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 4th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
here is great rafi-lata duet, music by chitragupt…….
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UHb7_7y_R24
April 28th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Dear Dhani Ram, Reference No.871 : U had asked Mr. Binu Nair about the song `baat chalat nahi chuniri`. Since Mr Binu Nair is good friend of mine, I dont mind snatching the prevelege from him and answering.
This song is from film `rani rupmati` and the singer who is with mohd. rafi in that duet is a small time singer by name `krishnarao chonkar, but the song is also one of my favourite song. I really admire such persons who still have interest in such songs.
By the way this song is written by great poet `bharat vyas` and music direction is from s.n.tripati and filmed on bharat bushan.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
ref to p 871 of dhani ram ji,
baat chalat nayi chunri rang dari was first sung by geeta dutt from movie “ladki”
here is the link::
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pVZsHxvsGPY
few years later, rafi ji and krishna rao chokar again sung this bhairavi tune in hardcore classical style(movie-rani roopmati) ::
here is the link::
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Klpyc2OWR10
April 28th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Post 871: yes: ashish kapoor or raju korti will help u out as they have the masterpiece collection with them. the song sounds like a manna dey-rafi duet classical one at that , but its not mann saab.
I love the song and try to get the details. in the meantime, even sanjiv of chennai can send u the song with details.
a great choice of a song. thanks dhani ram:
binu nair… mumbai.
April 27th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Nair Sir
There is a classical song sung by Rafi Sahib with an established classical singer whose name I am not able to recall.The song is:Baat chalat nai chunri rang daari/aiso hai nat khat banwari.Rafi Sahib excels in this purely classical song.Can you find out for me the name of the film for which it was sung?
Regarding filmfare awards you may recall that Pran refused to accept it on the ground that that year the film that deserved it was ignored.Take Mukesh’s case.He got fewer than Kishore which was unfair.He was given filmfare award for Rajnigandha song but was ignored for Saranga,Awaz na do,Kanhaya songs etc.
April 27th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
post 861:
pls do not talk of filmfare awards as they were all “bogus” and third grade movies got the music awards.
a film like mugul-e-azam lost to dil apna preet parayee, s.j. being the winner. s.j. lost out to l.p. in dosti and ravi lost many a time and also s.d.b.
the simple trick was to buy thousands of copies of filmfare and vote for the films music. a nephew of a neighbouring composer used to make good pocket mony by sending all the bogus votes as in a “rigged” election.
majrooh sultanpuri used to scorn the “filmfare” and once the man who purchased the award for a composer in which naushad saaheb lost out (mughul-e-azam) came to naushad and apologised to him.
similarly , binaca geet mala also was rigged many a times and unknown songs suddenly used to spring up in the geetmalas. the product and the programme - had to be dumped in the long run.
binu nair, rafi foundation, mumbai.
April 27th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Post 851: sudhir ji . agreed 200 % with ur views .
but consider this : there is a khan worm who enters this thread every few months and write that ghantasala has sung two songs better than rafi-ji and hence the former is a better singer than rafi-ji. (the fact is rafi-ji has’nt sung the comparable song hence it’s absurd).
like true worms this man will write “thrash” and see the fun from the sidelines of rafi lovers arguing over this - crossing all levels of accepted debates.
so, rafi lovers beware of troublemakers in this site : namely the worm khan and the other : x y z.
binu nair. mumbai
April 27th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Post 856: the first “rock & roll” song could be from the stable of composer n.datta , assistant to s.d.b.
the song is rafi’s : lal lal gaal, jaan pe hai jaadu, dekh dekh dekh………
the composer has made some great songs including : tu hindu banega na musalmaan banega, aurat ne janam diya mardon ko,Maine chaand aur sitaron ki tamanna ke thi, talat’s ashkon me jo paaya hai; rafi’s daaman mein aag laga baithe ; Dhadakne lage dil ke taaron etc.
a great composer who got sahir as his writer who penned the immortal : tu hindu banega na musalmaan banega…….
binu nair, rafi foundation, mumbai;
April 27th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Dear vikramji, : i shall definitely forward u telugu songs which is there in my ipod, give me some time, rafi has sung most attractive songs in telugu also, one song u will love to hear is the telugu song which is hindi version of `bar bar deko, hazar bar deko` from `china town` which is got 3 antras. I am still a novice as far as computor is concerned, One day i shall forward it u.
