Original And Good Articles On Rafi Sahab, for mohdrafi.com |
Original And Good Articles On Rafi Sahab, for mohdrafi.com |
sajid |
Dec 6 2004, 06:22 AM
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#16
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Member Group: Members Posts: 65 Joined: 27-March 04 From: uk Member No.: 375 |
Would it be better if we could get some interviews with people who have worked with rafi saab before and other playback singers to how they viewed him what habits he had etc
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Akhtar |
Dec 6 2004, 12:32 PM
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#17
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2295 Joined: 26-June 04 From: London Member No.: 568 |
whos this unni memon dude who wrote an article. we should only let members write. not any old riff raff
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unni |
Dec 6 2004, 06:35 PM
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#18
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 8769 Joined: 20-March 04 From: Vaanar Nivas, Tribandar Marg, Bandarabad, MONKEYSTAN. Member No.: 356 |
QUOTE(rafi_rules @ Dec 6 2004, 03:02 AM) whos this unni memon dude who wrote an article. we should only let members write. not any old riff raff Members/non-members/riff-raffs......whatever, we need more folks to write. Come on guys and gals, let's hear it from you. Can we get at least one article per month. Surely that's a very small and reasonable expectation, what with hundreds of us here. Apart from the ones who post regularly in the forum, there are numerous members out there who participate silently. This request goes out to them too. If you admire, love, revere Rafi-sahab, SHOW IT! Please send in your essays by PM directly to Pradeep. A request to members located in Mumbai: Please use whatever connections you can establish to talk to people who had occasion to see, meet, work with Rafi-sahab. Big-name film personalities are frequently interviewed. But a wealth of info can be obtained from the humble folk who are not seen or heard. For example, it would be fascinating to interview some of the orchestra members who provided musical accompaniment at various recordings. Members of Rafi-sahab's regular troupe (at live concerts) would be around. They would be an invaluable source of information and anecdotes. There would also be music assistants and "arrangers" who regularly came in contact with Rafi-sahab. Remember, once these sources are lost, the knowledge they bear would also be lost forever. If you stop trying to make sense of it all, you'll be less confused. Reality is an illusion.
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Chitralekha |
Dec 6 2004, 11:33 PM
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#19
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 4431 Joined: 22-October 03 Member No.: 13 |
Hey that was a good one from UKM
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shrikant21120 |
Dec 8 2004, 01:09 AM
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#20
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Member Group: Members Posts: 167 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 237 |
Just an observation!
It is generally said that Indian English is "Verbose" and indeed you just have to read any article written by a showbiz indian journalist to confirm that. This applies to people who review films and music viz. Bharatan, Vijaykar, Khalid Mohd. It appears as if they sit to write with a dictionary by their side to dish out the choicest rare adjectives and mix them up with French or Latin phrases to bamboozle(!) the reader. Having said that all the adjectives in the world cannot do justice to the emotions I ( many of us) go through whilst listening to janab Rafi sahib! Shrikant |
Chitralekha |
Dec 8 2004, 08:01 AM
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#21
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 4431 Joined: 22-October 03 Member No.: 13 |
