REMEMBERING RAFI

A TRIBUTE TO THE VELVET VOICE
(On his 28th death anniversary i.e. 31st July)

BY SHRI RAM SHAW
Mohammed Rafi was the greatest ever playback singer of
India. He was uniquely and singularly responsible for the
very existence of the finest artistic grandeur, splendor and
original creativity that embodied the Golden Era of music
and melodies of Hindi Cinema. He had such fascinatingly
wide musical range, supreme artistic caliber, versatility
and mastery over music and melodies. Such was his
voice clarity, pleasantness of pitch and exquisite tone that
he was unsurpassable and unparalleled.He has the distinction of being the first playback singer of
all times to be featured in the pioneering list of the
Guinness Book of World Records, for having sung the
highest number of songs, which is a total of 26000 songs,
in Hindi and other languages.Mohammed Rafi created a unique musical artistic identity
and niche for each music composer whose compositions,
he sang. His voice conveyed every intricate human
emotion with such subtle care, artistic dexterity, exquisite
pleasantness and unique artistic creativity that it
influenced and over-powered the hearts and souls of
millions of music lovers all over the world. He had
infused life into the poetry written by legendry poets, song
writers with the power of his supreme capabilities as a
musical genius and marvelous singer.In 1948, on the fateful day when the father of the Indian
nation, Mahatma Gandhi was no more, famous poet:
Rajendra Krishan wrote: “Bapu ki Amar kahani”. It was
sung by Mohammed Rafi on the very same day on All
India Radio. It was so mesmerizing to hear the poetic-
biography of Mahatma Gandhi, in the melodious voice of
Mohammed Rafi that the millions of the listeners of All
India Radio were all moved to tears with sorrow and
poignancy. It was a great achievement because before
that no singer had ever attempted to sing songs which
had more than 2 stanzas but to sing a whole poetic-
biography seemed impossible at that time however for
Mohammed Rafi it was natural and many a time he has
sung the most difficult and long compositions with
absolute panache and marvelous elegance.Mohammed Rafi was like an angel. He was very soft
spoken, seldom angry, very humble. He was very pious
person. Rafi sahab's wife's name was Bilquis and they
had three sons and four daughters. He believed in the
concept of simple living and high thinking. During his
lifetime Mohammed Rafi had donated immeasurable
money in charity, noble causes and for our country. He
was a true patriot of India and he believed in our
country's secular values and our rich culture, tradition and
heritage. The boundaries of religion, caste, creed,
richness, poverty, economic class, language and politics
were beyond the legendry stature of Mohammed Rafi and
he was above all these boundaries. Numerous instances
are there when he bought expensive imported Dialysis
equipment to our country to assist charity hospitals that
serve ailing kidney patients of our nation.Rafi sahab was an ideal man with loft ideals and
esteemed values for which he was ready to face
anything. This was the same reason that he declared that
he will not take royalty for any of the songs that he had
sung. A view-point that resulted in a grave clash of
principles with another legend Lata Mangeshkar, who had
a major debate over the issue of royalties in 1960. Rafi
believed that once a recording was over and a singer has
been paid, he or she should not ask for more. Lata, on
the other hand said that singers should be paid royalties
for their works, over and above the amount given for the
singing. For, three years Mohammed Rafi and Lata
Mangeshker did not sing duets or speak with each other.
It was the most dignified silence over clash of principles.
They refused to sing songs together. At the insistence of
Nargis they finally made up at a stage concert and sang
Dil Pukare from the film Jewel thief, composed by S D
Burman. Many new music directors would come to Rafi sahab and request him that if he sang for their
compositions then they would get chance in films.
Mohammed Rafi sahab would not only sang for them but
also when the producer used to pay renumeration for the
songs, Rafi sahib would gift it to these new music
directors. That was the encouragement that Rafi sahab
had for new talent. He would recommend names of his
contemporary singers without an iota of jealousy. Thus,
making Rafi sahab the most loved respected and
cherished human being of all time. Till the day he lived,
he ruled like a king and after passing away from this
mortal world also Mohammed Rafi's voice and his
melodies continues to reign the music world.
End of matter

Yours
Shri राम Shaw
9818632282