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
June 24th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Post 923: ravi tried kishore in film dharkan but it did’nt work out . the song was : mai to chala, jidhar chale raasta………….
ravi saaheb is on record saying : the success of songs made many decades back have come to stay forever and (quote) ” i never imagined they would last so long and give us so much appreciation (shohrat) even to this day.”
binu nair, rafi foundation, mumbai, 9833 250 701
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:33 pm
post 921 narayanji
the song “aaj mere yaar ki shadi hai …” is from the film : ‘ admi sadak ka ‘.
regards/a.tm. salim.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Re post 921:
Narayan ji,
the song ‘Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai’ is from the film ‘Aadmi Sadak Ka’ picturised on Shatrughan Sinha.
Ravi ji is not talked about much and i feel he is under-estimated, but i love his songs with Rafi sahab (over 250 songs).
Ravi took other singers because of pressure from producers (in particular BR Chopra). If Ravi had it his own way he would have given all songs to his friend Rafi sahab.
In an interview he said ‘Agar Rafi sahab gaate to kuch aur baat hoti’ the english translation being ‘If Rafi sahab had sung, it would have been something else’.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 am
I know that M.Rafi is the greatest thing to have happened to my EARS EVER
June 21st, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Post 917 Aroraji,
Yes Rafi sahab and Raviji were made for each other. Even in the 70s Dharkan Rafi sahab sung Mere dosth thujhe tera meeth mubarak and they maintained till the Badshah”s passing away in 80.
Infact apart from Chaudivin ka chand,Dus lakh,Bharosa, Aaj aur Kal,Do Badan,Neel Kamal,Waqt,Kajal and many others one song is mandatory for all marriage functions even today … Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai and I do not know the film name and I think Raviji has also sung with our Badshah
June 20th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Mr.XXX:
‘Zindagi bhar….’ has some resemblance to ‘man tarpat…’, I suppose it’s only incidental being composed in the same raaga… “Man tarpat…” is richer, heavier and more complex. The ‘bhava’ is also different in both songs, the former is a sad/philosophical score while the latter is a spiritual one.
It’s nice of you to provide the links to ‘zindagi bhar…’. I am hearing it for the first time. BTW, have you listened to the ‘man tarpat…’ sung live by Rafisahab (and conducted by Naushad saab) for Doordarshan?
June 20th, 2008 at 10:08 am
haldar ji:a section of the fickle minded film industry tried to “retire” rafi saaheb when he was alive first. then, after 1980 they wanted the public to “forget” rafi. i remember, rafi should have got the filmfare award that year for the songs listed by anmol singh, but some obsure song got away with the award. basic courtesy was “denied” to the king even in death.
and this made rafi loyalists to re-group and take forward the rafi legacy - forward - with a vengeance.
rafi saaheb lovers and music lovers always remembered rafi saaheb and for them rafi never did die.
rafi “resurrected” is for people who thought rafi days are over and mere noise and yelling could be “passed” on as melodious songs.
rafi resurrected is the signal of return of “melody” in to our lives once again.
and, yes rafi supporters will try and get the video footage of the programme.
binu nair, rafi foundation.. mumbai…
June 19th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Sonu to sing Rafi’s songs in the UK:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080619/jsp/frontpage/story_9432035.jsp
I personally don’t like the title “rafi resurrected” because rafi saab has not died; he lives with us every single day, every single hour, every single minute, every single second. There is no need to resurrect him. But this symphony orchestra is doing a great job in spreading rafiana and we should support these guys. They understand what our dear friend raju b. doesn’t understand. maybe we should all buy him a ticket to attend the show.
There are a lot of rafi lovers in the uk; would someone please attend the show and let us know how it went. Also, would it be possible for the rafi foundation to acquire a video of the show?
June 19th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
REF MAIL 904,RAVI SAAB NEVER SWITCHED TO KK,ONLY IN DHADKAN KK GOT 3 SONGS COMPARED TO RAFI SAAB `S 1 AND IN `EK MAHAL HO SAPNO KA` KK GOT ONE SOLO COMPARED TO RAFI SAAB`S 2 I.E ONE SOLO AND ONE DUET WITH LATA JI,ALL OTHER OF RAVI SAAB TILL 1980 HAD RAFI SAAB HAS THE MAIN SINGER.