QUOTE(shrikant21120 @ Dec 7 2004, 11:39 AM) Just an observation! It is generally said that Indian English is "Verbose" and indeed you just have to read any article written by a showbiz indian journalist to confirm that. This applies to people who review films and music viz. Bharatan, Vijaykar, Khalid Mohd. It appears as if they sit to write with a dictionary by their side to dish out the choicest rare adjectives and mix them up with French or Latin phrases to bamboozle(!) the reader. Having said that all the adjectives in the world cannot do justice to the emotions I ( many of us) go through whilst listening to janab Rafi sahib! Shrikant I agree with Shrikant for both things - Rafi sahab's singing and the usage of dictionary words. I am all for using those hi-tech words. Even I do that many times if I am writing something serious because I tend to use very simple English otherwise. Not that it's bad but those words just add a little more to the language, the writing. And you are absolutely right about the fact that no adjectives can really describe Rafi sahab's singing. What he has given to us in his 50 some yrs, no one has, is or will give us. |
unni |
Dec 8 2004, 08:10 AM
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#22
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 8769 Joined: 20-March 04 From: Vaanar Nivas, Tribandar Marg, Bandarabad, MONKEYSTAN. Member No.: 356 |
QUOTE(Chitralekha @ Dec 7 2004, 10:31 PM) I agree with Shrikant for both things - Rafi sahab's singing and the usage of dictionary words. I am all for using those hi-tech words. Even I do that many times if I am writing something serious because I tend to use very simple English otherwise. Not that it's bad but those words just add a little more to the language, the writing. And you are absolutely right about the fact that no adjectives can really describe Rafi sahab's singing. What he has given to us in his 50 some yrs, no one has, is or will give us. But what about those high-flown Urdu lyricists? "Falsafa Pyar Ka...." and 'O Mere Shah-e-Khuban" only topped off with "O Meri Jaan-e-Jhanaanaan". Another one, "Karo Ahtaram Uski". (Kya Atmaram ka bhai hai?). Gaana sunoon ya Urdu-English Dictionary padhoon? But for Rafi-sahab's voice and singing, many of us idli-dosa-wallahs would have given up long ago. AYYO! If you stop trying to make sense of it all, you'll be less confused. Reality is an illusion.
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Akhtar |
Dec 9 2004, 02:04 AM
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#23
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2295 Joined: 26-June 04 From: London Member No.: 568 |
Seriously,
Top article by Unni. Very good article and well written. Akhtar. |
dhiren |
Dec 9 2004, 03:49 PM
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#24
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 1092 Joined: 24-October 03 From: Baroda but at present London Member No.: 26 |
QUOTE The life of Mohd. Rafi must present a dilemma for would-be biographers! How much can one write about a man who “went to work” in the morning and returned home to his family in the evening? What colourful narrative can one pen about a man who spoke softly, eyes looking down. A man whose humble response to ardent adulation was to raise his head and gaze heavenwards, to say, “Yeh Sab Khuda Ka Den Hai ”. Very True ! ! ! Very well written Unni ji, I do not have words.... Please keep it up.... |
Harold |
Jan 25 2005, 03:04 AM
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#25
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Regular Member Group: Members Posts: 882 Joined: 4-December 03 From: Nieuw-Vennep in Holland Member No.: 137 |
Hi Friends,
I'm back after a 5 week holiday in Surinam. I called the local radio station over there to ask them if they would air a program on Rafi-shab on 24th of december, and the donkeys asked me for what occasion ??? I told them the occasion and they didn't had any knowledge about it and had nothing programmed. My mood became better when I saw SaReGaMaPa later on that evening (or perhaps one day after that), in which Suresh Wadkar and Vinod Rathod were praising Rafi-sahab. Unni-ji's suggestion is very good. Indeed the people in Mumbai can obtain a lot of info on the legend. People who worked very closely with him are still alive. Think of Naushad, OP Nayyar, Lata etc etc. During my visit to Mumbai in September, I obatined so much info in less than 2 hours, by talking to his daughter and son in law. There is still so much to discover about him. Despite the fact the fact that he was a shy, soft spoken family man, there's still much we can get to know on him, in my opinion. Harold |
