Some Less Heard Gems of Mohammad Rafi – The Sad Romantic Solos: 1940s through 50s

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav wishing everyone a very Happy Valentine Day with Rafi’s sad romantic solos, extending his centenary celebrations

(Ashok M Vaishnav had sent this article for Rafi centenary celebrations in the calendar year 2024. But with series on Kalyanji-Anadnji and Usha Khanna added in, I could not squeeze this article in 2024. But Rafi’s oeuvre is limitless. Ashokji had earlier written a guest article in the Centenary Series titled Some Hidden Gems of Mohammad Rafi: The Romantic Solos. That was without any emphasis on their underlying mood. If you go over that article and hear those songs, their mood is neutral or happy. In the present article the emphasis is on ‘sad’ romantic solos. He further focuses on the 1940s and 1950s during which Ashokji located several hidden gems of Rafi that were sad romantic solos. Thus this is a companion article to his earlier article in the series. Ashokji was very understanding of my scheduling difficulties and agreed if it was published in 2025.

Valentine Day now has become a day of rejoicing. But romance is often very poignant, therefore, today seems to be the most befitting day for this article. Ashokji has gone great lengths to select less less heard songs for his post. In the process we are treated to some real hidden gems of Rafi. Wishing everyone a very melodious Valentine Day with this guest article by Ashokji.

A retired engineer, Ashokji is an avid fan of Rafi and a prolific guest writer on this blog. He is based out of Ahmedabad. Thank you Ashokji for another nice article from your pen. – AK)    

While working on Mohammad Rafi’s solo songs from the 1940s and 1950s, I was able to locate more sad songs from various music directors. In fact, by 1950, Mohammad Rafi had already recorded several universally popular romantic duets and solo sad songs, like Yahan badla wafa ka bewafai ke siva kya hai (Jugnu, 1947, with Noor Jehan – Music: Firoz Nizami), Ek dil ke tukade hazar hue (Pyar Ki Jeet, 1948 – Music: Husnlal Bhagatram) and Suhani raat dhal chuki na jaane tum kab aaoge (Dulari, 1949 – Music: Naushad). As can be expected in any typical normal distribution curve, there were both sad and happy romantic songs that could be considered “too obscure”. However, many songs have also been quite popular.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Book Review: “And The Music Lives On”

And The Music Lives On Author: Manek Premchand Publisher: Norton Press, India, October 2024 ISBN (Paperback): 979-8-89588-290-0 Price (Amazon): ₹539 (Paperback); ₹269 (Kindle Edition) Pages: 417 Manek Premchand is a well-known name to SOY readers as a writer of many books on old film music. I have reviewed his several books on this forum. WhenREAD THE FULL ARTICLE

Classical Songs of Mohammad Rafi, With Some Thoughts on Gara

Guest article by Subodh C Agrawal

(My friend Subodh Agrawal is a great lover of music, he wields a fluent pen, and knows a good deal about classical music. Being among the earliest ones to be a part of SOY journey, he had accepted my request to write a series on film songs based on classical raags. It is difficult to believe that once upon a time he was an active contributor to the Songs Of Yore. For the last few years, he has been in hibernation, his only excuse being he was not feeling like writing anything. His last guest article for SOY was more than four years ago. I am happy that Rafi’s centenary has woken him up from his deep slumber.

For newcomers to the SOY, Subodh is from UP, worked in Punjab and Delhi, and after retirement, is settled at Chandigarh.

Subodh writes on a serious subject with a light touch which you see in his very first sentence. In fact the subject line in his mail mentioned, Kumbhkarn has woken up! The article was too late to be scheduled in the 2024, but it was too good to be left out. Some more Rafi-fans also had sent me their tributes somewhat late, hence I am pleased to extend the Rafi centenary celebrations. Thank you, Subodh for finally giving this pleasant surprise. – AK)

The birth centenary of Mohammad Rafi (December 24, 2024) has pulled me out of my Kumbhkarn like slumber. I don’t even remember when I contributed my last article to this platform. My apologies to those who expected more from me. Hopefully this article will make up for the delay.

When one thinks of classical songs by male singers in Hindi films, Manna Dey’s name automatically springs to mind – and rightly so. He has given us some of the greatest classical based songs: ‘Poochho na kaise maine rain bitaayee’, ‘Laga chunari mein daag’, ‘Jhanak jhanak tori baaje payaliya’ to name just a few. However, the classical songs of Rafi are no less. His name is not so easily identified with classical songs because of his amazingly wide range. The songs in the list below show that he was not lacking in the skill needed to do full justice to classical ragas.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Where is the mukhada gone, where is antara gone?

Where is the mukhada gone, where is antara gone? For most of the history of Hindi film songs they did not go anywhere, they remained rooted where they were supposed to be. The classic structure of our songs was a mukhada with a catchy tune and refrain. This was followed by interlude music and two or three antaras with different tunes from the mukhada. Each antara would end with a connector line which would neatly segue into the mukhada/refrain.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Book Review: R. D. Burman: The Man, The Music

The book review as a tribute to RD Burman (27.6.1939-4.1.1994) on his 31st Remembrance Day

R. D. Burman: The Music, The Man
Authors: Anirudha Bhattacharjee & Balaji Vittal
Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2011
ISBN: 978-93-5029-049-1
Pages: 342+24 (Index, Acknowledgements)
Price: Amazon (Paperback): ₹399

I have to admit I am an R. D. Burman-skeptic; in fact, I belong to the cohort which considers RD Burman too loud, and responsible for destroying the melody of the Golden Era of music making. Yet I have no hesitation in saying that “R. D. Burman: The Music, The Man” is an outstanding book. The authors are unabashed fans of RD Burman, yet the book is not too hagiographic. They declare they didn’t want to write a biography either. But while discussing RD Burman’s music, they discuss the man too, and it has everything you expect from a good biography. The book is written in a lucid style, and is full of interesting trivia about songs, films and related things. They know a good deal about technical aspects of music, I find on Amazon reviews someone was put off by the technical details. I am illiterate in music, but I am not put off. I have become the authors’ admirers, at least they know what they are saying. That is not to say they have made me an RDB-convert. Then why this review at all?

