RMIM Archive Article "210".


From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian

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# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Rafi - The Immortal!
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# Posted by: Satish Subramanian (subraman@cs.umn.edu)
# Source: MAG (Pakistan)
# Author: Imran Kidwai
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rafi - The Immortal! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jaanewale kabhi nahi aate, jaanewale ki yaad aati hai. - Rafi in "Dil Ek Mandir" The voice might have stopped 16 years ago, but it will never cease to exist in the memories of Rafi's fans, forever. In memory of Rafi, here is an article straight from the heart of a RAFIan! It appeared last year in the magazine "Mag". The article also talks about the Anil Biswas-Rafi connection a little. Also the author includes an interesting list of his top 20 favourite songs of Rafi. -- satish ------------------------------------------------------------------- Rafi - The Immortal! Imran R. Kidwai Mag (Pakistan) Aug 1995. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Zindagi to bewafa hai, ek din thukraayegi maut mehbooba hai apne saath lekar jaayegi! Three years after singing this song, Mohd. Rafi passed away on July 31st, 1980. It has been 15 years now and till this world exists, there is never going to be a replacement for Mohd. Rafi. It is unusual that in a country whose population exceeds 850 million they have, as yet, failed to find a suitable voice to sing songs the way Rafi sang. They have, of course, been many imitators but none like the original. For Rafi, singing was a passion and something which had to be taken seriously. He started his singing career way back in 1942 and held sway in the film industry till his death in 1980 - 38 years with innumerable variety of songs. As a human being, he was extremely humble and religious and surprisingly so soft spoken, that you had to be very close to him to catch what he was saying - something in stark contrast to his songs and powerful voice. He is the only singer who had the unique distinction of opening out his voice when singing on high scales. Other singers' voices narrow down as they reach high pitches. If you listened to the song "chal ud ja re panchi" both by Rafi and Talat, it will be noticeable.(*) During his long career he sang a vast number of songs for all kinds of characters portrayed on the screen. Be it a hero, a drunkard, a beggar, a comedian etc., Rafi catered to all and did justice to the lyricist, the music director, and to the song itself. Music directors had a choice of many singers but there was always the thought at the back of their minds, that in the event no other male singer could do justice to their song, there was always Mohd. Rafi to sing for them. Even other singers have admitted that to sing a duet with him was extremely taxing. Being trained in classical music, he sang a number of very good classical numbers, both solos as well as duets. He has also sung a song for Kishore Kumar in the film "Ragini". Of all music directors that Rafi sang for, somehow he was never repeated by Anil Biswas. Anil Biswas always claimed that his soft music was not suited for Rafi's loud voice - an argument that can go on forever, but Rafi has sung some very good soft numbers, such as "apni to har aah ik toofan," "jaane kya dhoonti rahti hai," "tumse kahoon ik baat," which is proof enough of the control he had on his voice. It seemed as though he could scale any heights of the pitch. The song from "Mughal-e-Azam" titled "zindabad ai mohabbat" is proof enough. His voice carried expressions and gave the listener an understanding of the scenes and actions without having actually seen the film. For example, in "Barsaat Ki Raat" the song "zindagi bhar nahi" has a poetic line, "surkh aanchal ko dabakar jo nichora usne". And the way Rafi has emphasized the word nichora, you could almost imagine Madhubala wringing her aanchal. Or if you listen to the song from "Baharein Phir Bhi Aayengi," phrased "aap ke haseen rukh pe aaj naya noor hai," you can imagine the detailed facial expressions as expressed in the song. Naushad-Shakeel-Rafi was a team that started off way back in the 1940s and produced hits upon hits till mid 1960s. They seemed to be made for each other and none of the three let the other down. Who can forget songs such as "is duniya mein si dilwalo" (Dillagi), "tasveer banata hoon teri" (Deewana) etc. -- To write and record from the 1940s to the 1980s would take up a lot of pages, so I will end this article by listing out various songs that have been my personal favourites for a long time and will remain so. Zindagi ke safar mein akele the ham - Nartaki - Ravi Ba hosh-o-hawas mein diwana - Night in London - LP Mohabbat se dekha khafa ho gaye hain - Bheegi Raat - Roshan Raaz-e-dil unse chhupaya na gaya - Apna Banake Dekho - Ravi Dil mein ek jaan-e-tamanna ne - Benazir - S D Burman Tu mere saamne hai - Suhagan - Madan Mohan Pahle mile the sapnon mein aaj saamne - Zindagi - Shankar-Jaikishan Dil ki tamanna thi masti mein - Gyarah Hazar Ladkiyaan - N Dutta Gar tum bhula na doge - Yakeen - Shankar-Jaikishan Masti mein chhed ke tarana koi dil ka - Haqeeqat - Madan Mohan Mujhe le chalo aaj phir us gali mein - Sharabi - Madan Mohan Ankhiyan sang ankhiyan laagi aaaj - Bada Admi - Chitragupta SAaz ho tum awwaz hun mein- Saaz aur Awaaz - Naushad Maana mere haseen sanam - Adventures of Robin Hood - G S Kohli Teri zulfen pareshaan - Preet Na Jaane Reet - Kalyanji-Anandji Paas baitho tabiyat behl jaayegi - Punar Milan - C Arjun Haaye tabassum tera - Nishan - Usha Khanna Teri tasveer bhi kuch - Kinare Kinare - Jaidev Zara sun haseena - Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya - Ravi Hamne kya pyar kiya - Naag Mohini - Sardar Mallik -- (*) For those of you who would like to compare the others singers who have sung the same songs, you can listen to the following separate solos. 1. Tum bin jaoon kahan - Rafi and Kishore [Truly a brave RAFIan!] 2. Chal ud jaa re panchhi - Rafi and Talat 3. Saaranga teri yaad mein - Rafi and Mukesh 4. Tasveer banata hoon teri - Rafi and Habib Wali Mohd. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- bye satish tum mujhe yun bhulaa na paaoge, haan tum mujhe yun bhula na paaoge jab kabhi bhi sunoge geet mere, sang sang tum bhi gungunaaoge
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian