Classical Rafi
This article is written by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy.
I have a Cassette by name “Anmol Ratan Volume 12 Mohammed Rafi” – “Phir Rafi” released by HMV which I very frequently listen to while I travel. All the songs are classical based and are soothing to ears. Side A contains “Radhike Toone” (BETI BETE) music by SJ, “Manare Tu Kahena” (CHITRALEKHA) by Roshan, “Madhuban Me Radhika” (KOHINOOR) by Naushad, “Saaz Ho Tum” (SAANZ AUR AWAAZ) by Naushad, “Nache Man Mora” (MERI SOORAT TERI AANKHEN) by SDB and “Aaye Bahar Banke” (RAJHATH) by SJ.
Side B contains “Man Tarpat” (BAIJU BAWRA) by Naushad, “Duniya Na Bhaye” (BASANT BAHAR) by SJ, “Kaise Samjhaun” (SOORAJ) with Asha by SJ, “Ajahuna Aaye” (SAANJ AUR SAVERA) with Suman, again by SJ and “Nava Kalpana Nava Roopase” (MRIG TRISHNA) beautifully set to music by Shambu Sen.
All eleven songs are gems. The songs from Saanz Aur Awaaz, Rajhath and Mrig Trishna are comparatively not as popular as the other songs, but these three songs are real class. The Mrig Trishna song was picturised with a dance by Hema Malini which she admitted that she really enjoyed doing the dance for the song.
The “Kohinoor”, “MSTA” and “Baiju Bawra” songs are quite popular songs. Regarding the song from “Chitralekha”, nothing more need be said as it is considered one of the best short solos ever recorded in the history of Indian Film Industry. I read somewhere that some people felt that such a wonderful song should not be so small and they wanted to have one more Antara but finally decided to have just two Antaras, but still what a classic song.
The “Beti Bete” song is another good song. SPB tried the same song in a Kannada movie. The “Saanj Aur Savera” duet was a national award winner and that too picturised on Comedians Mehamood and Shuba Khote and the duet from “Sooraj” was also a hit song with a wonderful dance by Vyjayantimala. The “Basant Bahar” song comes in the climax of the movie and is one of the highlights of the movie, picturised on Bharat Bhushan.
What about other classical film songs sung by Rafiji? Of course, there are plenty of songs based on Indian Raags set to music by Naushad and SJ. Admittedly, Rafi was one of the few good singers who could sing a REAL classical song perfectly others being Mannadey, Lata and to certain extent Asha. This fact has been admitted by all the Music Directors.
If any further proof is needed of Rafiji’s caliber for such songs, the fact that Rafi sang “Man Mora Bawara” in RAGINI for even Kishore Kumar, himself a great Singer, should suffice. Apart from the above songs in the cassette, no one can forget songs like “Duniya Ke Rakhawale” (BAIJU BAWRA) especially people who have listened to Rafiji on stage, when Rafi used to raise his voice fourth time while singing “Rakhawale…….” in the end instead of three times as in the regular song. A classical duet with Lata “Kuhu Kuhu Bole Koyaliya” (SWARNA SUNDARI) music by Southern Adinarayana Rao clearly showed Rafiji and Lataji’s mastery over even Carnatic music. Another song worth mentioning is a male duet sung by Rafi and Manna, “Tu Hai Mera Prema Devata” in KALPANA. “Panjaniya Chalke Raam” was another song sung by Rafiji in his melodious voice. Similarly the Rafi – Asha duet “Sawan Aaye” from Dil Diya Dard Liya was another classic, so also “Deewana Mastana” (Bambai Ka Babu). And what about “Ankhiyan Sang Ankhiyan Lagi” (BADA AADMI) and “Unke Khayal” (LAAL PATHAR).
Mannada of course was a master of classical music. His songs in films like Basant Bahar (Sur Na Saje and Bhay Bhanjana), Dooj Ka Chand (Phulgendava Na Maro), Dil Hi To Hai (Laga Chunari Me Daag), Jaane Anjane (Cham Cham Bajere Payaliya), Talaash (Tere Naina), Mere Huzoor (Jhanaka Jhanaka), Padosan (Aao, Aao Savanriya and Ek Chatur Naar), Budda Mil Gaya (Aayo Kahan Se Ghanshyam), Boot Polish (Lapak Zhapak), Lal Pathar (Re Mana Surame Ga with Asha), etc. are unforgettable.