April 25th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
rafi & op nayyar together gave so many golden rythmic numbers, some peoples believe that kishore was best in playful mood songs but i think rafi was far away from every one in this genre too, rafi’s playful or happy mood songs with op nayyar were full of melody and music with utmost quality, here are two utter examples ::
1.http://www.dishant.com/album/Cid.html
2.http://www.dishant.com/album/kashmir-ki-kali.html
April 25th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
kaifi aazmi’s best from 70s was pakeezah, pakeezah was standout album having beautiful lyrics by kaifi aazmi and great music by gulam muhammad … its really disheartening that this movie lost filmfare to “beimaan” … i think some times awards were manipulated in hfm to favour the mds having big names…
similar thing happened in 1977, hkkn was clear winner there, if not hkkn then there were two more standout albums, jaidev’s “aalap” having great songs by yesudas and “kinara” classy album by rd burman… but filmfare favoured l-p.. aaa was nice album but comparatively weaker than “hkkn” and “aalap”
here is link to aalap having great songs in golden voice of yesu….
http://www.dishant.com/album/Alaap-(1977).html
in 1981 award was given to the right person. khayyam deserved that award, but 1982 was again disappointing, ravi’s “nikaah” outweighed every album in quality as well as in popularity but award was given to rdb for “sanam teri kasam” which was nice album but comparatively weaker….
April 25th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
ref to 858::
rafian1,
“aayi baharon ki shaam” is a great song by rafi ji, very soothing number by ,rafi was best in these type of songs as well followed by talat, by the way here is one more fast number where rafi ji is sounding great, not that much popular though
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QzLhmvlzU4Y&feature=related
April 25th, 2008 at 4:07 am
With Referance to post #858, I totally agree with you. These two numbers of this legend are master piece. Thanks , making aware of it.
Also with the referance to post # 851, it is true that, do not compare any singer with Rafi Sahab.
With best regards to all Rafi lovers,
Dr. Khaja Aliuddin
April 24th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
post-856
Exactly xxx .This is a thing I found possible by Rafi saab only.’Deewane ka naam to poocho’.It is a fast song,but extremly melodious.Take another song ‘Aayi baharom ka shaam’ actually is a happy mood song,but that song made me cry on listening.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:50 am
May 4 : 10 .00 a.m. at Chennai — rafi lovers are meeting. for full details see www.rafifoundation.com. thanks to proposed rafi foundation members at chennai.
binu nair, rafi foundation, mumbai…..0 9833 250 701
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:34 pm
rafi totally redefined the rock ‘n’ rolls, usually rock ‘n’ rolls(all over the world) had the lot of energy and punch into it and lacked melody, but rafi ji added melody itno rock ‘n’ rolls as well….
here are some melodious energetic punches by rafi ji
1.aaj kal tere mere pyar ke
2.badan pe sitare lapete hue
3.jan pehchan ho
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
” Dear rafian1 and music lover,
The top ‘play back singers’ India has ever produced
1-will be Mohd Rafi
2-is Mohd Rafi
3-was Mohd Rafi ”
Dear Unknow post 819
Your passion for Rafi is understandable.But We Rafi fans are quite different from other lunatic fans who just writes ‘** is the best’ 24X7.We have great respect to all the artists because all of them are legends but Our Rafi saab is Legend of legends.But to say 1-Mohd Rafi,2-Mohd Rafi, 1….10 Mohd Rafi etc are logically wrong.By your on words even if India beat Argentina by 500 runs still India is champion and Argentina is Second prize winner.Ok.So please give respect to Legends like Lataji and Shree yesudas and others.
Coming to the comparisons I heared Rafi or Lata,Rafi or Manna,Rafi or Mukesh,Rafi or Kishore,Rafi or SPB(Telugue people),Rafi or Yesudas(Keralites),Rafi or Ghantsala.Even I heared Sonu fans comparing him with Great Rafi saab and the last I heared when Himesh compared himself with Rafi saab(Was himesh in his wits then?).