extenok |
Jan 25 2005, 08:08 PM
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#26
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 1068 Joined: 25-October 03 Member No.: 33 |
I only read the article today. Good work Unni. Subhanallah kya iyaada kiya hae Rafi sahab kee HFM zindagi ka. zindagi ne kar diya, jab bhi udaas aa gaye ghabra ke hum, manzil ke paas sar jhukaaya, sar jhuka kar ro diye |
uttamsingh |
Feb 11 2005, 05:14 PM
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#27
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Unregistered |
QUOTE(Pradeep @ Nov 25 2004, 05:49 PM) Hello Friends, We have plenty of writing talents on this board. What more can one want than to write about his/her favourite? I would like to request if any of you can write an original article on Mohd Rafi for mohdrafi.com. If you would like to be paid for this, you are welcome and free to discuss it with me using PM or email legend at mohdrafi.com Regards, |
uttamsingh |
Feb 11 2005, 05:29 PM
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#28
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Unregistered |
QUOTE(Pradeep @ Nov 25 2004, 05:49 PM) Hello Friends, We have plenty of writing talents on this board. What more can one want than to write about his/her favourite? I would like to request if any of you can write an original article on Mohd Rafi for mohdrafi.com. If you would like to be paid for this, you are welcome and free to discuss it with me using PM or email legend at mohdrafi.com Regards, Dear Pradeep, It is indeed true that you try to write about Rafi Saheb & you lost in thoughts. I would definately write only my thoughts,feelings about Rafi Saheb but at present I have stored one article about Rafi Saheb & would like every one to read it & like me, store it forever in mind as well as in their respective file folder. I would love to hear views of reader about this fantastic article written "Shri Raju Bharatan" (I don't know him but he is definately a great man & deserves respect from us,the Rafians). Behold, here it comes...... Here is an article written by Raju Bharatan on Rafi's 13th an- niversary, for the Illustrated Weekly of India. This article talks about how Rafi, regardless of the money involved, helped many a small time composer by agreeing to sing for them. --=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-- RAFIana by Raju Bharatan for The Illustrated Weekly of India, Aug 93 --=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-- "Not one anniversary article on Mohd. Rafi pointedly touched on his contribution to the welfare of the small-time composer. Raju Bharatan looks beyond big names to pick some gems from Rafi's humble repertoire". Raju Bharatan writes: Could you believe that end-July signalled full 13 luckless years without the charismatic voice of Mohd. Rafi? I, for one, couldn't believe it, if only because I discerned that it was during these very 13 tuneless years that Rafi had grown more dominant in our vocal imaginations. Whether it be TV or radio, his vocals have been even more vibrant in the years he has been away from us. Shabbir KUmar, Anwar, Mohd. Aziz, their performing stature dimin- ishes with every year that passes without Rafi. So unique is Rafi's vocal mystique that he is always throwing up new areas, for example, not one anniversary article on Rafi touched on how this big-hearted tenor *made* small-time com- posers. It is this lacuna we now seek to fill in a resonant reply of some Rafi's all-time hits for the lesser-known music direc- tors. The idea is to spotlight Rafi's role in keeping the small-time composer professionally alive. Remember an obscure 1953 C-grade film called "Khoj" for which music was scored by Nissar Baazmi, the man who later went to Pak- istan and became such a big composer there that even Noorjehan and Mehdi Hassan considered it an honour to sing for him. Yet so long as Nissar Baazmi was in India, he somehow remained a C-grade composer. And at the time he did "Khoj", he was literally a no- body. This was when Baazmi approached Rafi to sing for the maximum Rs 50 that his producer could afford for the rendition of a composi- tion on which he prided himself. And Rafi charged Baazmi just the token Re 1 to