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Mohammed Rafi: God's Own Voice
Overview
Before Mohammed Rafi there were, probably, none and after him only two great singers—this succinctly describes the legendary singer of four decades whose rise to stardom was phenomenal. Indeed, Rafi was bigger than many of the stars who lip-synced to his golden voice.
For a man who came from a rather humble and conservative background, it was his hard work, natural talent and saintly nature that made him stride like Colossus in an industry known for its crass, commercial values.
Before the writers embarked on this historic journey of encapsulating this simple man’s history and career—the stuff folklores are made of—they were well aware of the magnitude of the task. Thirty-five years after his death, Rafi’s popularity keeps growing, and each day one gets to hear new anecdotes about his prowess as a singer and his nobility as a human being.
Years of painstaking research and experience have gone into the compilation of this book, but it cannot be said to be complete by any stretch of the imagination. Apart from mentioning the 7,000 plus songs he sang and hundreds of shows he performed at home and abroad, the authors have tried to piece together a spellbinding account of Rafi's professional pilgrimage.
The biographers feel humbled and rewarded to chronicle a personality rightly acknowledged as among the 'Best 50 Indians' ever born. This is the first time a book has delved into the stupendous life and times of a titan in such comprehensive depth.
About the Authors
A fountainhead of creative writing, Raju Korti is a dedicated, resourceful and innovative media professional who has been in the industry for over 33 years. He began his long career with The Hindu, followed by a stint with The Indian Express, Free Press Journal and Daily News and Analysis (DNA) newspapers.
Writer, journalist and media consultant, Dhirendra Jain had his grounding in film journalism from Raipur in Chhattisgarh. His book Sunehre Pal won an award from the prestigious Maharashtra State Hindi Sahitya Akademi, Mumbai. His wide experience in film journalism and PR makes him privy to countless incidents and anecdotes.
Before Mohammed Rafi there were, probably, none and after him only two great singers—this succinctly describes the legendary singer of four decades whose rise to stardom was phenomenal. Indeed, Rafi was bigger than many of the stars who lip-synced to his golden voice.
For a man who came from a rather humble and conservative background, it was his hard work, natural talent and saintly nature that made him stride like Colossus in an industry known for its crass, commercial values.
Before the writers embarked on this historic journey of encapsulating this simple man’s history and career—the stuff folklores are made of—they were well aware of the magnitude of the task. Thirty-five years after his death, Rafi’s popularity keeps growing, and each day one gets to hear new anecdotes about his prowess as a singer and his nobility as a human being.
Years of painstaking research and experience have gone into the compilation of this book, but it cannot be said to be complete by any stretch of the imagination. Apart from mentioning the 7,000 plus songs he sang and hundreds of shows he performed at home and abroad, the authors have tried to piece together a spellbinding account of Rafi's professional pilgrimage.
The biographers feel humbled and rewarded to chronicle a personality rightly acknowledged as among the 'Best 50 Indians' ever born. This is the first time a book has delved into the stupendous life and times of a titan in such comprehensive depth.
About the Authors
A fountainhead of creative writing, Raju Korti is a dedicated, resourceful and innovative media professional who has been in the industry for over 33 years. He began his long career with The Hindu, followed by a stint with The Indian Express, Free Press Journal and Daily News and Analysis (DNA) newspapers.
Writer, journalist and media consultant, Dhirendra Jain had his grounding in film journalism from Raipur in Chhattisgarh. His book Sunehre Pal won an award from the prestigious Maharashtra State Hindi Sahitya Akademi, Mumbai. His wide experience in film journalism and PR makes him privy to countless incidents and anecdotes.
364 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2016
3 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 2, 2018
I am an avid listener of Rafi Sahab’s songs. Reading this book was like a blessing bestowed upon. Composer Naushad once said that every playback singer must have seven qualities, but Rafi Sahab had the eighth quality which made him the greatest among all the singers. The seven qualities are-
1- Good Voice.
2- Classical Training.
3- Diction.
4- Voice Modulation.
5- Expression
6- Clarity in Base Voice
7- Sur (Diapason)
The eighth quality was that he was a very good man, somewhat like of an Angelic demeanor.
Rafi was born on December 24th, 1924 in a nondescript hamlet Kotla Sultan Singh, in a remote rural area of Amritsar, Punjab. Punjab must be proud of the fact that it gave two singing stars, the first was K. L. Saigal (Kundan Lal Saigal) and the second, Mohammed Rafi. Rafi’s education was basically confined to reading and writing Urdu in Persian script. In his childhood, Rafi loved to graze cattle and to listen Mirasis (A community of Muslims who used to sing folk songs in semi-classical tone). This was the first inspiration of singing for him. He practiced it and became the singing star of the village.
