His death anniversary
is being observed today, Saturday.
Rafisahab was the pride of India. His voice and his memories are still with us even
though his body has left us, said Khayyam who composed many of the hits that Rafi
sang. His hard work, dedication and devotion to music was
remarkable. But the most important characteristic of the main was his humility. He would
actually charge his fees accordingly to the budget of the movie. It encouraged new film
makers to take him, even though he was a super singer and could have demanded his own
price.
Rafi's magic, according to prominent film critic
Raju Bharatan, was in his excellent dictation and his voice that had remarkable fluidity
and a wide range. He started playback singing in the early '50s and
by the end of the decade, he was the unchallenged male playback singer. His only rival was
Lata Mangeshkar.
He sang every style of songs
from the semiclassical in films like Baiju Bawra to tumris, ghazals, romantic songs and
popular songs like Yahoo which he sang for Shammi Kapoor in the film, Junglee,
remembered Khayyam.
Khayyam and Rafi got together to compose some of
the more popular ghazals to Mirza Galib. One of them was, Dard-e-Minnat
Kash-e-dawa na hua, Main na achcha huva bura na huva (My pain is neither healing
nor is it killing me. I am neither cured nor am I sick) which becaome a big hit and still
is remembered as one of the best songs of Rafi.
I have been singing
Rafisahab's songs since 1968 when I first started performing on stage in my hometown of
Baroda. I had met Rafisahab only twice and both the meetings were vert moving. I was
nobody at that time, said Shabbir Kumar, playback singer.
Mr. Kumar recalled his first meeting with Rafi at
Famous Studios in 1972. There were a lot of people waiting to meet
him. I used to sketch then and drew a sketch of him when he was recording. As soon as he
passsed me, I shoved the sketch his hands to get his attention, He encouraged me a lot,
Mr. Kumar said.
The sale of Rafisahab's songs
has been constant for several decades now, said a senior official with HMV. Last year, the company came out with a five-cassette pack of Rafi's songs
and sold over 70,000 packs. The quality of his voice was unmatched. The quality of
composition and the lyrics was out of this world then. Which is why we find that those
words and tunes linger even after so many years where as the ones composed die out in a
couple of weeks.
Even today, when I write
something I imagine how it would sound if Rafisahab had sung it. His vacuum can never be
filled again, said lyricist Anand Bakshi. |