MR.BINU NAIR AND ALL OTHER DIE HARD FANS OF RAFI SAAB,IT WAS THE MAGIC OF NAYYAR SAAB AND THE COMPOSITIONS OF CHITRAGUPT FROM 1955 ONWARDS SPECIALLY THE DREAM HITS OF NAYYAR SAAB FROM 1957 ONWARDS ,THAT WE ARE ABLE TO DISCUSS RAFI SAAB`S POSITION AS THE GREATEST SINGER EVER.RAFI`S GOLDEN PERIOD CANNOT BE COMPLETE WITHOUT THE GREAT SCORES LIKE `
1 KALI TOPI LAL RUMAL
2 ZABAK
3 OONCHE LOG
4 POLICE DETECTIVE
5 MADAM XYZ
6 CHAND MERE AAJA
7 NAACHE NAGIN BAAJE BEEN
8 MAIN CHUP RAHUNGI
9NAVRATRI
10 BHABI
AND OTHER MYTHOLIGICAL HITS LIKE SHRI KRISHNA BHAKTI ETC.
THERE WERE FRESH SCORES BY N.DUTTA,WHICH ESTABLISHED RAFI SAAB `S POSITION AS THE NUMBER ONE SINGER FROM 1955 ONWARDS.
MY REQUEST TO ALL THE CONTRIBUTORS PLEASE REVERT BACK TO 1955 ONWARDS ,THAN ONLY WE WILL KNOW WHO CONTRIBUTED WHBT IN RAFI SAAB`S CARRER AND THEN DECIDE THE LISTING OF COMPOSERS.
I WILL ALSO SUMBIT MY LIST SHORTLY ,BUT RAVI AND CHITRGUPT WILL BE DEFINATELY THERE WITH A BETTER RANKING .
June 19th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Mr.XXX:
Yes, SDB created some true gems for Rafisahab, I fully acknowledge it. But to me SDB will not be there in the top 5 when we speak about the association MDs had with the ‘baadshah’. Let’s compare MM (or LP) with SDB, the former never ever swayed an inch from their conviction that the ‘baadshah’ was ‘the’ singer and only he could bring out fully and beautifully what they conceived and created. The latter made some absolute wonders with the ‘baadshah’ but only for a period (mid ’50s to mid ’60s) reaching ‘great’ status in the process and then switched over to another singer (a good one at that) and another style(?). I’d call this a marriage of convenience rather than mutual love and admiration.
To conclude ,SDB is a great composer, no questions asked but personally speaking, I’m not sure whether he was fair to Rafisahab in the overall picture and deserves to be placed ahead of OPN or LP when it comes to the associationship MDs had with Rafisahab.
Narayanji:
I am not too familiar with Rafi-Chitragupta combo. Could you list out some of the songs of this team?
But KA never really cold-shouldered Rafisahab, did they? True, they gave many good tunes to others but their best (mostly) went to Rafisahab (especially in the ’60s). One also has to take into account the fact that there are other characters at play when deciding the singer- hero of the film, producer et al and KA (I suppose) weren’t commercially big enough to always demand what they wanted.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:01 am
My sentence should read as:
“Because I ranked Ravi/Roshan below K-A does not mean they came after, and vice-versa (if it was the other way around, Ravi/Roshan ahead of K-A), it was just how I ranked them at the time.”
June 19th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Mr. XXX,
You brought up an excellent idea of ranking composers with Rafi saab, but in my view, all of them were excellent with Rafi saab that it is hard to rank them. You are right, Ravi/Roshan would both be very high on Rafi’s list, but I also rate K-A’s output with Rafi high as well. Because I ranked Ravi/Roshan below K-A does not mean they came after, it was just how I ranked them at the time. OPN may make it into the Top 5 for Rafi but for now I put him at 6, and the order can change. Mr. Narayan mentioned Chitragupta who had over 250 songs with Rafi, he would also merit recognition in the top 10, as would usha khanna, but there are many others as well, so it is very hard.
——————
Mr. Narayan
I don’t agree that K-A did not prefer Rafi-saab, they did prefer him. You are right that they preferred Mukesh, but it was along with Rafi. On July 31st 1980, in the male side, Rafi most likely had the most number of songs for K-A, followed by Kishore and then Mukesh. I think MK came next in line. The K-A chapter in Rafi’s book is spread from 1958-1980 and is consistent.
