NEW DELHI: Paying musical homage to versatile singer Mohammed Rafi marking his 32nd death anniversary on 31 July, an audio CD ‘Rafi Tu Hai Chanda’ was released in New Delhi last evening.
The track has been rendered by Tarlochan Singh and penned by Daljit Singh Arora. Singh and Arora, president and secretary respectively of Mohammed Rafi Memorial Society, Amritsar, the first society of fans of the late singer, born in the then Amritsar district on 24 December 1924, were also feted with the Sakha-Rafi Smriti Awards on the occasion. Their patron Dr Kirat Sandhu was also honoured. The function was organized jointly by Cultural Societies Sakha and Rafi Smriti in collaboration with Epicentre.
Others honoured at the event held at the Epicentre in Gurgaon included Ahsan Qasim of Rafi Music Centre, Hapur; Choudhary Zia Imam, author of the biography on Mohammad Rafi (Payambar-e-Mausiki: Mohammad Rafi) and Naushad (Zarra Jo Aftab Bana). The awards were given away by renowned Padma Shri singer Shanti Hiranand.
The second edition of Rafi’s biography ‘Meri Awaaz Suno’ by Vinod Viplav and its Urdu translation by Delhi University’s Dr Syed Tanvir Hussain were also released on the occasion.
A discussion was also held on Rafi’s contribution to the film industry by speakers from various fields. Panel member and senior journalist Pankaj Vohra said that Rafi is the only singer of India whom no other singer has been able to replicate successfully and whose stage performances showed no loss of quality from his studio recordings. Writer journalist Viplav stated that hearing Rafi’s sad, secular and melody songs were a spiritual experience and a sure cure for relieving tensions, stress and strains of life. He felt that Rafi’s ideal character, secularism, simplicity and blotless life makes him the perfect ‘Indian Idol’.
Retired IAS officer and musicologist RP Sinha recalled an instance when Rafi as a teenager had gone to attend a concert of legendary singer KL Saigal in Lahore and had been asked to sing when the microphone failed. Saigal impressed so much by the performance that he embraced Rafi. Later, Rafi sang an independent line in a chorus led by Saigal ‘Mere Sapno Ki Rani’ in the film Shahjahan (1946) under music director Naushad. Dr Hussain said that Rafi’s popularity spread deep across all corners of India amongst all sections of society, be rich or poor, townsmen or villagers.
Radioandmusic.com’s senior journalist BB Nagpal termed Rafi as the most versatile singer that India had produced, who could sing all types of songs may it be classical, comic, melancholic, boisterous or devotional with equal ease. He emulated the styles of actors and understood the scene before singing. There came a point when actors like Johnny Walker, Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra or Dilip Kumar were identified by Rafi’s voice.
Speaking about memorable instances of Rafi’s life, Nagpal said that Rafi was asked to give playback to singer-actor Kishore Kumar for the famous song ‘Man Mora Bawra’ from Ragini because music director OP Nayyar felt that only Rafi could do justice to the song. Later Shankar Jaikishen had also asked Rafi to give playback to Kishore Kumar in the film ‘Shararat’.
A range of Rafi’s songs were played on the occasion, from the patriotic song ‘Watan ki raah mein watan ke naujawan shaheed ho’ to the devotional Baiju Bawra bhajan ‘Man tadpat hari darshan ko aaj’. It is noteworthy that the Hindu Bhajan was rendered by Rafi, tuned by Naushad and penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, and all the three were Muslims.
Sakha and Yaadgar-E-Rafi Society chairman and art promoter Amarjit Singh Kohli said that the possibility of training young singers through a course of Rafi’s songs (classical, light and other shades) selected by music researchers could be seriously explored. He said that a real tribute can be paid to Rafi’s contributions during the celebrations of the ‘100 years of Indian Cinema’ by starting an ‘Institute of Rafi Music.’ He also showed recordings of Rafi’s songs in different Indian languages, and also in English and French. Glimpses of Rafi’s rare songs, songs sung by him live during stage performances and his interviews recorded decades ago were screened on the occasion.