Lataji also has given wonderful songs like Kare Badara Bairi Ja, Jyoti Kalash Chalke, Jiya Legayoji Mora Sanvariya from Anpadh, Ghar Aaya from Chote Nawab, etc. Asha also had “Kase Kahoon Man Ki Baat”.
Though Mahendra Kapoor also has sung few of such songs like “Shyamal Shyamal Karan”, “Tum Nacho Ras Barse”, etc., but his effort looked pedestrian and laborious. All other Singers hardly tried anything classical.
If the above songs are observed carefully, it is revealed that most of the classical songs are by either Naushad or SJ followed by SDB. No doubt that classically these three were the best MDs.
Perhaps, Rafiji and Mannada could have even given a full length concert of purely classical music if the numbers of such songs sung by them are considered.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:33 am
yesudas, manna dey, suresh wadkar and many others are the
jewels of the music land but rafi ji leads all of them - by far.
rafi ji’s assets of melody, diction, soft vocals strechable like an
elastic for any song situation, voice modulation, emotions,(mirth,
romance , sorrow etc…) are unsarpassable.
music companies survive on the royalties of rafi ji voice and
recently there was news about music companies “closing shop” as
there are no buyers for the “created noises” of today which “they”
call music.
rafi saaheb is the gandharva, a person who sings for the gods.
the gods took this great gandarva away from us and its debatable
whether another gandharva will come yet “again”.
for me, its full stop. no we cant get another rafi ji. we can only
enjoy his ” 40 year output “.
the sad part is that even this will take atleast a few life spans for
a music lover…….
binu nair…rafi foundation, binus2000@hotmail.com mumbai, 9833 250 701….
April 1st, 2008 at 8:57 am
Here’s manna da on shammi and rafi saab on the younger shashi in a qawaali composed by dattaram, sj’s famous assistant. xxx, please listen to the mukhda carefully and tell me what you think.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QzdhavGs4UA
March 31st, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Thanks Mr Murty for informing about another song from Lal quila; I am yet to hear that and shall try to get it soon. One singer who had very good classical training but unfortunately did not continue much in Hindi film world is Mr K.J.Jesudoss(Yesudas-in HFM). Examples of his good classical based songs:
Tu jo mere sur mein, Jab deep jale aana, Ka karoon sajini aaye na balam, Koi gaata mein so jaata, Kahan se aaye badra, Kaali godi dwar kahdi etc.. Mostly they were Ravindra Jain’s compositions; few by Rajesh Roshan, Rajkamal etc. Please do not think that I am comparing Rafi sahab with Yesudas;i myself am a die-hard Rafi fan first and I am writing this in this post as this was about Classical based songs. Although many would say that his south indian accent was not suitable for Hindi film music but we can definitely rank Yesudoss as one good classical singer; in fact he himself is a great fan of Rafi Sahab and had acknowledged Rafi sahab as his guru in playback singing.
March 30th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
ref post 2 by mr siva sir. there is yet another song from the film lal quila apart from the na kisi ki aankh ka noor hun and that song is also bahadur shah zafar’s poetry - lagta nahin hai dil mera ujade dayar mein. this song again has the very minimal music as noted by you. i fully agree with manish bajaj sahab when he says that ‘rafi sahab is a god who can do anything with music”.. a great comment comes only from a great rafi-fan like you manish bhai. thanks.