——————
Binu-ji,
Thanks for the info on SJ, Naushad and OPN “royalties”, its very interesting.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Here’s my list:
1. SJ (Arzoo, Suraj, Junglee, Janwar, Sasural, Raj Kumar, Mere Huzoor)
2. LP (Dosti, Aap Aye Bahar Aye, Anjana, Farz, Parasmani, Ayee Milan ki Bela)
3. MM (Ghazal, Chiraag, Haste Zakhm, Laila Majnu, Haqeeqat)
4. RAVI (Chaudvin ka Chand, Do Badan, Khandan, Neel Kamal, Aaj aur Kal)
5. NAUSHAD (Mere Mehboob, Bawju Bawra, Ram aur Shyam, Ganga Jamna)
6. SDB (Guide, Pyaasa, Tere Ghar ke Samne, Kala Bazaar, Talaash)
7. ROSHAN (Taj Mahal, Barsat ki Raat, Aarti, Bheegi Raat, Chitralekha)
8. OPN (Naya Daur, Kashmir ki Kali)
9. KA (JJPK, Geet, Hasina Maan Jayegi, Maryada, Choti Bahu)
10. RDB (HKKN, Mela, Pyar ka Mausam, Abdullah)
11. USHA KHANNA / CHTRAGUPTA / SONIK OMI
Who cares who the top MDs, song writers, actors, etc were.
All we care is that Rafi sahab is the singer.
June 18th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
MYK sir ur list almost matches with mine except that KA should come in 10 and all the Rafi loyalists Chithragupt ( had over 250 songs),Usha Khanna and Sonik Omi team safely at 7.
Pardon me as KA never gave pref to Rafi. Their all time favs were MK N Mukesh
June 18th, 2008 at 8:17 am
mr.myk,
thanks for your list, however in my humble opinion, composers at #8 slot should be swapped with composers at #7, i think ravi/roshan association with rafi ji is much more memorable with superior quality comparatively? do you agree here?
June 18th, 2008 at 8:13 am
mr.unknow,
where would you rate sd and roshan, who comparatively did lesser work with rafi sahab but did memorable work with great quality.
June 18th, 2008 at 8:05 am
myk: u r choice is my choice re : the the first two composers, shankar jaikishan and naushad.
the third one is o.p. nayyar who without the support of big banners will give a fright to any composer and lead the charts.
and , these three composers get the highest “royalties’ from the music companies and this is supported by mumbai’s music historian c.m. desai.
binu nair…mumbai
June 18th, 2008 at 3:53 am
Mr. XXX, here are my top ten composers with Rafi saab:
1. Shankar-Jaikishan: The variety is amazing, you have every type of song from every genre from this combination. There are many landmark songs, and together they ruled for a very long time. They probably created the best romantic songs of all time.
2. Naushad: The man who was instrumental in giving Rafi a break, and together they created many of the finest songs in HFM. “O Duniya Ke Rakhwale” and many more are landmark songs.
3. S.D. Burman: Dada’s best came through Rafi and their pinnacle was Guide. It was only with Rafi, that Dada could reach the heights that he did. An awesome combination, with many outstanding songs.
4. Laxmikant-Pyarelal: Rafi sang the most for this duo followed very closely by S-J. Again, like S-J the variety is amazing and this combo has so many classics. Right from 1963-1980, this LP record with Rafi churned out hit after hit.
5. Madan Mohan: This combo had so much “soul” and such a haunting feeling. MM’s output with Rafi is as good as his output with Lata. They have classics in each decade.
6. OPN: Amazing combination, this composer was able to create such fantastic songs because he had Rafi by his side. OPN was instrumental in Rafi’s success from the 50’s onwards, and in turn Rafi helped OPN zoom past the competition.
7. Kalyanji-Anandji: They also have greats in every genre. From 1958 until 1980, the KA-Rafi team produced winners and classics. A very under-rated combo, they arguably created the best Lata-Rafi duets. This combo was a mixture of sweetness and melody.
8. Ravi/Roshan: This position is a tie, as both combinations were brillaint. Ravi produced many more songs with Rafi, but the impact of each Roshan song was so good that it makes up for that.
9. R.D. Burman: Pancham’s best came through Rafi, whether it be with NH or at other times. From Teesri Manzil onwards, the combo splashed the charts with their classics.