NEW DELHI: Paying musical homage to versatile singer Mohammed Rafi marking his 32nd death anniversary on 31 July, an audio CD ‘Rafi Tu Hai Chanda’ was released in New Delhi last evening.
The track has been rendered by Tarlochan Singh and penned by Daljit Singh Arora. Singh and Arora, president and secretary respectively of Mohammed Rafi Memorial Society, Amritsar, the first society of fans of the late singer, born in the then Amritsar district on 24 December 1924, were also feted with the Sakha-Rafi Smriti Awards on the occasion. Their patron Dr Kirat Sandhu was also honoured. The function was organized jointly by Cultural Societies Sakha and Rafi Smriti in collaboration with Epicentre.
Others honoured at the event held at the Epicentre in Gurgaon included Ahsan Qasim of Rafi Music Centre, Hapur; Choudhary Zia Imam, author of the biography on Mohammad Rafi (Payambar-e-Mausiki: Mohammad Rafi) and Naushad (Zarra Jo Aftab Bana). The awards were given away by renowned Padma Shri singer Shanti Hiranand.
The second edition of Rafi’s biography ‘Meri Awaaz Suno’ by Vinod Viplav and its Urdu translation by Delhi University’s Dr Syed Tanvir Hussain were also released on the occasion.
A discussion was also held on Rafi’s contribution to the film industry by speakers from various fields. Panel member and senior journalist Pankaj Vohra said that Rafi is the only singer of India whom no other singer has been able to replicate successfully and whose stage performances showed no loss of quality from his studio recordings. Writer journalist Viplav stated that hearing Rafi’s sad, secular and melody songs were a spiritual experience and a sure cure for relieving tensions, stress and strains of life. He felt that Rafi’s ideal character, secularism, simplicity and blotless life makes him the perfect ‘Indian Idol’.
Retired IAS officer and musicologist RP Sinha recalled an instance when Rafi as a teenager had gone to attend a concert of legendary singer KL Saigal in Lahore and had been asked to sing when the microphone failed. Saigal impressed so much by the performance that he embraced Rafi. Later, Rafi sang an independent line in a chorus led by Saigal ‘Mere Sapno Ki Rani’ in the film Shahjahan (1946) under music director Naushad. Dr Hussain said that Rafi’s popularity spread deep across all corners of India amongst all sections of society, be rich or poor, townsmen or villagers.
as the most versatile singer that India had produced, who could sing all types of songs may it be classical, comic, melancholic, boisterous or devotional with equal ease. He emulated the styles of actors and understood the scene before singing. There came a point when actors like Johnny Walker, Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra or Dilip Kumar were identified by Rafi’s voice.
Speaking about memorable instances of Rafi’s life, Nagpal said that Rafi was asked to give playback to singer-actor Kishore Kumar for the famous song ‘Man Mora Bawra’ from Ragini because music director OP Nayyar felt that only Rafi could do justice to the song. Later Shankar Jaikishen had also asked Rafi to give playback to Kishore Kumar in the film ‘Shararat’.
A range of Rafi’s songs were played on the occasion, from the patriotic song ‘Watan ki raah mein watan ke naujawan shaheed ho’ to the devotional Baiju Bawra bhajan ‘Man tadpat hari darshan ko aaj’. It is noteworthy that the Hindu Bhajan was rendered by Rafi, tuned by Naushad and penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, and all the three were Muslims.
Sakha and Yaadgar-E-Rafi Society chairman and art promoter Amarjit Singh Kohli said that the possibility of training young singers through a course of Rafi’s songs (classical, light and other shades) selected by music researchers could be seriously explored. He said that a real tribute can be paid to Rafi’s contributions during the celebrations of the ‘100 years of Indian Cinema’ by starting an ‘Institute of Rafi Music.’ He also showed recordings of Rafi’s songs in different Indian languages, and also in English and French. Glimpses of Rafi’s rare songs, songs sung by him live during stage performances and his interviews recorded decades ago were screened on the occasion.
