By: Souvik Chatterji. Master of Law from Case Western REserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Master of Law from Warwick University,UK.

Sachin Dev Burman was born in Tripura, where the fields, soil, trees and nature as a whole had shaped the music. There cannot be any music which is sweeter than the compositions that God has created in nature for human beings to cherish generation after generations. What is required is the poetic and musical mind to realise the melodies evident in the breeze, in the rainfall, in the fragrance of flowers blossoming at the arrival of spring. Tripura is situated at the border of East Bengal, and as a landmass has similarity with East Bengal and West Bengal which in Bengali we term as “nodi matric” meaning being fed by a number of rivers.The minds of the people in this part of the world is as soft as the alluvial soil of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Padma and other rivers. (more…)

This article is by Mr. A.S.Murty

One of the finest compositions and perhaps one of the most difficult ones – this piece of a song is a story of plight. Desperation pouring out from the bottom of the heart, the composition takes the listener on a different plane. Helplessness, loneliness and pathos all keep flowing from the start. The song is MAIN TOOTI HUI IK NAYYA HOON from the film AADMI. I have listened to the song several times again in recent times and am totally baffled by the sheer uniqueness of rendition. How can anyone sing it to such perfection? (more…)

This article is by Mr. Anuj Kumar, Correspondent, (Delhi Bureau of The Hindu). Vinod Viplav documents the life and times of Mohammed Rafi. Here is a review of Meri Awaz Suno, published in all the editions of The Hindu on July 30, and other dates.

Some things just refuse to go out of fashion. One of them is Mohammed Rafi’s voice. However, few know that Rafi was equally peerless as a human being. “Had he opted for any other profession, he would have still managed to create space for himself in the hearts of people,” observes Vinod Viplav, a senior journalist, who has come up with a book on Rafi. Called “Meri Awaz Suno”, the book is an attempt to analyse the life and times of Rafi. “There are compilations of his songs, but there is hardly any book which looks into his life and analyses his songs.” (more…)

This news is shared by Mr. Vinod Viplav.

As a writer and a die hard Rafi fan, I am thrilled by overwhelming response of Rafi fans and Music lovers on my book on great music legend Mohammad Rafi Saheb – “Meri Awaz Suno”. It is amazing that a in the age of modern mode of communication and entertainment like internet and television a book got unbelievable response. This is the magic of the person who leaved 27 years ago but his songs are still enthralling and delighting us. We all rafi fans not only want to listen his melodious voice but also want to know about each and every aspects of his life. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy

Recently I was browsing through an Article written by Mr. Raju Bharatan in the Illustrated Weekly of India of August, 1993. Mr. Bharatan highlights the songs of Rafi for unknown small time Music Directors.
It is true Rafi has sung innumerable of songs for popular and successful Music Directors like Naushad, S.D.Burman, O.P.Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishan, Lakshmikanth Pyarelal, Kalyandji Anandji, R.D.Burman, Chitraguptha, Madan Mohan, C.Ramachandra, Roshan, Ravi, Usha Khanna, Salil Chaudhury, Sonik Omi, Khayyam, etc. Of course, some of the above Music Directors became successful only due to Rafi. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. Ramakrishna

In the second half of the 20th century, in the world of Indian film music and in the kingdom of Playback singing, if we explore the pages of history we come across a number of wizards. In the process of scrolling, our Observation gets stuck at a particular point. At that point we find a name, which became an example of versatility. (more…)

By: Souvik Chatterji. Master of Law from Warwick University, Coventry,UK. Master of Law from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Ravi, better known as Ravi Shankar Sharma, emerged in the film arena in the 1950s when success of most of the movies were dependant on strong story base and everlasting music composed for those films. Even more significantly the composers like Shankar Jaikishan, Roshan, Naushad, Madan Mohan and lyricists like Shakeel Badayani, Shailendra, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Hasrat Jaipuri, never compromised with the producers in respect of compositions. Further Directors like Bimal Roy, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, had tried to built in realistic approach in respect of picturisation of song sequences. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. H.V Guru Murthy.

When Music Director Naushad expired, in her condolence message, Saira Banu expressed her amazement at Dilip Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Naushad and Shakeel Badayuni, all Muslims joining together and giving hit Bhajans. Perhaps, this fact speaks volumes of the general public not bothered about the Hindu – Muslim culture but believing only in Indian culture. Well we never bothered to which religion these people belonged but only enjoyed their performance. I read somewhere that Dilip Kumar in his entire career has acted in only one movie where he had to don the role of a Muslim and that incidentally was MUGHAL E AZAM, otherwise, in all his movies, he has portrayed Hindu characters. (more…)