONGS KINDLY VISIT THIS LINKS
(1)TRACK:SAI NATH TERE HAZARON HAATH
http://rafifanblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/sai-nath-tere-hazaron-haath-shirdi-ke.html
(2)SAI BABA BOLO SAI BABA BOLO
http://rafifanblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/sai-baba-bolo-shirdi-ke-sai-baba.html
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I am happy to find this site , dedicated to rafi sahab. He is tha legand about whom it was first said that , ” aise gayak sadiyon main ek paida hote hain ” , it was said to pay him the sheer respect , but he has proved that the songs sung by him about 50 or 60 years back, despite astonishing development in the electronic media, instruments , and music players , no one could touch the height of his performance , which he did with a moderate kind of technology.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:04 am
There is no doubt that no other singer has sung BHAKTI SONGS better than Rafi sahib & Lataji besides few songs of other contemporary singers. But Rafi sahib’s bhakti songs are directly touch the heart and felt like voice coming from heaven. I am all time favourite of Rafi sahib. Whenever, I do surfing on internet, I always look out for Rafi Sahib’s songs. I think he was God’s own man, who has always entertained us with a great smiles. We always seen him with smiling face and I think that was the biggest point of his life becoming greatest singers as well as outstanding human beings.
November 6th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Mohammed Rafi’s Record Hari Ka Dyan Laga Man Mere has 8 songs, with music by Pt. Shivram, Lyrics by Raajesh Johri, Surdas, Ramchandra Bagora.
These are excellent, are they available on the net?
Bande Kis Par Kare Ghuman
Samay Ka Khel Nirala Re Bhai
Man Re Tan Hai Dukh ka Gaon
Hari Ka Dhyan Laga Man Mere
Mere Shyam Tera Naam
Kanha Toone Peer Na Jaani
Bhajore Man Ram Govind Hari
Akhiyan Hari Daeshan Ki Pyasi
May 7th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
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July 2nd, 2010 at 11:39 am
Rafi Sahab was gods gift to us. Some of us were very lucky to have enjoyed his very few live concerts. I am born and brought up in Fiji. I consider myself blessed to have been able to see Rafi Sahab sing at 2 of the 4 concerts he did in Fiji in 1972/73 (nsure).
His was one of his kind. His Bhajans were superb. He brought out the correct emotions in every word he sang.
Man tadapat hari darshan ko aaaj and Badi der bhai Nandlala are only a couple to mention of the numerous captivating bhajans sang by him. I adored him as a child and I still love his songs like no one elses.