#456

        Song:    is duniya mein ae dilwaalo
                 dil ka lagaana khel nahiin
                 ulfat karna khel hai lekin
                 kar ke nibhaana khel nahiin

        Film:    Dillagi (1949)
        Singer:  Mohammed Rafi
        Music:   Naushad
        Lyrics:  Shakeel Badayuni
        *ing:    Shyam, Suraiya

For sake of completeness, more than anything else. It seems befitting
to have a Naushad song figure in a Rafi tribute. And after erroneously
attributing this song to Husnlal-Bhagatram recently, I have to make up
for Sami :-). This melancholy composition, however, does sound rather
like a Husnlal Bhagatram weepie, which of course, Rafi excelled at
singing.

It is nevertheless a lovely song, evocative in its expression, and
rather resigned in its message. The early (late 40s) voice of Rafi is a
delight to listen to in all its plaintiveness. The softening in his
voice as he mounts to the higher registers in the antaraas ("haaye re o
bedard zamaane...", etc.) is magical, really. Following up on a recent
thread about voice ranges, the real test here is how high up can one go
without having the listeners cringe. In Rafi's case, atleast the Rafi
of the late 40s or early 50s, hearing him soar to the skies was by no
means an assault on the eardrums. Quite to the contrary, actually.