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Rafi’s duets with different music directors over the years

A tribute to Rafi with his duets concluding his centenary celebrations (24 December 1924 to 31 July 1980) and wishing Merry Christmas to all

Rafi would have been a hundred years old today. His life was cut short at a young age of 56 years, but in this short span he gave joy to millions of music lovers all over the world and established himself as the undisputed most versatile male playback singer. I greeted the new year 2024 with a tribute to Rafi with his solos from A to Z. That was about his solos starting with different letters of alphabets (25 songs with ‘X’ not feasible). That gave ample idea of his diversity, but with the emphasis on alphabets there was some imbalance in music directors. Since my selection was spontaneous, i.e. I put in my most favourite song starting with a particular alphabet that first came to my mind, some music directors were overrepresented, and a great music director, SD Burman, was inadvertently left out. Some readers rightly pointed out this omission.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

SAFARNAMA: In Pursuit of Two Iconic Lives

A Journey with Dilip Kumar (11th December 1922 – 7th July 2021) and Mohammed Rafi (24th December 1924 – 31st July 1980)

Guest article by N Venkataraman in the series of Centenary Celebrations of Rafi with his songs for Dilip Kumar on his 102nd Birth Anniversary

(Dilip Kumar is the undisputed thespian of acting. Rafi is unarguably the most versatile singer. He became identified with the voice of many heroes. No wonder he also became the voice of Dilip Kumar, with Naushad as the admirer of both and the music director in a succession of their films. Surprising, because Naushad came wholesale to Rafi quite late in the day. Dilip Kumar is known to have asked for Talat Mahmood as his voice in some early 50s’ films. Naushad himself used Mukesh as the voice of Dilip Kumar with great success in ‘Mela’ (1948) and ‘Andaaz’ (1949). Mukesh was his voice in some more films under the baton of other music directors.

Thus, if you were on a journey with Dilip Kumar, it was not obvious that Rafi would become identified as his voice, helmed by the great Naushad. Today happens to be the 102nd birth anniversary of Dilip Kumar. Venkataramanji takes us on a fascinating journey of the two maestros in tandem as only he could. Originally from South India, he is based out of Kolkata and is a polymath in the quintessential Bengali bhadralok tradition. Thanks a lot Venkataramanji for this double treat of 102nd birth anniversary tribute to Dilip Kumar and a tribute to Rafi in the series of his centenary celebrations. – AK)

Once upon a time, in the bustling city of Peshawar, there lived a well-bred, energetic, handsome teenager, who was one of the beloved sons of his parents and the light of his family. He was oblivious of where his destiny was leading him to. Roughly 400 kms away, another young boy, a radiant soul, lived in a sleepy village near Amritsar, who possessed a heart of gold, an infectious smile and tenderness. He cherished to conquer the world with his god-gifted melody. Both of them embarked upon a captivating journey, one in pursuit of an unknown destiny and the other in pursuit of his cherished dream, traversing the landscapes of life in the process with grace and determination.  This Safarnama unfolds on a prestigious train, echoing their splendid and eventful future. The Frontier Mail is about leave the Peshawar station and let me jump in to make it my Safarnama too. To waltz through the ups and downs of their journey I am inviting everyone to make it a part of OUR journey, with a caveat that it is going to be a long haul and an exhaustive one too. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Best songs of 1941: Wrap Up 4

And the SOY Award for the Best Music Director of 1941 goes to?

We are now coming to the end of the review of the best songs of 1941. After the Overview Post, Wrap Up 1 of the best male solos, Wrap UP 2 of the best female solos and Wrap Up 3 of the best duets, we can now take a holistic view of the best songs of 1941 and discuss who deserves to be anointed the Best Music Director of the Year.

While the Vintage Era was characterised by a large percentage of unknown songs, some films and their songs became everlasting. Doctor was one such landmark film with actor-singer-music director Pankaj Mullick giving his best. RC Boral with Lagan starring KL Saigal and Kanan Devi was another film with superb music. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Kalyanji-Anandji 2.0: Their best songs for ‘other’ male singers

After I had covered the best songs of Kalyanji-Anandji for Mukesh and Rafi, I once browsed through their songs for ‘other’ male singers for a lark. I was amazed to find an enormous variety of singers they had chosen. Though all the songs were well-known it had not registered in my mind instantly. The result was a post on Kalyanji-Anandji’s best songs for ‘other’ male singers. That was, of course, KA1.0 (up to 1970).READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Kalyanji-Anandji 2.0 and Kishore Kumar: Made for each other

I had written my first post on Kalyanji-Anandji about ten years ago on their best songs for Mukesh and had titled it “Made for each other”. I used that phrase studiedly because that was my instinctive feeling. Nudging by a reader made me explore their more songs – for Rafi, Other male singers, and Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers in the current year. I now discover that he composed more than twice the songs for Rafi as he did for Mukesh. But I still hold on to “Made for each other” tag for KA-Mukesh. All this discussion was limited to the 50s and 60s.READ THE FULL ARTICLE