Well, he had never thought to be a singer. To create better living condition for the family, his father decided to go Lahore, the then capital of Punjab, in 1941. He opened a dhaba there. After some time, he called Rafi also from the village to help him in cooking and serving. Now the customers there started to enjoy Rafi’s singing with good food. One day, Jivan Lal Mattoo, the programme executive of music at AIR, Lahore passed by the hair cutting saloon and listened young Rafi’s enchanting voice. He instantly liked it, stopped and paused for a while then entered in the dhaba. He asked a surprised Rafi if he was interested in becoming a radio singer. In March 1943, Rafi gave the audition test at AIR, Lahore and passed it. Now he was a radio artiste. After six months, an emerging film music director Shyam Sundar requested Rafi to sing a song, “ Soniye ni, Hiriye ni, Teri Yad ne Sataya” for his Punjabi film Gul Baloch. He did full justice to the song and it also opened the gates of playback singing for him.
Rafi moved from Lahore to Bombay in 1945. After singing some unpopular songs, he got the big break in Dileep Kumar-Noorjahan starrer Jugnu in 1946. The movie was a massive hit. When K.L.Saigal died in 18th January, 1947, it also came like an opportunity to Rafi, because Saigal was like a banyan tree in singing where no other singer could grow to potential under his shadow. Till the Independence, Rafi was a house-hold name in the country. Many muslim singers went Pakistan during the partition, but Rafi decided to live in India.
It was composer Pandit HusnLal-BhagatRam who started to groom Rafi in early 1948 for the playback singing along with Suraiya. Later when Lata Mangeshkar came in their contact, they preferred Lata over Suraiya. The songs, “ Ik Dil Ke Tukde Hazar Hue, Koi Yaha Gira Koi Waha Gira” and, “ Suno Suno Ae Duniyawalo Bapu Ki Ye Amar Kahani” made Rafi famous in the whole Indian Subcontinent. The rest is the history.
Rafi sang for 243 music directors almost. Either a virtuoso or a newcomer, every music director was his Master. He called his music directors “Master Ji”. The book is full of his benevolent anecdotes when he often helped new music directors to establish in the industry.
.
For reading the full review, go the link http://raviprkas.blogspot.com/2018/09...
1- Good Voice.
2- Classical Training.
3- Diction.
4- Voice Modulation.
5- Expression
6- Clarity in Base Voice
7- Sur (Diapason)
The eighth quality was that he was a very good man, somewhat like of an Angelic demeanor.
Rafi was born on December 24th, 1924 in a nondescript hamlet Kotla Sultan Singh, in a remote rural area of Amritsar, Punjab. Punjab must be proud of the fact that it gave two singing stars, the first was K. L. Saigal (Kundan Lal Saigal) and the second, Mohammed Rafi. Rafi’s education was basically confined to reading and writing Urdu in Persian script. In his childhood, Rafi loved to graze cattle and to listen Mirasis (A community of Muslims who used to sing folk songs in semi-classical tone). This was the first inspiration of singing for him. He practiced it and became the singing star of the village.
Well, he had never thought to be a singer. To create better living condition for the family, his father decided to go Lahore, the then capital of Punjab, in 1941. He opened a dhaba there. After some time, he called Rafi also from the village to help him in cooking and serving. Now the customers there started to enjoy Rafi’s singing with good food. One day, Jivan Lal Mattoo, the programme executive of music at AIR, Lahore passed by the hair cutting saloon and listened young Rafi’s enchanting voice. He instantly liked it, stopped and paused for a while then entered in the dhaba. He asked a surprised Rafi if he was interested in becoming a radio singer. In March 1943, Rafi gave the audition test at AIR, Lahore and passed it. Now he was a radio artiste. After six months, an emerging film music director Shyam Sundar requested Rafi to sing a song, “ Soniye ni, Hiriye ni, Teri Yad ne Sataya” for his Punjabi film Gul Baloch. He did full justice to the song and it also opened the gates of playback singing for him.
Rafi moved from Lahore to Bombay in 1945. After singing some unpopular songs, he got the big break in Dileep Kumar-Noorjahan starrer Jugnu in 1946. The movie was a massive hit. When K.L.Saigal died in 18th January, 1947, it also came like an opportunity to Rafi, because Saigal was like a banyan tree in singing where no other singer could grow to potential under his shadow. Till the Independence, Rafi was a house-hold name in the country. Many muslim singers went Pakistan during the partition, but Rafi decided to live in India.
It was composer Pandit HusnLal-BhagatRam who started to groom Rafi in early 1948 for the playback singing along with Suraiya. Later when Lata Mangeshkar came in their contact, they preferred Lata over Suraiya. The songs, “ Ik Dil Ke Tukde Hazar Hue, Koi Yaha Gira Koi Waha Gira” and, “ Suno Suno Ae Duniyawalo Bapu Ki Ye Amar Kahani” made Rafi famous in the whole Indian Subcontinent. The rest is the history.
Rafi sang for 243 music directors almost. Either a virtuoso or a newcomer, every music director was his Master. He called his music directors “Master Ji”. The book is full of his benevolent anecdotes when he often helped new music directors to establish in the industry.
.
For reading the full review, go the link http://raviprkas.blogspot.com/2018/09...
