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
December 30th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
I will ‘bet’ it will not stop : mr. narayan…
instead of enjoying their music in the privacy of their music rooms,
these music lovers are wasting their time and others : by comparing
rafi saab with other singers…… they seem to know ‘too much’ about
music and they want to spill their musical tastes on others without
any provocation or invitation…
So this will never stop….
binu nair , mumbai…..
December 30th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
post 698…. WELL SAID ! KHAN SIR
NOW LET US CLOSE THIS DEBATE DUE TO UNNECESSARY NEGATIVE FACTORS OF COMPARISON AND ENJOY BY GAINING KNOWLEDGE ON THESE TWO GREATEST LEGENDS ONE IN BOLLYWOOD AND ANOTHER IN TOLLYWOOD.
LET US ANALYSE THEIR STRENGTHS INDIVIDUALLY AND NOT COMPARING THEM.
WE ALL HAVE A DIRTY HABIT OF COMPARING SINCE THE DAYS OF MAHABHARATA LIKE COMPARING ARJUN WITH KARNA, SUNIL GAVASKAR WITH GUNDAPPA VISHWANATH, SHANE WARNE WITH MURALIDHARAN, LATA WITH ASHA, SUSHEELA WITH JANAKI,SPB WITH YESUDAS,SONU NIGAM WITH UDIT NARAYAN AND SO ON SO FORTH.
THEY ARE SHEER WASTE OF TIME AND CREATES UNHAPPINESS AS ONE PARTY PROVOKES THE OTHER.
SO FRIENDS LET US DISCUSS ABOUT THE GREATNESS AND NAYI PAHALU OF RAFI SAHAB WITH UR VAST KNOWLDEGE AND CLOSE THIS DEBATE OF COMPARISON ONCE FOR ALL
December 29th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
vasu sahab and ramakrishna sahab,
i have already complimented you both in my earlier messages. i have read close to some 150 to 200 past messages in this site during the last 15 days or so and noticed that you two are the only really balanced individuals with a very very great presentation and analysis on the great legends of indian film music viz., rafi sahab and ghantasala sahab. pl. accept my congratulations and i request you to continue to enlighten the readers here with your interesting messages on both legends.
some readers have been requesting the moderator to delete or include messages, but i feel this should not be the case. I completely believe that the honourable moderator/administrator is a true music lover otherwise without his help we all would not have been able to read the beautiful arguments and presentations here about these greatest playback singers from our country. hence, friends we should feel proud of our country which has produced such legends and immense fan following for these legends even after their departure long ago and we all have to strive in unity to show the world regarding the talent of our country in music rather than arguing in a impractical way. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the greatest talents and best voices have been produced from india, our beloved country and which acts as example to the entire world.
December 29th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Ramakrishna garu, post 686 pl.
I feel indeed happy to note your views on both the legends which is quite true. My father used to say in the 50’s and 60’s rafi sahab’s voice was a magnetic force in the hindi film world. i was in mumbai from 1978 to 83, during the period which bollywood lost this melodious legend. i distinctly remember hearing the song dafali waley dafali baza by lata ji and rafi sahab from film sargam in the late 70’s in those days and this song though a duet used to mesmerise me a lot. such was the charm of rafi sahab’s voice. i hence feel, some people who were quoting rafi sahab’s voice losing its sheen in 70’s is not correct. He continued to maintain that attraction despite kishore da’s growing popularity. i appreciate and compliment your likes of various songs. i too wish to post some of my favourite numbers of this irreplaceable legend in bollywood.
1. chaudvin ka chand ho
2. aiye goolbadan from professor film
3. ye chand sa roshan chehra and deewana hua badal
4. aapne yaad dilaya
5. jo waada kiya woh nibhana padega and paon choo lene do
6. tumhari nazar kyon khafa ho gayee ( this is in telugu also)
7. o duniya ke rakhwale
8. muzhe kitna pyar hai tumse
9. tujhe jeevan ki dor se from asli naqli
10.madhuban me radhika naache re
and the list continues and further difficult to post because space stops me.
