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
May 12th, 2008 at 12:33 am
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.
May 11th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
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…
May 11th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
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.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
‘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
May 9th, 2008 at 6:55 am
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.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
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
May 8th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
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).
May 7th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
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.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
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.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
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…
May 6th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
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?
May 5th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
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…
May 5th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
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.
May 4th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
@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?
May 4th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
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
May 4th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
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