August 8, 2016
A Nice Read for the Rafi Fans and Music Historians
As the sub-title of this book suggests, the book narrates an illustrated story of making of "God's Own Voice" in a subtle gentleman Mohammed Rafi. Rafi was born on 24 December 1924 to a working-class family in rural Punjab near Amritsar. While his family shifted to Lahore to run a small salon, his talent in music made him landing in Bombay to learn classical music, and pursue a career of a musician and film playback singer. He began with singing for radio stations. During the formative years of his career in the 1940s, he lent his voices to All India Radio as well as to Hindi film industry in Bombay. His life became a 'rags-to-riches' story, however, "like most singers who made it to the national consciousness, Rafi toiled by the sweat of his brow, never ever losing the larger focus" (p. 26). At the outset, the authors Raju Korti and Dhirendra Jain, make us understand Rafi’s larger focus, which was to become the voice that mesmerized millions. But, the journey to becoming an evergreen voice of Bollywood was not that smooth, rather rocky due to a fair amount of competition among the talents in the film industry. However, "by mid-1947, Rafi had become a household name in Hindi-speaking North India" (p. 33). His journey to eternity explores the multilingual singing talents of him, touching hearts of millions of Indians by singing in their vernaculars such as in Assamese, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Odia, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu, Magahi, Maithili and Urdu. The book also throws lights on his intimate professional friendship with the contemporary music directors and playback singers such as Kishore Kumar, Sachin Dev Burman, Rahul Dev Burman, Lata Mangeshkar, Shankar-Jaikishan, and Asha Bhosle. The book also explores how Rafi lent his musical voices to a range of his filmy heroes in Bollywood that included Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Joy Mukherjee, Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra, Dev Anand, Biswajit, and Bharat Bhushan. In a chapter, the authors then include a memoir by Rafi’s daughter Nasreen, where she describes him a caring family man. The book in the process becomes a nice read for the Rafi fans and music historians; although an indicative listing of his famous songs could be included in the book for the younger generation of readers.
As the sub-title of this book suggests, the book narrates an illustrated story of making of "God's Own Voice" in a subtle gentleman Mohammed Rafi. Rafi was born on 24 December 1924 to a working-class family in rural Punjab near Amritsar. While his family shifted to Lahore to run a small salon, his talent in music made him landing in Bombay to learn classical music, and pursue a career of a musician and film playback singer. He began with singing for radio stations. During the formative years of his career in the 1940s, he lent his voices to All India Radio as well as to Hindi film industry in Bombay. His life became a 'rags-to-riches' story, however, "like most singers who made it to the national consciousness, Rafi toiled by the sweat of his brow, never ever losing the larger focus" (p. 26). At the outset, the authors Raju Korti and Dhirendra Jain, make us understand Rafi’s larger focus, which was to become the voice that mesmerized millions. But, the journey to becoming an evergreen voice of Bollywood was not that smooth, rather rocky due to a fair amount of competition among the talents in the film industry. However, "by mid-1947, Rafi had become a household name in Hindi-speaking North India" (p. 33). His journey to eternity explores the multilingual singing talents of him, touching hearts of millions of Indians by singing in their vernaculars such as in Assamese, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Odia, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu, Magahi, Maithili and Urdu. The book also throws lights on his intimate professional friendship with the contemporary music directors and playback singers such as Kishore Kumar, Sachin Dev Burman, Rahul Dev Burman, Lata Mangeshkar, Shankar-Jaikishan, and Asha Bhosle. The book also explores how Rafi lent his musical voices to a range of his filmy heroes in Bollywood that included Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Joy Mukherjee, Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra, Dev Anand, Biswajit, and Bharat Bhushan. In a chapter, the authors then include a memoir by Rafi’s daughter Nasreen, where she describes him a caring family man. The book in the process becomes a nice read for the Rafi fans and music historians; although an indicative listing of his famous songs could be included in the book for the younger generation of readers.
February 26, 2017
Who was Mohammed Rafi? Was he a great singer or was he a great human being? In his case the lines blur so very often, and, to put it simply, he was both. As a matter of fact he was not just a great singer but "The Greatest" playback singer our country has ever seen and as a person he was almost angelic in his demeanor. He was as much "the Man with a Velvet Voice" as he was the man with a Kind smile and a compassionate heart. He was the one and only- he was Mohammed Rafi. The man who ruled Hindi Film music for almost three decades with a voice that was and still is unmatchable in its range, in it's expression and in it's purity. Truly GOD's Own Voice!
This book is a delight for all Rafi fans as it explores both Mohammed Rafi the singer and the human being. Full of great stories about Rafi Sahab's life and his songs- this book is definitely a collectors' delight! Definitely recommended for all music lovers.
This book is a delight for all Rafi fans as it explores both Mohammed Rafi the singer and the human being. Full of great stories about Rafi Sahab's life and his songs- this book is definitely a collectors' delight! Definitely recommended for all music lovers.
August 31, 2016
A very fine book written beautifully and is a worthy collection
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews