Best songs of Rafi

Rafi’s best songs by Madan Mohan

A tribute to Rafi on his 38th death anniversary (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980)

Rafi-Madan MohanSix years ago to this day, I wrote on the best songs of Rafi by Roshan. Roshan for me was among the big four, with Naushad, SD Burman and OP Nayyar, who gave the best songs for Rafi. Later, I added a fifth seat for Shankar-Jaikshan at the high table. I also mentioned that next in line would be, what we may call, the middle group consisting of Chitragupta, Ravi and Madan Mohan and, thereafter, several others, including some unknown, forgotten composers who gave some unforgettable songs for Rafi. We have already discussed some in the series on Forgotten Composers, such as C Arjun’s Paas baitho tabiyat bahal jayegi, or Lachchiram’s Tu shokh kali main mast pawan and Sab jawan sab haseen. Thanks to DP Rangan doing the tandem post on Roshan-Madan Mohan, it is a coincidence that I am writing on Madan Mohan-Rafi combination after I have covered the Big Five.

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My favourite Rafi songs by Shankar-Jaikshan

A tribute to Rafi on his 36th death anniversary (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980)

Shankar-Jaikishan with RafiRafi is arguably the best male playback singer of Hindi films, and Shankar-Jaikishan are, by any yardstick, among the greatest music directors. In any case they have been commercially the most successful and dominant figure over two decades (1950s-60s). Therefore, one would expect that any compilation of Rafi’s greatest songs would have a good number of SJ compositions. However, when I think of the best of Rafi, SJ do not pop up in my mind instantly. At the top in my reckoning are Naushad, Roshan, SD Burman and OP Nayyar, followed by a platter of Madan Mohan, Ravi, Chitragupta and Khayyam; thereafter, an assortment of Ghulam Mohammad, Hansraj Bahal, Husnlal-Bhagatram, and even ‘Forgotten Composers’ such as C Arjun, Lachchiram, Iqbal Qureshi etc. Surely, SJ cannot be dismissed in such a peremptory manner. To make sure that I was not missing something, I went through the entire list of Rafi songs closely.

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OP Nayyar’s quintessential Rafi

A tribute to OP Nayyar on his 8th death anniversary January 28 (January 16, 1926 – January 28, 2007)

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OP Nayyar with RafiI read a comment somewhere that OP Nayyar rescued Rafi from the staid classicism of Naushad. I ignore the sarcasm targeted at my favourite Naushad, but it underscores the fact that no one was more antithetical to him than OP Nayyar. Every other great rival of Naushad had one thing common with him: Lata Mangeshkar – she gave voice to their greatest creations. OP Nayyar is the only one who could reach the top in spite of shunning her completely. And for this reason, I was not very fond of his music, until I started noticing his Rafi songs. They are the polar opposite of Naushad, but they are awesome, and we are lucky that OP Nayyar happened, bringing out an entirely different facet of Rafi. Naushad had a solid training in classical music, OP Nayyar had none, his music was instinctive. While Naushad oozed Lakhnavi nafasat, OP Nayyar personified Punjabi brashness – this also reflected in their music.

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Rafi’s best songs by SD Burman

A tribute on Rafi’s death anniversary July 31

SD Burman & Md RafiThere is one thing common between Mohammad Rafi and SD Burman. If Rafi was the most versatile singer, SD Burman was the most versatile composer. He is the only music director who can claim to have composed equally great music with Rafi as with Kishore Kumar, his two main singers. There were also films in which he used the voice of Hemant Kumar for Dev Anand, when he composed unparalleled songs like Ye raat ye chandni phir kahan. And whenever he used Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood and Mukesh, he created songs which became landmarks of their career.

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