March 30th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Yes indeed, Rafi Sahab can be considered as one the best in classical singing too. I had always felt that his classical songs were just as good as those by peers like Manna De etc., sometimes even better. That is because of the very lovely voice that Rafi Sahab was bestowed with. His singing apart, his voice also is unique - smooth as silky - and Rafi Sahab scored over all the other singers with perfect diction and clarity. Whatever type of song, - classical or non-classical - Rafi Sahab scored over the others because of his unique virtues. If some of the classical songs of Rafi Sahab were not chartbusters the reasons could be many. His non-classical songs scored over his classical renditions. Manna De was more known for his classical songs because he sang too many of them and some of them went on to become all-time hits. I also believe firmly that if such songs were given to Rafi Sahab, he would have done equally well or may have even surpassed the other singers. However that may not be true for a vice-versa. Good article Mr. Gurumurthy Sahab. Please keep it up. Rajdeep Malhotra sahab, I just went to the link provided in your post 16. there are three tracks (two of pop) and I chose the third one thinking it to be a song from Rafi Sahab. alas, it was not to be so. in fact, only continuous rythmic music is playing and there is no voice. could it be karaoke ?? rafimurty@gmail.com
March 30th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
“naache mann mora magan”…. great jugalbandi by pandit samta prasad and ustaad mohd rafi……
March 30th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
mohd rafi ji was best in the classical genre among the various great singers, manna da was also great in this genre but somehow he never surpassed rafi in this genre, probably manna’s most famous classical song is roshan’s classic “laga chunri mein daag” but compare this 1963 gem with the gem by the rafi ji from the same year under dada’s baton, yes “naache mann mora magan”, both are based on bhairivi raaga but somehow rafi’s great taans totally outshining manna, although taraana of the “laga chunri mein daag” was superbly sung by manna , but don’t forget that rafi also had a great taraana in his bag on raag haamir, yes from the kohinoor of year 1960…
only singers who challenged rafi were kishore(on comic genre) and talat(on gazals).. talat was superb on gazals with his vibrating silky voice, but rafi added his classical silken touch to the gazals, and today rafi’s gazals are in the class of their own where no one will ever reach…
March 30th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
when we speak abount classical songs mostly people compare Mohd rafi with Manna Day!!!!!!!?????Manna Day said that Mohd rafi is from 1 to 10 and after that we are.Manna Day was great in all tape of songs not only in classical as I think Manna Day is the best male singer ever born in bollywood abount Mohd Rafi can’t be compare with any singer in the world.
If I am not wrong Naushand Ali,Madan mohan and O P N are from 5 best music director in bollywood,naushad said mohd rafi is 50% of his Music,Madan Mohan said he should not be pay when mohd rafi singed for him,o p N said that if there was no Mohd rafi there was no OpN and many more story,how we compare a man with other when people like Naushad Madan Mohan and O P N said that.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????
March 30th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Thank you very much Mr. Haldarji, Man Khush ho gaya Kaise Kahun Ka Gana ” Manamohan Manme” sunkar. This beautiful song some how used to escape from my memory.
March 30th, 2008 at 3:06 am
www.betarecords.com/rajdeep is my contact site……. u will see me from25th april 08 on sonytv in vaarparivaar show……
March 30th, 2008 at 3:03 am
hello everyone, i’m an artist as a singer…. worked with many stars….recently….. but Rafisahab has been guru of all the indian singers…. great humanbeing too…. 9425063458 is my cell…….
March 29th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Here’s another beautiful classical composition by s. d. burman in kaise kahoon, sung by rafi saab with s. d. batish and suman kalyanpur :
manmohana man mein ho tumhi
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xoNltq3VHO0
March 29th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
hi all rafi lovers and fans,refer post 10,shahbaz bhai,i also have that cassette in which naushad sahab says”kehta hai koi dil gaya, dilbar chala gaya;sahil pukarta hai,samunder chala gaya;lekin jo baat sach hai,voh kehta nahin koi; duniya sae moshiki ka payambar chala gaya”. in the begining of this cassette naushad says”ek din ek naujawan gayak mujhko aayaa nazar;roshan kar diye jisne sangeet kae shyam-o-sehar;waqt kae fankaron mein alag thaa uska mukaam;zikrr kar rahan huan jis ka main,rafi tha uska naam”.naushad always held rafi saab in high esteem.in the same cassette there is a song “jis raat kae khwaab aaye,woh khqabon ki raat aayi;nazron sae mili nazrein,hothon pae woh baat aayi “.now ,there was a programme on one of the fm channels which was by naushad sahab and in this programme he mentioned this very song,it is from an un-released movie named “habba-khatun” the poetry is by ali sardar zafri,after the recording was over, maushad asked rafi saab about money,rafi saab said “mujhe is ki keemat mil gayi,aisa gaana aapne mujhse gawayaa kae tabiyat khush ho gayi”.rafi saab said that it was adream song for him.now i might have not written the exact words because i had heard this programme in 2004 but it was something similar.i have another cassette of rafi saab,it’s called as rare hits of rafi saab, i will write about it next time.ashish kapoor,;ashkpr@hotmail.com;tel -09212587414,09810087414
March 29th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Gurumurthy Ji,
Excellant writing. I would like to mention one classical Ghazal of Rafi Saheb from movie ” Teen Devian “, beautiful lyrics by Majrooh and music by S.D.Burman.