So things are clear.Inside of inside every one knows who is the greatest but their eago or complex does not allow them to accept the reality.For that they keep telling themselves the other way.Lets not take them seriously and continiou our discussion about Rafi saab the singer and Rafi saab the person.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:34 pm
i don’t know any think about music but i can understant what said people how know about music and i feel the magic of mohd rafi,
Naushad,Madan Mohan,OPN who know more than u and me about music plz listen what they said about Mohd Rafi and singer like KK said when some one compared him better than Mohd Rafi,KK said you don’t know about music I am fan of Mohd Rafi.Lata ji said singer like Mohd Rafi born once in like time,Asha Ji said no one can win mohd rafi,mukesh I am a fan of Mohd Rafi,Talat Mohd Rafi voice is god gift and Mohd rafi gift it to God.
I don’t know who is Ghantasala but I am sure can can’t be 50% of Mohd Rafi.
when you compare Mohd Rafi with any singer that mean you want to say that Argentina can beat India in cricket………!!!!!!I hope u undrestant what I mean
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Sudhir Ji,
I am yearning for Rafi sahab’s telgu songs. It would be wonderful if you could provide a YouTube link to these.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Ref: Post 850.
You have put things in the right perspective. And thank you for the informations on this great singer, Ghantasalaji. Personally, I’d like to thank every one who introduced this great singer in this community of Rafi sahab admirers and I have really enjoyed listening to him.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:29 pm
As a ardent fan of music, I would like everybody to note that Ghantasala was a great singer and a great human being like Mohd. Rafi. Ghantasala voice was very melodious and had a velvet touch and his songs on lord venkatesh from Tirupati were very popular as well his songs for Telugu stars like Nageshwar Rao and NTR, he was purely a family man and god fearing person without any vices like Mohd. Rafi. But still Ghantsala had limitation like Mukesh, who could not match the skill and art of rendering songs like Mohd. Rafi.
Ghantsala, or for that matter any singer from the world over had limitation in terms of melody, high pitch notes, punch, expression of words, compared to the greatest amongst all SHRI MOHD RAFI.
For everybodys information, Mohd. Rafi has sung many songs in Telugu also and with ease keeping all the ingriedents intact, thus making the songs very melodious. Infact NTR requested Mohd. Rafi to sing for him all the songs in film Salim-Anarkali which became a milestone in telugu films.
Anyway, with due respect to Ghantasala and other singers, None of the singers of the past or present can match the magnitude of Mohd. Rafi’s skill.
Hence it is not correct to compare any singer with Mohd. Rafi.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
post 837 : stupid xyz:
you are an ignorant fool, rafi ji started his career with a punjabi song from : Gul Baloach, a duet : heeeriye, and then slowly and steadily burst in to the national scene after a struggle of many years , displacing all top singers.
why did gnantasala not able to do the same. grapes are sour , xyz. we are bored by your mischief. and definitely i promise you i will miss hearing songs of shri ghantasala ji due to lunatic fans (handful) like yourself - xyz.
binu nair…. mumbai
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:37 am
rafi saaheb hamare bhagwan hai said s.balakrishnan the jovial rafi singer and times of india journo when i first called him and invited him.
yes. i second it. rafi saaheb is one of our “gods”. this stupid ghantasala fan (he does’nt even have a proper name : xyz) is a behroopia; a man under disguise. discard him and throw his stupid thoughts “into” the arabian sea.
binu nair.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:04 am
Binu Sir
I endorse your admonition to the troublemakers.A nincompoop says that if Rafi were a regional singer he wouldn’t be known.This person should know that Rafi was from Punjab and has sung wonderful songs in that language.By sheer genius he broke into national scene which the likes of Ghantsala couldn’t do.
Has anybody heard a non-film gazal masterpiece of Rafi: Gazab kiya tere waide pe aitbaar kiya.Leave aside Ghantsala no singer living or non-living in any genre can even approach Rafi.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Ref: post# 843
Likhkar tera naam…. is perfection. Great lyrics, great tune, great picturisation and then the absolutely great singing. Rafi sahab sounds exactly like the deperate, suffering lover abandoned in the desert. The smoothest of voices is coarse and even scratched in several parts of the song (the way a suffering chap is bound to sound like).
Let me cite another song which I believe is outside the capability of any singer (trained or not). It’s ‘aa jaare aa zaraa’ . Just listen to the song and one would be simply awe-struck.. with a modulated and quivering voice (exactly what happens to male species when aroused), as if the words come out with great effort… I feel like laughing when people go ga-ga over ‘roop thera mastana..’ this Rafi sahab song leaves the ‘roop thera’ or any other mastana song miles behind…