produce for him, in Khoj, the memorable Radio Ceylon hit, "Chanda ka dil toot gaya roney lage hain sitaare". This Raja Mehdi Ali Khan lyric began with the cry: "Mohabbat aur wafaa kis tarah tauheen ki tu ne". What a compelling sense of expression Rafi brought to this tune of a struggling composer! Nor was Pandit Shivram a big-time composer when Rafi (this time for Rs 50) obliged him with an all-time hit that made its way from Radio Ceylon to the Binaca Geetmala. It was written by Bharat Vyas (for a shoestring-budget starrer of Nirupa Roy, Karan Dewan and Bhagwan) and it became, in Rafi's orotund voice, the surprise hit of the year 1955. My reference is to the "Oonchi Haveli" Rafi chartbuster: "Daulat ke jhoote nashe main ho choor garibon ki duniyan se rehte ho door". Who but Rafi could have scaled such a vocal peak from the pit-class for which "Oonchi Haveli" was made? To this day, "Daulat ke jhoote nashe main ho choor" remains the biggest hit given by Pandit Shivram. S. Mohinder may not exactly have been a C-grade composer, but the fact remains that he rarely worked in A-grade set-ups. Ranjit's "Papi", starring Nargis and Raj Kapoor, was one of those rare films in which S. Mohinder had the support of a hit star-team. But the problem was that, but the time "Papi" came in 1953, Mukesh was 'settled' as the voice of Raj Kapoor. Even so Sardar Mohinder made bold to opt for Rafi for Raj! And that too in the climax of Papi! Only, by the time the climax of "Papi" came to be reached, the film had already been dismissed by the audience as a visual disaster. Yet the same audience which, I remember, had virtually gone to sleep in Delhi's Regal Cinema came to sudden life and be- gan tapping its feet to the Rafi rhythm of "Tera kaam hai jalna parwaane chahe shama jale ya na jale". That audience clearly felt that Rafi was made for Raj Kapoor. Who knows, Rafi, given the chance, might have been good on Raj Kapoor too! Come Dilip Kumar, come Raj Kapoor, come Dev Anand, Rafi was a vocal match for any hero, big or small. The hero of "Mirza Ghalib" was Bharat Bhooshan, the hero in Dev- das was Dilip Kumar. And both heroes in both films had plumped for the soft vocals of Talat Mahmood. Rafi therefore had only one 'atmospheric' song each in these two films. Yet, even in these two films in which Talat dominated so sentimentally, Rafi left his own distinct individual impact - under Ghulam Mohammad with "Hai has ki har ek unke ishare mein nishaan aur" (Mirza Ghalib), under Dada Burman with "Manzil ki chaah mein" (Devdas). Neither Talat, nor Mukesh, nor Kishore, nor Hemant, nor even Manna Dey, could ever take Rafi for granted. "I might have been better trained classically by my uncle K. C. Dey," Manna once told me, "but if Rafi was singing in the same film as I was, I never could be sure he wouldn't overtake me." The same Manna Dey had given of his best to the hapless composer, Babul, in "Reshmi Roomal", through "Zulfon ki ghata lekar saawan ki pari aaye" (with Asha) and "Aankh mein shokhi lab pe tabassum" (with Suman). In the same "Reshmi Roomal", Babul had made a tel- ling impression with Talat, too, through "Jab chhaye kabhi saawan ki ghata". Therefore, since Mukesh too had scored in the same "Reshmi Roomal" through "Gardish mein ho taare", there was no reason for Babul to switch to Rafi when he came to scoring "Naqli Nawaab" on the same Manoj Kumar. Yet Babul did switch to Rafi. And somewhere at the back of his mind, Rafi must have known that, in Babul's recording room, the competition was with Talat, Mukesh and Manna Dey alike. Therefore regardless of the fact that he was now being paid only Rs 200 for each song in "Naqli Nawab", Rafi came up, for Babul, with such heart-stealers as "Tum poochhte ho ishq bala hai ke nahin hai" and "Allah jaane maula jaane". Nor was Rafi's best reserved for just Babul, who had broken away from the team of Bipin-Babul. Rafi produced for Bipin (Datta) too, in "Yeh Bambai Hai" the N53097 two sided hit: "Yeh bambai shehar ka bada naam hai". Likewise, G.S. Kohli never rose above the B-grade film. Yet, given the aid of Rafi's vocals, Kohli was able to come up, in "Lambe Haath", with an all-time hit, for our super-patriotic Vividh Bharathi, in the form of "Pyaar ki raah dikha duniya ko". The message in this "Lambe Haath" hit, "Tum mein hi koyi Gautam honga