And regarding your list of ghantasala garu’s numbers, my response is with some of my favourite numbers of this irreplaceable legend in tollywood
1. cheli kaadu ninne rammani piluva
2. jagame marinadi madhuramuga e vela
3. andala ranive neeventa janave
4. raave na cheliya
5. monna ninnu chusanu ninna manasu kalipanu
6. jaya sundara nanda baala (this is a rare song and exceptional one)
7. neela gagana ghana syama
8. priye charusile
9. penu chikataye lokam
10.siva sankari sivananda lahari and madi sarada devi mandirame
and the list continues again i have to stop due to paucity of space ramakrishna garu. i feel i have posted mix of romantic, tragic, classical and devotional numbers of both the legends.
sir, regarding incomplete knowledge of rafi sahab by some telugu readers and incomplete knowledge of ghantasala garu by some hindi readers, we need not lose our track and views because i feel we know what we are.
sir, i am a legal professional and i am not generally available throughout the day (you would have observed that generally i post my limited messages in the night around 10-11 p.m. this i carry on due to my interest and knowledge in music) hence, my pure opinion sir is, if god wills and if time comes, we shall definitely meet when the appropriate time comes.
December 29th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
ref post 695
husaain shaikh ji,
ok.ok.ok.
i too agree with you sir. but with a small correction please.
we are not comparing anyone with our ‘guruji’. we are just discussing the talents we the indians have in our sub continent. today the discussion is on ghantasaala garu, tomorrow may be kishore daa, day after may be with manna da and so on.
you can see the main articles rafi sahab with the screen personalities & music directors. its not a comparison but a brainstorming session.
and to publish all these articles its the decission of the moderator & we are not the people to intervene & fight & spoil our relationships, which our ‘guruji’ did not have liked if he would have been in his mortal frame.
regards.
ramakrishna
hyderabad
09949509592
sabnivis@yahoo.com
December 29th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Let’s talk about one and only one Rafi Saheb, just leave this ghantasala aside. No one can be compared with Rafi Saheb. rafi_magic@yahoo.com
December 28th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
if we rank the singers from 1 to 10 I don’t think anyone of us can put Mohd Rafi more than No 3 but other singers they can be out of the best 10,that is true
December 28th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
there was 83th birthday on 24th on Radio and after 100 years we will be not here but there will be Mohd rafi 183th birthday of Radio,that is a gift of God to the greatest human and singer,i don’t know anything abount music but i think Mohd rafi voice is a magic which made me from KK fan to Mohd Rafi…
who u think that mohd Rafi is not the best plz jest be a human and close ur eyes jest listen to voice of Mohd rafi than u will know who is the the best
December 28th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
One thing is made clear here. Everybody comes here to our site and start talking about their favourite singer. One Man Show Rafi Saab is compared to everybody. Thats the greatness of him. He is incomparable. To all those who claim to be Ghantasala’s fans, I will put forth a beautiful answer. I have heard him many a times and he is pure classical. He cant give out romantic emotions in his songs whether in happy or sad moods even if it is according to his fans it is limited to Telugu world. He is just a classical and best suited singer for telugu industry. Rafi Saab is global. In his songs, we find devotion, romance, melody, moods, patriotic, etc., etc., Rafi saab has sung for NTR but Ghantasala hasnt sung for Dilip Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Shammi kapoor etc., None can imagine him singing for them also. Pl close the chapter. Rafi saab is Rafi saab. Nobody is comparable to him. Slight problems in early 70s doesnt mean Kishore is the best. What was he doing till then. Pure music died and Kishore rose to heights. things almost came back to control but God wanted Rafi Sahab to sing for him. chapters closed. Issues closed as there are no answers from anybody else whereas we Rafians can fight with every body. Thats the greatness with Rafi saab. Long Live Rafi saab.
