August 7th, 2010

Mohammad Rafi – Part 1

When a 12 year old boy went searching for his inspiration in the Bhendi Bazar area of Mumbai, he was only doing what came naturally to millions of Indians who love Hindi film music. Admiring and worshipping Mohammed Rafi. That boy grew up to be Mahendra Kapoor, who still believes that he owes his life and love for music to Rafi. Rafi tagged along the young Mahendra to recording sessions encouraging and guiding the young aspirant.

The genial genius of Hindi playback – a kind, generous, considerate and thoughtful human being was Rafi saab. A shining example who has lit the way, blazed the trail for numerous admiring aspirants, from Mahendra Kapoor, to Anwar, Shabbir Kumar, Mohd. Aziz right down Sonu Nigam.

It’s this amazing humility that Lata Mangeshkar speaks of by mentioning `A man of unassuming temperament, Rafi Saab was very melodious. It’s my good fortune that I sang the maximum number of duets with him. He sang every kind of song so brilliantly that even those listeners not very conversant with music, would spontaneously break into appreciative wahs – wahs. Singers like Rafi Saab aren’t born everyday’.

Mohammed Rafi came from a family where humility was equated with worshipping the divine. A disciplinarian father disapproved of Rafi’s abiding passion in music but nothing could tie Rafi Saab down. When he moved to Lahore at the age of 14, from Kotta Sultan Singh village where he was born in 1924, on December 4, Rafi learnt music from classical stalwarts like Ghulam Ali Khan.

The first song that Rafi Saab sang was in Punjabi for the film Gul Baloch, a duet with Zeenat Begum `Soniye ni heeriye ni’. Composer Feroze Nizami spotted the young singer’s potential and found him a job at Radio Lahore. Feroze Nizami also composed Rafi’s first major hit `Yahan badla wafa ka’. And also in Amar Raj, where producer J.B. Wadia was so taken up with Rafi’s voice that he went looking for Rafi, because he wanted none other to sing his song.

Composers have always shared a warm rapport with the Virtuoso. Shyam Sunder who composed Rafi’s first song in Gul Baloch, gave the 25 year old aspirant as many as seven songs in the film Bazaar.

And then came the composer, largely responsible for showcasing and presenting Rafi’s awesome repertoire – Naushad Saab. Rafi’s first song for the composer was `Hindustan ke hum ham hindustan hamara’ for the film Pehle Aap in 1944.

Prophetic lyrics, for soon enough Mohd. Rafi became the voice of Hindustan, expressing the hopes and dreams, wishes and anxieties of a young nation in songs created by Naushad. In 1946, songs in Anmol Ghadi laid the bedrock for a long and enriching relationship between Rafi and Naushad.

Perhaps Rafi’s own disciplined and principled life, was responsible for Naushad promoting Rafi. Angered with Talat Mahmood, whom he found smoking during a recording, the perfectionist composer, hired Rafi on a whim and decided that he would sing all the songs of Baiju Bawra. Rafi’s gentle nature, non-smoking, teetotaller habits, his devotion to his religion and family, were perhaps in more than one way responsible for his huge success.

Naushad Saab’s pays warm and effusive tribute to Rafi by saying ‘Teri awaaz ki shabnam se dhul jati thi gham sare’. For he believed that Rafi’s voice reflected the beauties of life, and it would live through centuries as long as music lived. Naushad placed Optimum faith in young Rafi, when he was struggling to establish himself as a playback singer. Rafi started his career by imitating G.M. Durrani, the reigning male singer despite glaring differences in their respective personalities. Naushad Saab himself favored Durrani’s voice in the forties. One of the earliest songs Rafi sang for Naushad was the duet `Dildaar ki aisi taisi’ for the film Village Girl – with the then formidable G.M. Durrani.

Then came the Fifties and Naushad would compose for no other male artiste but Rafi. So much so that a few prominent singers of the time who went on to become famous in their own right, resented Naushad’s complete patronage of the young Rafi.

It is of course to the maestro’s credit that he with his keen ear recognized genius as soon as he heard Rafi. Together Naushad and Rafi rewrote the rules of film music, introducing a solid classical base in popular music.

Bollywood