RMIM Archive Article "210".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Rafi - The Immortal!
#
# Posted by: Satish Subramanian (subraman@cs.umn.edu)
# Source: MAG (Pakistan)
# Author: Imran Kidwai
#
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Rafi - The Immortal!
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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
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Rafi - The Immortal!
Imran R. Kidwai
Mag (Pakistan) Aug 1995.
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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.
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--
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