December 28th, 2007 at 9:21 am
mr a.s.murty garu,
refe my post 662 i have already mentioned to stop this debate. i think you have seen it.
i think nobody misunderstands you as ‘murthy’ in this forum. pls dont worry.
and regarding this debate though it has taken a lot of discussions we are able to know all sorts of people, obstinate, frog in the well, people with limited knowledege of music and posing they know everything as ‘cherry’ told in his comments.
let us take it as a discussion only and let us not take that this hampers our ‘guruji’
and murthy garu from this forum if you go out or i walk out then nothing happens, this forum looses nothing. we will enter into some other forum and there if we get disturbed we will walk out, is it not ? this way we only loose sir.
as i read in various magazines that rafi sahab is a very gentle, submssive , childlike and open minded person and not at all a psychophant. this is the forum of rafi sahab and it will remain as a forum of rafi sahab only. i too agree with this & strongly condemn if anybody criticises or gives ‘unpalatable’ opinions about our ‘ guruji’ . remember that ‘unknown’ fellow.
let us not be ‘psychophants’. i adore rafi sahab, love him & respect him, but that does not mean that i ignore the other reputed singers like jesudoss sir, mukesh jee, manna da, talat ji, ghantasaal garu, mahendra kapoor ji, hemant da and the list continues.
but out of all i will always address the greatest playback singer ‘ muhammed rafi’ as ‘ rafi sahab’ and not as ‘ rafi ji’. there lies the difference. this ‘ sahab’ title comes out from my rock bottom and will be their till my respiration continues.
so let the people give their opinion. in what way it hampers you and me? we know some more things which are unknown to us.
and finally the moderator of this forum is observing every thing. it is his decission to accept or ignore any comments. let us not ‘pressurise’ him or ‘instruct’ him. we can request him only to look at this matter.
his decission is final.
December 27th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
The frog in the well attitude towards music or any art is pretty
‘dangerous’…..
even if such persons say that shri ghantasala is no. one up to
no three in a scale of one to ten, and say rafi saab is no.4, i promise
that i will not dispute their - ‘claims’….. it’s their personal views…
even through a miniscule minority…
let all frogs of the well be happy and lets continue the debate..
but the frogs are entering ‘other domains/wells’ which is not permissible.
please note….that this is a legend mohd rafi website and intruders are
entering, peeping and writing their outlandish views taking advantage
of the genorisity of the administrator.
Please keep your views to yourself….. we are not interested…
binu nair…..mumbai…..
December 27th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I have not been visiting these columns for long now simply because I find no purposeful result will yield in the never-ending comparison between Ghantasala and Mohd Rafi Sahab. However, on insistance from a few close friends I once again went through a few more of the latest comments. I do not want to join this debate any further. all i wanted to clarify that one of the “murthy Sir” is also very active and who he is i do not know. most reader may confuse it to be me i.e. a s murty or maybe even shri h v gurumurthy sahab. let that stand corrected. asmurty2@rediffmail.com
December 27th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
DEAR MUSIC LOVERS,
LET US WIND UP THIS DEBATE FOR THE SAKE OF RAFI SAHAB AND GHANTASALAGARU. BOTH ARE INCOMPARABLE,IMMORTAL AND DIVINE LEGENDS ONE IN BOLLYWOOD AND OTHER IN TOLLYWOOD.
PL COMPARE BY ALL MEANS IF RAFI SAHAB HAS SUNG ATLEAST 50 TELUGU SONGS AND GHANTASALA GARU ATLEAST 50 HINDI SONGS.
BUT THANKS TO ALL WE COULD ENHANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE AND TODAY MY FRIEND IS GIFTING ME THE SONGS OF BOTH THE LEGENDS.
I PERSONALLY SUBSCRIBE TO THE VIEW OF MYK, VENTKADRI SIR,HALDARDA.CHERIAN,RAMAKRISHNA SIR,BINUJI,MURTY SIR AND OTHER WELL ENLIGHTENED MUSIC LOVERS THAT RAFI SAHAB HAD COMPETITION BETWEEN HIMSELF IT CAN BE RAFI SAHAB OF NAUSHAD WITH RAFI SAHAB OF MADANMOHAN OR RAFI SAHAB OF SD BURMAN WITH RAFI SAHAB OF ROSHAN OR RAFISAHAB OF SHANKAR JAIKISHEN WITH RAFI SAHAB OF LAKSHMIKANT PYARELAL OR TAKE RAFI SAHAB OF RAVI WITH RAFI SAHAB OF CHITRAGUPT.
IAM NOT STOPPING IT CAN BE RAFI SAHAB OF OP NAYYAR WITH RAFI SAHAB OF RD BURMAN OR RAFI SAHAB OF USHA KHANNA WITH RAFI SAHAB OF IQBAL QUERESHI AND SO ON SO FORTH.
December 27th, 2007 at 9:19 am
sri vasu garu, khan sahab, murthy garu, prasad garu, vitthal garu,
before reading this post please read my previous post since this is a continuiation of that .
about ‘ respect’ and ‘love ‘ i give my clarification thus.
i respect ghantasaal garu because of his talent in rendering padyam, slokam, krithi and finally playback singing. he was an artist of a very high order. till now in south there is still a void due to his heavenly departure. he was a normal human being with normal human emotions & feelings. so i respect him.
now coming to the factor of ‘ love’, i am giving my view this way please. rafi sahab is of equal talent like ghantasaal garu. when the former is an example of ‘tolliwood’ rafi sahab is an example of ‘ bolliwood’. he is ireplaceable playback singer. now coming to the human aspect, rafi sahab is far far above us the normal human beings. for a number of music directors he has rendered his voice with utmost sincerity & dedication. he has extended his support for the upcoming music directors . he was a great inspiration for lakshmikant-pyarelal during their debut as music directors. it was his voice that has made them popular and made them to give popular and evergreen songs to us the music lovers. he was an example of charity and simplicity. when some producer says he will give money afterwords there are examples that rafi sahab told them, ‘paisey ganaa hit honey ke baad dena ji’. thats it.
and that ‘ mercurial smile’ . we cant get this sort of smile from normal human beings as we are all materialistic in nature. this comes from a ‘ saintly’ personality only.
thats why i address him as ‘ saint’ and at times as ‘ guruji’
so this way i conclude that i respect ghantasaala garu & i love rafi sahab.
ramakrishna
hyderabad
9949509592
sabnivis@ yahoo.com
December 27th, 2007 at 6:55 am
respected vasu garu, khan sahab, prasad garu, murthy garu, vitthal garu,
thank you very much sir for your views. in fact it is a matter of great interaction we have in this ‘ beautiful ‘ forum of our dearest rafi sahab.
sir, i tell you i am a ‘ pujari’ of rafi sahab since my very child hood. his first melodious numbers which had virtually magnetised me are the following.
1. basti basti parbat parbat, gaata gaaye banjara
2. chali chali re patang meri chali rey
3. sar jo tera chakraye, yaa dil dooba jaaye
4. leke pehela pehela pyar — where rafi sahab plunges in antara and sweeps away all the splendid efforts put by shamshaad begum saheba
i have a big portrait of guruji in my hall , i proudly say its my treasure. on 24th evening we had celebrated guruji’s birthday at my residence & it was attended by the true music lovers. the people came even from a distance of 10 kms by bus in spite of heavy traffic in the evening hours. this is the ‘ magnetism’ of rafi sahab my ‘ guruji’ i can say.
about the great ghantasaala garu i adore him with equal respect. how can i forget his following numbers.
1. viyaala vaari vindu, vintayina vantakambu
2. ee nati ee bandham, ye naati do…..
3. mudda banti poovulo……
4. silala pai silpaalu chekkinaaru
5. naa hrudayam lo, nidurinchey cheli
6. nanduni charitamu vinumaa……
7. chitapata chinukulu padutoo vuntey
8. chengaavi rangu cheera kattukunna chinnadi
9 maduraati madhuram, mana prema madhuvu
10 nannu dochu konduvakey, vannela dorasaani
and the list is endless…………………………………………
but to me there is a hairline difference . as all of us know in this creation of almighty no two human beings are equal. similar is the case with ghantasaala garu & rafi sahab.
with this difference i conclude, i ‘respect’ ghantasaala garu and i ‘ love ‘ rafi sahab. so many times i tell my mother that rafi sahab is her ‘ elder brother’. rafi sahab is now 83 my mother is 79 now.
vasu garu in case you are in hyderabad please inform me & i will meet you personally.
ramakrishna
hyderabad
9949509592
sabnivis@yahoo.com
December 27th, 2007 at 1:45 am
Rafians, please read this interview with Khaiyyam. Now we know how “tere bharose hey nandalala” and “paon padu tore shyam” were created. Has there been anyone like “him”? From the Kashmir valley to the Kanyakumari coast, from the Gulf of Kutch to the hills of Assam, rafi is the only constant.
