By Narayan Sirdesai
(Author & Mohammed Rafi fan)

July 31st is the death anniversary of India’s legendary playback singer Mohammed Rafi. He was a singer par excellence with a honeyed voice and has sung more than 7000 songs in his illustrious career. He had a vocal range of a tenor, spanning over three octaves.

Mohammed Rafi was a Choumukhi Gavaiyya, a complete singer. He could sing songs of many genres like classical, ghazals, qawwalis, bhajans and romantic, sad, emotional, comedy, patriotic and western music based songs with ease.

Once Ustad Bismillah Khan, the Shehnai wizard visited the legendary actor Dilip Kumar at his Bandra residence. Since Rafi Saab was living close by, the Ustad called him. Bismillah Khan asked Rafi how he was able to maintain the sweetness of his voice and sur (note) and taal (rhythm) in the many genres of music and about his innovativeness and creativity.

Mohammed Rafi replied that it was God’s gift and his singing was a form of prayer and gratitude towards the Almighty.

One can by strenuous efforts be excellent in technique and presentation but without God’s gift and grace, magic in art is not possible. Extraordinary talent in any field is God’s gift.

Rafi had the character of a Sufi. In his childhood he developed a liking for music by following a Sufi Fakir (saint), who was also a singer. He respected all religions and his Bhagwan Krishna’s bhajan from the film Baiju Bawra in raag Malkauns Mana Tadpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj ( my heart cries for God’s darshan today) is an all-time classic.

Mohammed Rafi Sahab’s Photos on Hamara Photos.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 31st, 2023 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Meri Awaaz Suno. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.