Aug 09, 2008 10:41 AM
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(Updated Feb 23, 2009 01:30 PM)
Mohd. rafi was born near Lahore in pakistan. His singing was inspired by a fakir. Contrray to his contemporariers his singing was not influence by K.l Saigal even in initial stages. It was in Punjabi style.
He rose to fame with duet "jaha badla wafa ka " sung with Nurjahan. His solo "Ek dilke tukde hajar huwe "for husnalal bhagatram was very poplar. He was identified as voice of Dilipkumar and Shammikapur.
Veteran composer Ani biswas, Salil chowdhary, c. Ramchandra were not happy with his voice. Salil choudhary remarked that he had to make rafi take 30 takes for the song "Tute hue khwabone" from Madhumati. Anil biswas criticized that his voice is streetsinger's voice and not for classy music.But Rafi's voice was indispensible for every comoser.
He had a voice with extraordinary great range . his voice was melodious which can suit almost every type of song and every tune ranging from classical to western pop. So he had amazing variety. but in depth and deep expressions of sorrow and softness he trailed behind his contemporaries like Kishore, Mukesh, Manna dey. His voice was ideally suited for qawwali's, fast western tunes( which require not a thick heavy voice like that of kishore), classical based songs.
A speciality of his voice tis hat unlike most of his contemporaries his voice could be used for each and every type of tune and every type of song. In this respect it was said that Mohd. Rafi is Lata Mangeshkar in male voicesand Lata is Mod. rafi in femlae voices. I the song "Tum bin jau kaha " was sung beautifully by both Rafi and Kishoe, but kishore had an edge over Rafi.
However ORafi's voice had some qualities of Asha's voice like "phirat", suitability for western numbers, a voice whih could sing Quwwali. These qulaities were not in the voice of Lata. On the other hand the voice of Rafi lacked the charcterstic tenderness and divine quality in the voice of Lata. So a amazingly great song "Man re tu kahe na dhir dhare" failed to make the desired effect to some extent. However Rafi had an edge overvLata to lata in fast number "Jiya ho jiya kuch bol do", and could sing the qawwali with Asha "Hai aagar dushman" and could sing songs of "{teesari manzil " which did not suit lata. Rafi had given plyaback to Kishore, Talat, Mukesh! When rafi was at paek it was said that for hero, supporting actor, comdian, and beggar everybody used to sing!in Rafi's voice! Actually certain combination of Lata and Asha like "phirat, great range, qucik match to most tunes" was with rafi while certain combination of Lata and Asha like "pepyness, divine voice, depth, , softness" were with kishore.
Best use of rafi was made by Sachindev burman, Rahuldev burman( though infrequent), op Nayyar. . He also sang with Shanker Jaikishan and Naushad( mentor of RAFI) and Madan mohan He sang maximum nmber songs for Laxmikant pyarelal. However Mohd. Rafi LP and Mohd. rafi Roshan combinations appeared dull! Recently a bangala desh leading male vice remarked that "it would have been better if Rafi did not sing these many songs in 50s and 60s". When Yesudas appeared on he scene it was very much clear that "yesudas" scored over Rafi in classical based songs and the sweet type of RAFI tunes. Rafi was topmost male playback singer f rom 1959 to 1968. He lost his position to kishore in 1969. He used to fumble in recordings during 1972 due to this. It was Naushad who guided him to regain his confidence. He made a come back in 1977.but could not get the best songs except from LP. It is surprising that khayyam did not use his voice in seventies.Ravindra Jain sucessfully demonstrated that that a very meldious and sweet voice of Yesudas( similar singing style to rafi but different kind of voice) can malke wonders but other composers did not folow him and use Yesudas. MadanMohan and LP continued to use Rafi in seventies and consisitently. Anandj of Kalyanji-Anandji rates rafi as technically most perfect singer.Both kishore and Rafi had lot of rsepect for each other yet their relationship went through a brief rough patch in 1979. Rafi sudenly died in 1980 with heart attack. He won five fimfare awards. Shabbirkumar and Mohd Aziz were his clones. Udit narayan and Suresh wadkar are nspired by rafi but have independent style of singing. Sonu Nigm initailyy was a clone of rafi but following kumar sanu he developed a singing style which is a combinaion of Rafi and kishore!
*Gems of RAFI.
1 khoya khoya chand -sachindev burman
2 Madhuban me radhika nache - Naushad
- jaha badla wafa ka - shyamsundar(duet with Nurjahan)
4 ek dilke tukde hazar huwe -Husnalal bhgatram
5 pukarta chala hu mai - OP nayyar
6 Mitwa mere meet re - kalyanji anandji
7 Nache man mora -sachinev burman
8 choudavi ka chand - Ravi
9 abhi na jao chodkar- Jaidev(Duet with Asha)
10 chura liya hai tumne -rahuldev burman(duet with Asha)
11 tere mere sapane ab ek rang hai -schindev burman
12 teri ankho ke siwa duni ya me -madan Mohan
13 gulabi aankhe rahuldev burman
14 bekhudi me sanam - kalyanji anadji(duet with Lata)
15 Di lke jhazokome -shanker jaikishan
16- a dil hai mushkil jeena yaha -op nayar(duet with Geeta)
17 Baharo fool barsao - Shanker jaikishan
18 suhani rat dhal chuki -Nushad
19 - Har kali kali ke labpar - op nayyar
20 Dekh hume awaj na dena - madan mohan