Kahin bekhayal hokar, yun hi chu liya kisine, kayi khwab—-
Gurumurthy ji or anybody , could you please tell me about this Ghazal based on which classical Raag? I don’t think any other singer can sing this Ghazal, except Rafi Saheb.
Gurumurthy ji, please tell me more and more about this Rafi/Majrooh/SD Burman creation.
With regards to all Rafi lovers,
Dr. Khaja Aliuddin
March 29th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Re. Post # 10: Agreed 100% that Rafi Saheb is the biggest and best singer in the world. No one can touch him.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
What a nice and devoting column. But i would like to quote some words from Manna Day and Naushad Sahib.
Music Director Naushad had said when he released 4 songs which were not released before, i would quote only the last line of the poetry bu Naushad sahib.
the words are: Lakin jo sach hai baat Voh kehta nahin koyie, dunia se mosiqui ka peyambar chala geya.
and Manna Day has said that he has learned alot of things from Rafi Sahib’s singing.
Now it can be easily judged that Muhammad Rafi is the Biggest Star Singer of Indian Film Cinema. If i say that Muhammad Rafi is the Biggest Singer of the World, it will not also be wrong.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
सागरजी नमस्कार। आपका यहाँ पर हार्दिक स्वागत है। सागर नाहर जी का अपना खुद्का वेबसाइट “दस्तक” बोहत ही मशहूर है और मेरी यह खुशकिस्मती है की मैंने इनसे हाल ही मी फ़ोन पर बात की है। सागरजी हैदराबाद शहर से ही है और हिन्दी भाषा में बोहुत कुशल लेख लिघ्ते हैं। इनको रफी साहब और अन्य गायकों के सभी गीत अच्छे लगते हैं और खासकर पुराने गणों में इनकी दिलचस्पी ज़्यादा है। में इनसे सहमत हूँ की कोहिनूर फ़िल्म का यह गाना मधुबन में राधिका नाचे रे एक बोहत ही खास गाना है और रफी साहब ने इसमे भी अपने हुनर को पेश किया है। धन्यवाद सागरजी. rafimurty@gmail.com
March 28th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Every song rendered by Rafi is a classic, possibly I am looking for the MP3 file for the song “Nav Kalpana Nav Rup Se”. If any one having it can forward it to my mail ID anmol_india@hotmail.com
March 28th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
One of Rafi Sahab’s outstanding classical songs is ‘Duniya na bhaaye mohe, ab to bulale, charon mein…’ from the 1956 film Basant Bahar (lyrics by Shailendra and music by Shankar jaikihan). Rafi Sahab transports the listener to an altogether different world through his pathos-filled rendition, especially when he lets his voice soar during the higher notes.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Rafisaab could sing any song with ease and added his charm to every song.
Manna dey who is considered to be best classical playback singer and I regard him very highly as well mentioned in a saregama programme that once mentioned that “Rafisaab was not a singer he was a playback institution” what else to add Manna da is elder to Rafisaab but still he always gives him respect by calling rafisaab.
Op nayyar had mentioned in an interview when he asked Rafisaab to sing a classical song of manna dey during a rehersal,Rafisaab replied “Jo gaana Manna ne gaa diya woh phir koi aur nahi gaa sakta”
Rafisaab has many classical songs and each one is a gem..I have woken up in early mornings during my college years ” Naache man mora”, I have romanced through song “Tere bina soone nain hamare”, I have tried to calm myself “Man re tu kahe naa ”
Rafisaab is a god who can do anything with Music………
Long live rafisaab and god bless all rafi lovers
March 28th, 2008 at 11:47 am
रफी साहब के गाये कोहिनूर फिल्म के गाने मधुबन में राधिका की एक बहुत खास बात है। यह गाना रफी साहब ने बहुत ही खूबसूरती से गाया परन्तु दिलिप कुमार ने उतनी ही खूबसूरती से पर्दे पर निभाया।
सबसे खास बात जो है वह है..