tum mein hi koyi Gandhi", remains distinctly RAFIan. G. S. Kohli was at least a name that appeared on the banner of half a dozen films. But Dulal Sen, you saw his name on the banner of only one film: "Black Prince". Yet even in that one film, what depth of feeling Rafi brought to the rendition of Dulal Sen's "Nigahen na phero chale haayenge hum", as put over by Rafi for Dulal Sen in "Black Prince", that lingers in Radio Ceylon memory. It was Shivkumar Saroj, the sensitive Radio Ceylon announcer, who drew our attention first to the tuning artistry of another modest composer: C Arjun. When I met C Arjun much later, he told me that he felt very proud that he had at least created a ghazal that could come somewhere near a Madan Mohan composition. "I wanted special attention to this my coveted ghazal from my singer but all good singers available were bigger than the film for which I had composed it!" revealed Arjun. "It was with great hesitation, therefore, that I approached Rafi Saab to render my ghazal, so feelingly written by Indivar. And Rafi Saab, without bothering about the small payment we were in a position to make, said it was one of the best ghazals that had fallen to his lot and he would give it everything that he had." Rafi certainly gave that C Arjun ghazal everything he had, that is how it came over to us "Paas baitho tabiyat behal jaayegi maut bhi aa gayi to hal jaayegi" in "Punarmilan". This ghazal proves, if proof is needed, that no composer was too small for Rafi as long as the composition was great. After all, who were Lala-Asad-Sattar but three instrumentalists who had turned music directors. Yet for even such a stunt trio trying to combine as a music director team, Rafi proved a salvation with such a surpassingly lovely solo in Sangram as: "Main to tere ha- seen khayalon mein kho gaya". To help every little composer trying to gain a toe-hold in the quicksands of filmdom was Rafi's singing philosophy. Sapan- Jagmohan, as a duo, got their break in Sadashiv Row Kavi's "Be- gaana", with Suprita Chowdhury. It was Sapan-Jagmohan's first film and the two had to show spot results to make headway. Jagmohan (of this team) had sung 10 years earlier, in Kishore Sahu's "Hamlet", the hit duet with Rafi: "Ghir ghir aaye badarvaa re kaare". On the strength of this connection, Jagmohan (Bakshi) approached Rafi to render what Sapan-Jagmohan felt was their prize composition in "Begaana". And Rafi made this prize compo- sition unforgettable as one he could by articulating it as "Phir woh bhooli si yaad aayee hai". Remember, "Phir woh bhooli si yaad aayee hai" was just a good composition in the hands of Sapan-Jagmohan. It was left to Rafi to immortalise it as Sapan- Jagmohan's best ever composition by rendering it in a style no singer could excel. Annu's father Sardar Maalik, though highly talented, never made it to the big league. "Bachpan" therefore was just another pulp film for which Sardar Maalik was scoring the music. And it would have been forgotten as just another potboiler churned out by our industry, but for Rafi, under Sardar's baton, arrested our atten- tion with "Mujhe tum se mohabbat hai magar main keh nahin sakta". The tune came first, the money after, in the case of Rafi. But for the instinctually generous way in which Rafi adjusted his charges for the small composer, we would have not got, in his voice, from Iqbal Quraishi "Subah na aaye shaam na aaye" (from "Cha Cha Cha"), not from Sonik-Omi "Dono ne kiya tha pyaar magar mujhe yaad raha tu bhool gayi meri" (from "Mahua"). In the rare film in which Prem Dhavan doubled as song writer and song composer, like in "Pavitra Papi", Rafi came up with a memor- able hit for him like: "Allah hi Allah kar pyare Allah hi Allah". The Rafi touch it could turn any disc into gold! == |
Pradeep |
Feb 11 2005, 06:03 PM
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#29
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Dedicated Member Group: Admin Posts: 6844 Joined: 20-October 03 Member No.: 2 |
Thanks Uttam. The article is also available at this location: http://www.mohdrafi.com/articles/newspaper...0&title=Rafiana
Voice of a million souls is my fav. article. Its available here: http://www.mohdrafi.com/articles/web/load....a+million+souls kuch bhi nahin hai tera mol, boli na badi bol, khilona tu maati ka...