——————-
Rafi was dedicated singer, compassionate man: Khayyam
By IANS
Dec 25, 2007, 08:03
Had Mohammed Rafi been alive, the legendary playback singer would have celebrated his 83rd birthday Monday (Dec 24). Perhaps, he would still have been singing.
Rafi Sahab, as he was fondly referred to in Bollywood, died 27 years ago. But his legacy of thousands of songs, including ghazals, qawwalis, bhajans, rendered during four decades of his singing career lives on, virtually unchallenged and un-imitated.
For music connoisseurs and Bollywood, his songs still remain a prized treasure that continues to yield rich returns, more particularly for the giant music company, HMV, now re-christened as Sa Re Ga Ma.
Bollywood’s music trends may have changed drastically of late, but Rafi is still considered a reference point when it comes to judging good singing and dedication to music.
Only a few among the late singer’s contemporaries continue to remain active in the industry today. One of them is eminent music director Khayyam, who himself will be 81 years old next February.
Khayyam’s association with Rafi dates back to 1950 when as an upcoming music director he had a chance to score music for the film ‘Bibi’.
A ghazal from the film, ‘Hamari yaad aati to hogi, Aansu tadap jate to honge’, rendered by Rafi, turned out to be a raging hit.
The success of the film’s music cemented the bond between Rafi and Khayyam. Though they worked together in only a few films, the friendship lasted till the inimitable crooner died of cardiac arrest in 1980.
Recalling the fond association, the maestro Khayyam said: ‘Rafi was a hundred percent dedicated singer. As a person, he was humility personified.’
According to Khayyam, Rafi never hesitated to sing even in C-grade films and adjust his remuneration as per their budgets. ‘Only a compassionate man could do that. As he was a pious man in his private life, in his professional life he was always understanding,’ Khayyam told us in an exclusive tribute on Rafi’s 83rd birth anniversary.
The national-award winning music director of films like ‘Umrao Jaan’, ‘Razia Sultan’, ‘Trishul’, ‘Kabhi Kabhi’, ‘Noorie’, ‘Bazaar’, ‘Sawaal’ and many others, Khayyam recalled that, in the ’50s, when Rafi’s singing career was already ascending with people taken in by his mellifluous voice and unique singing style, the singer once called on him and made an unusual request.
‘He said that he had a desire to sing some bhajans - Hindu devotional songs,’ Khayyam said.
‘In fact, Rafi himself gave me some bhajan tunes and asked me to compose music taking those tunes as a base. That album containing these memorable bhajans was one of Rafi’s earliest non-film albums,’ said Khayyam.
Even during his heydays, Rafi never ceased to be a student of music. Khayyam said that he was always keen to learn about the intricacies of music, ragas, mixing and compositions.
‘In each film, if the music director permitted, he attempted to introduce some novelty to his rendition and modify his style suitably. He always kept himself abreast with the times,’ he said.
It was due to this that his style of singing never seemed dated and he could playback for succeeding generations of actors in the style that was in vogue in each period, Khayyam said.
© Copyright 2007 by MusicIndiaOnLine.com
December 26th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
venkatadri garu - post 679 pl.
thanks for your response sir, i have never said that you should agree with me. in fact it is your own personal views sir, esteemed sir,one point i can share with you is i have seen also some people who have not liked ghantsala’s voice and similarly some hindi and north people who have not liked rafi ji’s voice and people who are favourites of s p balasubrahmanyam etc. this is my intention sir, everybody has his own likes and dislikes and my intention is to convey our messages in a respectable way i.e it sir,
December 26th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
p. haldar ji - message 681 pl.
we too are great fans of rafi sahab and never dispute his greatness or his talent. whatever has been said in these columns by esteemed hindi rafi fans is beyond dispute. and no telugu reader has ever challenged that or can challenge also. the main problem is the words world no. 1 and no body exists with such talent etc. is creating problems which may not be acceptable to telugu people because as can be seen they too have a great legend beyond comparison. As you rightly said different talents exist in different languages with divine capabilities and they may be even great than our legends under discussion and that is true point which you have mentioned today. But simply quoting monopoly status to one legend has created problems and comparisons started. if one say i am great naturally other other may also say i am great. this is my view sir.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
THANK YOU HALDAR SIR, ONCE AGAIN FOR THE RESPONSE.