एम कांई दिलिप कुमार बनातु नथी… http://mahaphil.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post.html
March 27th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
raadhike tune bansuri churayi is another great song… by the way who among this genius duo composed this song?? shankar or jaikishan?? if any one is aware than plz let me know…
March 27th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Gurumurthy ji,
nice article, regarding mann re tu kaahe na dheer dhare im agree wd u that its a best short solo ever recorded, infact this song shows the class of another great composer roshan, although i can’t include him into rafi loyalists but i’ll include at least 10 songs if not more, in the list of top 50 songs of rafi sahab..
i have heard many well trained classical singers delivering this song but no one can touch the “Mithaas” of rafi ji, and wat a scale chosen by roshan to exploit rafi’s strength, great song.
roshan was great composer and revolutionary too, he brings the revolution of quawwalis from barsaat ki raat, and i simply love what he did with rafi sahab in 60s,
if iam not wrong, rafi & roshan first teamed up in 1950 for the movie” baawre nain”, and song was “mohabbat ke maaro ka haal” duet with asha, then he employed mukesh for “hum log” and “malhaar” and talat for “anhonee”.. next time he used rafi for “chandni chowk”, song was “zameen bh wahi, aasmaan bhi wahi”…
but this partnership got the golden charm with revolutionary “barsaat ki raat”
here are four magical solos and one great quawwali from this movie..
1. zindagi bhar na bhoolegi
2. maine shayad tumhe pehle bhi kahin dekha hai
3. mayoos to hun vaade se tere
4. kya gam jo andheri hain raahen
5. yeh ishq ishq hai
and then came legendary aarti, chitralekha, tajmahal, dooj ka chand,
bedaag(1965)- having two great rafi solos::
1. zindagi k mod par jo koi raasta mila
2. saanchi tumhari preet ho raam.
than further in all great albums by roshan nai umar ki nai fasal, dadi maa, devar, mamta, , rafi ji spreads his magic
and finally roshans carvan ends with “anokhi raat”…
now im ending up wd two great songs , first one is rafi solo from “anokhi raat”, another is great rafi duet from tajmahal ::
1. mile na phool to kaaton se dosti karli
2. jo vaada kiya wo nibhana padega
i consider roshan ji as a singer neutral music director but no doubt his best also came up wd great mohd rafi ji…
March 27th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Guru Murthy sir
Excellent article!!. Few more gems by Rafi based on classical raagas-Madhuban mein radhika naache re(Naushad);Nache man mora magan(SDBurman);Sukh ke sab saathi, dukh me na koi( more of a bhajan, but still on classical base–music by the most under-rated music director pair-Kalyanji Anandji-even in this forum I find very rare mention about this pair–just listen to Chale the saath milke chalenge saath milkar tumhe rukna padega meri awwaz sunkar by Rafi sahab and also kahin raat din hum door the-duet by Rafi sahab & Lata–sorry–I am deviating from the main topic).
In fact Rafi sahab had the unique quality to raise an ordinarly song to a classical level, which no else had.
In my humble personal opinion only Rafi sahab has sung few SONGS THAT HAD ABSOLUTELY NO MUSIC OR VERY MINIMAL MUSIC like Na kisi ki ankh ka noor hoon( from Lal quila-music by S.N.Tripathi–the sher was by last Mughal emporer-Bahadur Shah Zafar) and Ye kuche ye nilam ghar dil kashi ke..ye lut the hue caarvan zindagi ke(Pyasa–SDB)
March 26th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Interesting article, Rafi Saheb was superb in classical songs as well. The song ‘Tu Hi Mera Prem Devta…” sung by both Rafi Saheb and Manna da is really enjoyable. There’s another classical number “Sudh Bisar Gaee Aaj…” from the film “Sangeet Samrat Tansen” again sung so effortlessly by Rafi Saheb with Manna da is very pleasing to hear, this song is not mentioned in this article. Anybody need it can mail me.
melodiousrafi@yahoo.com