10. Usha Khanna/Chitragupta/Sonik-Omi and others: I will do the same with Mr. XXX and divide this slot between other composers as its hard to leave them out when they created so many excellent songs with Rafi-saab.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:19 am
As I think the best five are 1,SJ,2 LP ,3 Naushand,4 MM 5 OPN,maybe most of you don’t agree with me
June 17th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
mr.cherian,
thanks for your list, its a nice ranking, but i think its unkind to rank sd at 8, don’t you think that he should be right there at top 5?? i shall give examples to you that what magic they bring together, sd should be at top 5, by the way, please listen to this rafi sahab’s number. beautiful composition by hans raj behel::
http://www.esnips.com/doc/2821c1b3-5f5d-4928-9ebc-9a15259839a5/Zindagi-Bhar-Gham-Judai-Ka-Mujhe
please share your views on this song, this song is based on a raag “malkauns” and i think there is a influence of greatest “malkauns” number “man tarpat” in this song, what do you say?. how would you compare these two songs?
June 17th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Mr.XXX and dear Rafi-lovers:
Here’s my listing:
1. Naushad: He and Rafisahab were made for each other.
2. SJ: Their variety with Rafisahab was amazing and I believe they’re the ones who brought out the best (on a consistent basis) from Rafisahab.
3.MM: He may be swapped with SJ as my #2. What haunting melodies he’s created for the baadshah. I’d add ‘aap ke pehloo mein…’ and ‘kehna ek deewana…’ to the songs mentioned by Mr.XXX.
4. LP: Could be a surprising choice as #4. But having grown up listening to the duo, I have a soft-corner for them and I really admire them for standing up for Rafisahab when the going wasn’t easy for him.
5. Ravi: What can one say about the creator of ‘chaudvin ka chand…’, ‘mili khaak mein…’ and ‘tujko pukare mera pyaar…’.
6. OPN: He really made a ball with Rafisahab.
7. Roshan: Created aesthetically brilliant songs with Rafisahab, ‘zindagi bhar nahin….’ and ‘jo wada kiya…’ alone will make the duo incomparable.
8. SDB: Had some great songs with Rafisahab, but I can’t forgive him for offering too little for the baadshah when he was up against it.
9. Ushakhanna: Superb songs and great belief in the baadshah even when he was down.
10. KA: Who can forget ‘akele hain…’ and ‘aaja tujko…’
June 16th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
mr.myk, mr.anil cherian, mr.haldar and dear all rafi fans, please share with us your list of top 10 composers for rafi sahab, it would be great if you will post specific reasons along with the list…
here is mine::
1.naushad- truly great composer and “mousiki ka ustaad”, naushad is top in my list, his contribution to rafi’s career is great, i believe that in pre-baiju bawra era, talat got all the kheer, his association with anil biswas ans c ramchndra was great, but with baiju bawra naushad sahab introduced something different, he mixed the class and mass very effectively, imo he made the classy genre more prominent, thus helped rafi sahab a lot, as rafi ji was technically much more perfect than “talat”. although i still can’t decide that which voice had more velvet touch, but rafi sahab’s voice was more stable, with great range, harkat and by all other technical aspects he was superior to talat. but it doesn’t mean that naushad-rafi were not good before baiju bawra, they were equally good in dillagi(1949) with two great solos “tere kooche mein” and “is dunia mein aey dil walo” deedar(1951) and dulari(1949). but they revolutionized hfm with baiju baawra.
2.Sachin Dev burman- sachin da comes 2nd to my list, initially sachin da didn’t used rafi much but whatever they did from 1957-65 was sheer magic, also this period had 3 of the best albums by sacihn da,(pyaasa,guide,msta) all having rafi as a male dominating singer, and who can forget “dekhi zamane ki yaari” from kkp(1959), “khoya khoya chand” from kala baazar (1960) and “tu kahan ye bata ” from tere ghar ke saamne(1963). so it can be safely concluded that dada’s best came through rafi sahab.
there is an interesting trivia regarding one of the dada-rafi ji gem, as told by pancham in one of his interview- once baba said to me that “pancham, go to shailendra’s house and ask him about lyrics, don’t come back to home without lyrics” pancham reached shailendra’s house and asked about lyrics, shailendra took pancham along with him for a long walk, few hours have passed, pancham again asked, shailendra replied “write now i can’t, there has to be some mood to write off lyrics” pancham said “baba said that don’t come back without lyrics” than shailendra said “ok,play this matchbox, let me think something” and while pancham playing matchbox shailendra came out with following words,while looking at sky::
khoya khoya chand
khula aasman
aakhon mein sari raat jayegi
tumko bhi kaise neend aayegi
3.Madan mohan- madan mohan was one of the finest we have ever had, he is known more for lata but his association with rafi was great as well, leave his 50s and 60s with rafi, see what he did with rafi in 70s, songs like “tum jo mil gaye ho”, “barbad-e-mohabbat”.. were landmark songs, also mm was instrumental in bringing rafi back into playback arena with laia majnu(1976). apart from this there are various gazals like “rang aur noor ki” “tujhe kya sunau dilruba” “teri aakhon ke siva” “tumhari zulf ke saaye mein” etc etc..