YEAH…THIS ONGOING COMPARISON IS RATHER AMAZING. LITTLE KNOWLEDGE, AS WE KNOW, IS A DANGEROUS THING. PEOPLE WITHOUT THE BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF OCTAVES HAVE BEEN PROCLAIMING THINGS WHICH LEARNED MUSICIANS WOULDN’T DARE TO.
I’M STILL WAITING FOR YOUR GIFT (RAFI SAHAB’S SWEET SONG SUNG IN A HEAVY VOICE AS WELL AS THE SONG IN WHICH HE CHANGES THE BASS IN THE MIDDLE).
December 26th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
mr. cherian, sorry about the delay in responding to your queries, but I got distracted by the interesting conversation that is currently going on. I have learnt several important things during the last few days; that rafi’s voice is soft but not majestic, that manna dey is a house cat, that some other singer has the most divine voice, etc. etc. These comments are made with such authority that one would imagine that states like Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, UP and Gujarat — which have made the maximum contributions towards hindi film music — don’t have any musical traditions of their own. In my state, there are so many musical forms that it’s difficult to remember all of them; here are some: rabindra sangeet, nazrul geeti, palli geeti, gono sangeet, bhatiyali, shyama sangeet, baul gaan and kirtan. Each style has produced some of the greatest vocalists, but I don’t discuss them on this forum because this site is devoted to rafi saab, where discussing hindi film music makes sense, though many of the forms that I’ve mentioned had their influences on hindi film music. The last three forms I’ve mentioned are devotional in nature and without even knowing the language, you’d be able to appreciate the “divine” voices of the masters of those forms. And mind you, I haven’t mentioned bengali film music and adhunik gaan (modern private songs).
Anyway, where were we? Yes, we were talking about the gayakis of two friends who started their musical journey together. As kids, they used to fly kites, one in rural Punjab and the other in north calcutta. They adopted different styles — one used to release the thread quickly and the other used to pull it quickly when trying to cut each other’s kites. But when it came to singing, their styles were quite similar with respect to semi-classical songs, qawaalis, bhajans and folk songs. I will talk later about where the similarities end.
Here is manna dey in “chalat musafir mohalia re”, one of the greatest folk songs of hindi films:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eNTDLN05L_o
This composition is a master stroke by sj; just listen to the sounds of the harmonium, dhol and khanjani (cymbals) and they will take you to a different world. You hear this song and wonder if there is any singer who could match Manna in this type of song till you hear Rafi in Naushad’s “Nain lad jai hain”:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rBE1-wqFz6E
How a singer hailing from rural punjab could sing in such an authentic bhojpuri style simply astounds me. But if you want to hear a song which is even more authentic, try a kafi composition by Pt. Ravi Shankar in Godaan: khelat holi nandlal biraj mein. When you hear this song in Rafi’s voice, you’d be able to see — in your mind’s eyes — lord krishna playing holi with the gopis!
December 26th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
@POST 665
YOUR VIEWS ON REASONS FOR KISHORE’S POPULARITY IS SPOT ON. LET ME LIST HERE YET ANOTHER REASON: THE CHANGE OF HEROES- PERSON AS WELL AS TYPE. DILIP KUMAR, RAJENDRA KUMAR, SHAMMI KAPOOR ETC. HAD ALL MORE OR LESS VANISHED FROM THE SCENE. WITH THEM, THE IMAGE OF THE HERO AS ROMANTIC GENTLEMEN TOO HAD GONE. INSTEAD WE’VE HAD REVENGE-SEEKING, GUN-TROTTING, VENOM-SPITTING KHAL-NAYAKS RULING THE SCREEN. KK’S HEAVIER, COARSER VOICE AND THAT HARD-HITTING, NO-HOLDS-BARRED STYLE SUITED THEM WELL. IT’S ANOTHER STORY THAT RAFI SAHAB, WHENEVER GIVEN A CHANCE, DID A FINE JOB ON THESE HEROES TOO.