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usrafian |
Mar 4 2005, 05:35 PM
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#30
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2707 Joined: 3-March 05 Member No.: 1776 |
Dear Pradeepji,
Followings are my thoughts only. Where are Proof Readers? [I have no intension to heart anyone’s sentiments, if any such things happens, please forgive me. ] Honestly, have a look in below mentioned three era’s & justify… 1-Pre Rafi Era 2-Rafi Era 3-Pro Rafi Era 1- Pre Rafi Era, very respectable personalities were there & were (& still) idol of all great , new/old singers (including Rafi) eg. K.L.Shegal, Jagmohan, GMDurani, ShyamKumar etc. They were institutes in themselves & they were capable enough to sung difficult song effortlessly. Doubtlessly, even today, their many songs are matchless. CONCLUSION : In that era arts, dedications & Scholars of sugam/classical/semi-classical sangeet were there but their impact on common people was minimum, in other words, it was on handful people only. Ghazals, Sher-O-Shayeri, Nazm etc were there but its influence & impact on common people was negiligble. Common people was least bothered about the subject. 2-Rafi Era…When Rafi came on dais…. he came, he saw,…. (one sentence is enough, but would love to say some more about this era). Common people who were not having any knowledge about music suddenly became disciples/master of the subject. They started searching about Raag, about Sher-O-Shairee, about Ghazals/Najm, about classical/semi classical/sugam sangeet. Suddenly B&W world changed to Eastman Colour, 35mm celluloid screen of life become cinemascope, Sell of Radios/Transistors reached to its peak height, worried, hollowed & faint light eyes become shining with welcome look, pale faces turned pinky with permanent smile on it. Life become cheerful. In real sense first time ‘Dil dhadka’. Whether it is a journey in train or in bus every one was busy singing, internally. Some people became so much involved that they forget the surrounding & internal situation turned external, due to strange looks of nearby people vice-versa and after some time vice-versa, it goes on & on. Saying ’….khud ko Rafi samajh raha hai’ become famous & common and is true also because as long as voice do not comes out of throat it is 100% of Rafi’s Voice when it comes out it may sound different (who cares). I guarantee, just hear Rafi Songs for 20 to 30 days & you will become full of confidence for singing. Such was the impact of his songs that there were lots of ‘Tootey Dil wale’, ‘Jude Dil Waale’, , Shayerana-Andaaz waale, Aashiq-Mizaz, Dil-Faink, Gumnaam, Badnaam, Neknaam, khyaali-Masuqa ke Aashik, Apni Heer ko dhundte Ranjhe, Fakirana Andaaz waale, Kisse Love-letters ke, etc etc etc . [These are different form of love] In one sentence, LOVE WAS IN AIR. Blindly, pick-up any song of Rafi, it is pure like Ganga-jal & clear like crystal , no vurgality, no ill-feelings, non damaging. When he sings, dead words becomes alive, meaning-less words becomes full of meanings and travels straight to the bottom of heart, shacking it to break the tense rope & forcing it to generate fresh blood bubbles. That’s why during his era BP generated disease were minimum. Even now , Rafians are untouchable for such disease. CONCLUSION : Mere Dil ki Duniya mein abhi bhi Rafi Era chal raha hai that’s why NOT CONCLUDED. [and it will be go on till my last breath] 3- Pro Rafi Era For this I would like to write conclusion only. CONCLUSION :- Na vo hushn mein rahi shokhiyan, na vo ishq mein rahi garmiyaan Na to aah mein vo tadap rahi , na vo khum hai julf-e-aayaz mein. usrafian Dil Shaad Tha Ke Phool Khilenge Bahaar Mein
Maaraa Gaya Garib Isee Aitbaar Mein |
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