{"id":2770,"date":"2011-07-31T19:32:05","date_gmt":"2011-07-31T14:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/07\/31\/the-thirty-day-project-day-26-rafi\/"},"modified":"2011-07-31T19:32:05","modified_gmt":"2011-07-31T14:32:05","slug":"the-thirty-day-project-day-26-classical-rafi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2011\/07\/31\/the-thirty-day-project-day-26-classical-rafi\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thirty Day Project – Day 26 – Classical Rafi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mohd. Rafi –\u00a0In all the years that i have been blogging (my first ever blog post was in June 2003) – I have done a fair few posts on Hindi film music. But, there has been no post on Mohammed Rafi. It is not that I don’t like his work. I love it. He is my favorite singer in the 1950’s through to the 1970’s era – by many accounts the golden \"Rafi\"era of Hindi film music.<\/p>\n

But, everytime I began thinking of writing a series on my favorites – i got stuck.<\/p>\n

How do you write about someone whose body of work encompassed everything from the rebellious anthem – Zindabad Zindabad <\/a><\/strong> from Moghul-e-Azam – to the rebellious lament – yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai <\/a><\/strong> – the former charging you to go marching, the latter telling you its ok to opt out.<\/p>\n

His songs of ‘falling in love’ were superlative – zindagi bhar nahin bhulegi barsaat ki raat<\/a><\/strong> or Chaudavi ka Chaand ho<\/a><\/strong> or Ehsaan tere hoga mujhpar<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> and made you want to fall in love. desparately. And, his songs of heart break – enough to put you off falling in love ever again – Yaad na Jaaye<\/a><\/strong>, Kabhi khud Pe<\/a><\/strong>,. His love duets with a variety of singers from Lata Mangeshkar — Chalo Dil Daar Chalo<\/a><\/strong>, Dil Tera Deewana <\/a><\/strong>, Mein Chali Mein chali<\/a>,<\/strong> — Asha Bhosale — aap yuhi agar humse milte rahe<\/a><\/strong>, or Bahut Shukriya Badi Meherbani<\/a><\/strong> – and Suman Kalyanpur — Ajuhun Aaye Balama<\/a><\/strong>, Bahut Haseen Hai Tumhari Aankhen<\/a><\/strong>, – covered the entire gamut of sensations associated with love – the flirtatious to the sizzling passion ..<\/p>\n

He was known for his classical songs, his fun songs, his drunken songs, his love songs, his sad songs, his patriotic songs, his religious songs … i don’t think there is a single genre of music he didn’t sing or didn’t excel in.<\/p>\n

Rafi has been the voice of every major Actor – Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Guru Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, Bharat Bhushan, Joy Mukherji, Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra. Incidentally he also sang<\/a> <\/strong>for Kishore Kumar<\/p>\n

He worked with every major Music director of that era. I cannot see a SD or a Naushad or an O.P.Nayyar being as successful without the voice of Rafi. He added something to every song. Of his entire discography – i can possibly list about 300 as my all time favorites … Which possibly tells me why it has been so difficult to write about him.<\/p>\n

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Obviously Rafi was classically trained. But what is interesting – atleast as far as I am concerned – is that his guru was Ustad Wahid Khan <\/strong><\/a>– <\/strong>the co-founder of the Kirana Gharana along with Ustad Abdul Karim Khan<\/a><\/strong>. The next generation of Kirana Gharana was Savai Gandharva, whose disciple was Pandit Bhimsen Joshi…it is extraordinary that two men who both learnt from the kirana gharana, have had such an influence on my listening pattern. i wonder if I would have developed the love for Hindustani classical music without Mohd. Rafi making it accessible for me (and countless others like me).<\/p>\n

So today on his death anniversary – my favorite, favorite classical numbers by Mohd. Rafi…. obviously i am leaving out far more than i am including. Do add your favorites to the list and drop me a line if I have got the Raga wrong.<\/p>\n

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Raga Adana<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Rafi & Suman Kalyanpur sing this beautiful song from the film Kaise Kahoon. Music Director is S D Burman, and lyrics by Shakeel Shakeel Badayuni. Rafi sings for Biswajeet<\/p>\n