All Great Mds' Preference For Rafi Saab!, Some Widely-reported Stories On This Options

[venkat]

Friends,

That all great MDs during the Platinum-era of HFM from 1947 to 1972 had a distinct preference for Rafi Saab is crystal-clear, well-known and needs no debate, as the historical facts and statistics speak for themselves.

But, there were some instances of extreme display of this tendency by some of the great MDs of olden days.

In this thread, let us narrate and discuss some of such instances.

To start with, I recall one radio interview that I heard very long back, which gave me the following information.

In early, mid and late fifties, it was fashionable to listen to Talat Mehmood songs and somewhat over-rate him. Many Industry bigwigs, such as Anil Biswas, Bimal Roy, etc., too were not immune to this tendency.

So, when Bimal Roy was making Sujata (1959), he had advised S.D.Burman to use Talat Mehmood for the great SDB composition, "Jalte Hain Jis Ke Liye".

But, S.D.Burman was far from enamoured by Talat Mehmood's style of singing. He wanted to utilise only Rafi Saab for this sublime composition and tried to reason out with Bimal Roy. But, as Bimal Roy wouldn't listen, he had to finally use Talat Mehmood.

But, what is really amusing was that during the rehearsals and recording, S.D.Burman made no secret of his displeasure to poor Talat Ji. He even used to say, "Yeh Boda Achha Composition Hoy. Is Ko Khorab Mot Koro".

Such was SDB's bullishness on Rafi Saab.

More later.

Venkat

PS. It is a different matter that the song, "Jalte Hain Jis Ke liye", from Sujata happened to have been sung by Talat Mehmood extremely well and it is a great favorite of mine. But, the above was just to illustrate great MDs' stubborn preference for Rafi Saab.

This post has been edited by venkat: Sep 27 2008, 04:12 PM

[suhana_safar]

When i began hearing songs of Rafisaab initially, I realised one comon factor and that he enriched the comp0istions that he sang for. Now this is an exceptional and rare achievement. He did not require a great composition to create a a great song.
There is a school of thought which is right and that is good compositions and lyrics make a good song. However this adage falls head down when it comes to Rafisaab who has proved that his vocals used to drive his songs and not the compositions and lyrics.

This incredible fact first dawned on me when I began hearing his songs at an early age and realised that I liked just about everything he sang. I also realised that mundane and ordinary compositions were enriched and enhanced by his unmatched vocals. This fact is magnified in his songs of the 50's and 70's.

I also realised that Rafisaab was also a king of entry (duets), i mean when singing duets and he sings after the other singer. I realised later when I heard several MD;s say that Rafisaab was the only singer that was comfortable in singing duets which is much harder than singing solos.

Naushad saab once told that he never liked composing duets as they were very time cosuming and required many re takes but he says with Rafisaab it was a very easy excersise as he knew exactly how and when and with what note to enter the song. Ravi once said that just about every singer struggles in duets but Rafisaab was a genius in all forms of singing and made duets a wonderful exprience for the Music Directors. Madan Mohan who disliked duets has maximum duets with Rafisaab, so does LP, Sonik Omi, OP Nayar, Naushad, Ravi and many more.

No singer male or female has sung more duets than Rafisaab till 1980. I also strong belive that if there was no Naushad then my vote of the guru of all MD's would go to the duo of Husanlal Bhagatram, whose every song that Rafisaab (and Lata and Suriaya) have sung are matchless and much a mile above in standard compared to most MD's of that era.

Regards
SS

This post has been edited by suhana_safar: Oct 26 2008, 04:45 AM

[nasir]

When i began hearing songs of Rafisaab initially, I realised one comon factor and that he enriched the comp0istions that he sang for. Now this is an exceptional and rare achievement. He did not require a great composition to create a a great song.
There is a school of thought which is right and that is good compositions and lyrics make a good song. However this adage falls head down when it comes to Rafisaab who has proved that his vocals used to drive his songs and not the compositions and lyrics.

This incredible fact first dawned on me when I began hearing his songs at an early age and realised that I liked just about everything he sang. I also realised that mundane and ordinary compositions were enriched and enhanced by his unmatched vocals. This fact is magnified in his songs of the 50's and 70's.

I also realised that Rafisaab was also a king of entry (duets), i mean when singing duets and he sings after the other singer. I realised later when I heard several MD;s say that Rafisaab was the only singer that was comfortable in singing duets which is much harder than singing solos.

Naushad saab once told that he never liked composing duets as they were very time cosuming and required many re takes but he says with Rafisaab it was a very easy excersise as he knew exactly how and when and with what note to enter the song. Ravi once said that just about every singer struggles in duets but Rafisaab was a genius in all forms of singing and made duets a wonderful exprience for the Music Directors. Madan Mohan who disliked duets has maximum duets with Rafisaab, so does LP, Sonik Omi, OP Nayar, Naushad, Ravi and many more.

No singer male or female has sung more duets than Rafisaab till 1980. I also strong belive that if there was no Naushad then my vote of the guru of all MD's would go to the duo of Husanlal Bhagatram, whose every song that Rafisaab (and Lata and Suriaya) have sung are matchless and much a mile above in standard compared to most MD's of that era.

Regards
SS

SS, let alone the facfs, but I wanna say this: We are lucky to have your comments that point out the information which is rare. In other words, precious gems from you SS.
Thanks for your efforts and time in bringing out those facts to our atention.
We appreciate a lot SS.

[suhana_safar]

SS, let alone the facfs, but I wanna say this: We are lucky to have your comments that point out the information which is rare. In other words, precious gems from you SS.
Thanks for your efforts and time in bringing out those facts to our atention.
We appreciate a lot SS.

Thanks Brother for your appreciation.

Regards
SS

This post has been edited by suhana_safar: Oct 28 2008, 08:40 AM