4.shankar-jaikishan - undoubtedly the finest composer duo we have ever had, they rocked the nation with rafi through their western numbers, variety of s-j’s music was amazing from “radhike tune” to “ehasan tera hoga” TO “ye aasu mere dil ki” to “jan pehchan ho” and so forth, s-j occasionally used rafi in early 50s but from dev’s “love marriage(1959)” rafi became regular in s-j camp and rest is a history.
5.ravi-he formed great patnership with rafi sahab, rafi ji won his first filmfare award under the music direction of ravi, song was “chaudhavi ka chand”.. in one of his interview with ameen sayani in “sangeet ke sitaron ki mehfil” ravi recalled that initially he was not happy with his composition of this song, later he composed a new tune and requested guru dutt to conduct a recording sessions with rafi sahab, however they didn’t get the dates of rafi sahab, than guru assured him that tune is great, and same tune is released with movie, became great hit. rafi sahab also won his first national award under ravi’s baton, later in 70s ravi switched to kishore but his association with rafi sahab in 60s is enough for me to rank him in the top 10 of rafi’s composers.
6.roshan- although singer neutral composer but came out with many gems for rafi sahab, “mann re tu kahe na dheer dhare” is history in itself, apart fom this there are various quawallis, romantic songs,sad songs. i love rafi-roshan patnership from “barsaat ki raat” to “anokhi raat” .. “mile na phool to kaato se dosti karli” was last gem came out from this patnership.
7.o p nayyar- very strict and disciplined but a true person, he had such a big heart that in any of his interview you will find him applauding his contemporaries be it c ramchandra, sd burman, s-j ,anil biswas or roshan. he showed his high regards for every great composer. no need to write that how much magical his association with rafi.
8. laxmikant-pyarelal- another very talented music directors, they came up with huge amount of gems with rafi ji, they came up with landmark songs in each decade but i particularly like their association with rafi ji in 60s, “chaunga main tujhe” is still very much famous, once c ramchandra played this song for the “fauji bhai log” in his jaimala gold program, such was the impact of this song.
9.rahul dev burman - although he is known more for the kishore but his association with rafi was great too, apart from quawallis and rock ‘n’ rolls this combo came up with beautiful folk based songs as well. like “ni sultana re”
“kahe ko bulaya” , “goria kahan tera des re” etc… apart from his own songs pancham also asisted his dad for many rafi’s numbers, he also played instruments for l-p in early 60s.
10. now here is some dilemma for me, as there are so many contenders for this slot, let me equally divide this slot among chitragupt,kalyan ji bhai-anand ji bhai, usha khanna, sonik-omi, chitragupt, n dutta, s n tripathi ….
June 14th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Ref: 901 of Murthy ji - Some corrections
Dear All,
I saw this program not today, but somewhere in last week or so. This program was on the life of Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar ji. While giving commentary, the lady compere said that his all time favourite song (not one of his fav1) is “Chahunga main tujhe saanjh savere”
Regards to all
Shirish Kulkarni
June 13th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
ref post 901:
mr. murty, what a great song! here’s rafi saab singing it live during the Filmfare awards ceremony with young laxmi & pyare conducting the orchestra:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5SPaSUpPr_8&feature=related
see how effortlessly the farishta’s voice reaches the skies (at 1:30). and here’s another young duo conducting “govinda ala re”:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CH0y7-2rUco&feature=related
And finally we have the greatest duo of all time, messrs shankar & jaikishan conducting “hum kale hai to kya hua dilwale hai”:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gm3nNncRVS4&feature=related
jai is in a dancing mood, but the real interesting part is where mehmood is forcing rafi saab to dance. Enjoy!
June 13th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
today i was informed by our close friend shirish kulkarni that while channel-surfing this morning, he came across sri sri sri (of the art of living fame) who informed that one of his favourite songs is from the film “dosti” - chahunga mein tujhe saanj savere, phir bhi kabhi ab naam ko tere. rafi sahab truly has pervaded all sections of our society.