December 26th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Vasu garu,
Why don’t you say that my posts would be attractive to you if I agreed with you completely and 100%!
Dear Moderator,
What is transpiring here is diverting attention of many from the various nice, newer articles coming up daily and comments thereon. In any case, barring a handful here, none else knows Ghantasala or his songs. So, they cannot particiapte in any case. So, I request you to consider closing this discussion forthwith.
Venkatadri
December 25th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
venkatadri garu, reference post 677 pl.
Sir, i am quite aware of your great regard for the both legends. about this there is no doubt. But i feel pained to see your deteriorating language day by day only to support rafi sahab. I feel you need not resort to such language and critising views about other readers to support rafi sahab, in fact there are other ways as many readers are resorting to here. i personally feel a knowledgable person like you should not face disrespect only due to slipping of some undesirable statements which are not expected from a personality like you please.
Moreover, venkatadri garu one point pl. you are elder to me, kindly take it as advise that each individual has his personal likes and dislikes and it is not that if you say something the other man should compulsorily accept it, in your view, the same may be correct, and as you think you are correct, the other individual may also think he is equally correct. You may be correct and the other man may also be equally correct please. I feel you have whatever no right to criticise any individual here. If you carefullly read the views of ramakrishna garu, how gently and respectfully he has posted his views but in your comment against this soothing ramakrishna garu, it seems your statements are quite hurting and harsh. even it has hurt me also. I again request that a knowledgable person like you should prove other readers point as incorrect in a dignified way but certainly not in mocking tones pl. Submitted without malice and pre notion pl. I feel you won’t misunderstand me and post reply to my view and future views in a dignified way on continuous basis.
December 25th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Mr. Prasad,
Oh, you played both singers to Japanese, Korean, Angolan, etc.! Didn’t you play them to some African tribals too? What jokes do you base your arguments/conclusions on! For the rest of your rhetoric, the answers are in my umpteen earlier posts. Please go, read them.
Mr. Vithal,
How perverted an arument it is to say that singing in Tirumala makes Ghantasala the greatest! You hold against Rafi Saab that he didn’t sing in Tirumala? Mind you, I am devout Hindu devotee of Lord Venkateswara, but even that God would pooh-pooh your ignorance.
Finally, dear Moderator,
I request you to put a stop to these multiple incarnations of actually a couple of people here who do not know 1.A,B,C, of the songs, 2. A,B,C of basics of Music and 3. what is worst, A,B,C, of logic.
Venkatadri
December 25th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Dear gentlemen,
This a normal phenomenon when comparison is made between two poles apart and both who are really equally great i.e. ghantasala and rafi. so let the arguments continue so that we also can enjoy the arguments. I have also seen in some telugu websites regarding similar arguments. same is the case with many telugu people who indefinitely argue like our hindi people here, that ghantasala is the greatest followed by others. of course, this is a great debatable issue indeed.
i throw one interesting debatable issue for the interest of all gentlemen here.
I have read in some magazine that bollywood has produced closed to 2000 plus movies from 1945 to 1980 and tollywood (telugu) has produced around 1200 plus movies from 1944 to 1974. both these periods correspond to the period of the two stalwarts being discussed over here i.e. rafi and ghantasala.
It is certain that both ghantasala and rafi might not have sung in all these movies. taking an average of at least 5 songs per movie, rafi should have sung around 10,000 songs and similarly ghantasala around 6000 plus songs. But i find from some messages from rafi fans that rafi has sung around 26000 songs plus which sounds as a highly exaggerated comment. similarly, the claim of ghantasala songs by his fans as 14,000 plus also. similarlly, lata mangeshkar’s claim of 25,000 plus songs and s p b’s claim of 30,000 plus songs. the above claims have a huge gap with the original research if we do it in a practical way.
if we read google website on the biographies of rafi, lata etc. the researchers have stated that official songs available of rafi does not exceed 5000 and similar is case with lata. perhaps i feel same might be the case with ghantasala and spb in the south. a fine debatable issue indeed.