My Mohammed Rafi

"MOHAMMED RAFI " I would not have known about him or about his great music if it were not for Appa. He had such huge collection of Rafi 's and old hindi ,tamil film songs.I remember the big gramaphone that we had in our house in trichy ..and the numerous number of records that we play on the gramaphone to listen to the songs

So many times , whenever amma questions him on the fortune he has made for his growing daugthers , appa would jokingly say " Look at the beautiful and infinite number of musical records and my precious gramaphone Jaya-These are the pricelss fortune that i have collected for my daugthers "

Well ..appa was rite .. !! They are priceless to me ..The music that they made me listen and the interest for good music /songs that he passed on from his gene to me .
And the most valauble asset i cherish till date is my introduction to Mohammed Rafi.

Mohammed Rafi mesmerises me ...the only this i regret about being born in 1980, is the fact that the same year took away Rafiji. How i wish i could have seen him once in my lifetime ...The more i listen to his songs , the more i fall in love with him
so many songs ..He trained us to identify Rafi's voice. Keerthi & I used to compete is telling him which one was Rafi and which was n't him ...Infact , he also made us know the great lyricts of those years ..Majrooh Sultanpuri , Sahir Ludhianvi,Shailendra ..and the best of music directors S D Burman, O P Nayyar, Ravi ,Madan Mohan , Naushad,Shankar Jaikishan,Lakshmikant pyarelal and many others of yester years ..Anyone who composed for a Rafi Song and we ought to know them .There was some sense of achievement when we answered appa coprrectly in those little quizzes he had for us when a Rafi song is being played . And how i cherish those days ...Whether appa had money or no ..He had lots of peace within himself ..I guess it was all the magic of Mohd Rafi .I feel like as if Mohd Rafi is a family member .We talk so much about him ... Even today ...i talk to my sister about Rafi songs ...i keep yacking about Rafi to my husband .

Rafi saab's songs are haunting ...like that song in the movie night in london .. "Oh My Love-Nazar na lagjaye "..That songs lingers in my mind for hours together after i listen to it ..even now when i think about it ..i can hear him sing .......

One song that i could die for is " Chand mera dil , Chandni ho tum ..Chandi se hai door ..chandhni kahan..." ...watte song .... I have tears in my eyes when is ing that song ...i feel like a man and wish i could sing it for a woman like how he did ..it is that beautiful indeed... and some of the peppy ones like "baar baar dekho" , "Yahoo ..", "Taarif karoon kya uski"," Aaj kal tere mere pyaar" and the ever melodious .. "Teri aankhon ..ehsaan tera , chaahoon ga mein thuje, jo wada kiya ho ,mein gaon tum sojaon.." ...my gosh..the list will be endless if i started to list them ..All i can say is ...he is a wonderful singer and a good humab being ...something that touched me when i read about him ...

"Rafi sang for many lesser-known composers as well. Once, when a minor composer, Nisar Bazmi (who migrated to Pakistan in early 1960s), did not have enough money to pay him, Rafi charged a fee of one rupee and sang for him"

"Rafi preferred to take one time fee for each song and that was the end of it. But in later part 1950’s Lata wanted film producers to give her a certain percentage of Film’s profit as a royalty for her songs. Rafi did not like this idea and never demanded royalty from the Film Producers"

What more can i say ..to know this great guy who is my favourite singer is too good a human too ...He ought to be as good music can only emerge from good souls and am sure you will agree after listening to "Kiya hua tera wada ...oh kasam ...oi radha"....here i enclose the song for those who dont know Rafi or have not listened to any of his songs ...Go on ..Listen and connect to your soul !!!