By Cassam Uteem
On the occasion of the birth centenary of the legendary Indian singer, Muhammad RAFI, Rama Poonoosamy’s IMMEDIA organized a well-attended Tribute Concert Gala at the Caudan Arts Centre on the evening of 24th November 2024. The Concert, under the musical direction of Ashvin Jodhun, brought together some of the finest and most talented artists and musicians, with as lead singers Vishal Mungroo, Bilal Lallmahomed and Dinesh Cootnah together with Varsharanee Bissessur and Vani Tirvengadum for a couple of successful duets. Entitled ‘An Evening with RAFI’, the Concert, with the lively rendering of the unforgettable superhit songs of the Indian cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, was for many of us a nostalgia trip down memory lane.
Muhammad Rafi was one of the most iconic playback singers in the history of Indian cinema. He was born on December 24,1924, in Amritsar, Punjab and passed away on July 31, 1980, at the age of 55. His untimely death was a huge loss to the Indian music
industry and left fans, fellow musicians and artists devastated. His death marked the end of an era in Bollywood playback singing but his songs have continued to be celebrated and his legacy endures through his timeless music and inimitable voice.
Rafi was a versatile singer, widely regarded as one of the greatest vocalists in the history of Hindi music. His singing style spanned multiple genres, making him adaptable to various types of songs and musical compositions. His voice had the ability to adapt to different emotions and musical styles – classical, ghazals, romantic songs, qawwalis, bhajans. He excelled in all genres. One of his defining features was the emotional depth in his singing. He had the exceptional ability to convey the emotions of a song through his voice,whether it was love, sorrow, joy or patriotism.
As a playback singer, Rafi’s voice was often used to represent the on-screen emotions and personality of leading actors. He sang for star actors across multiple generations, including Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor and later Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor, among others, moulding his voice to suit different actors’ personae and adjusting his vocal timbre to match the actor’s style, making the songs feel personalized for the performer.
Muhammad Rafi won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer, in 1957, for his songs in the film Naya Daur, featuring Dilip Kumar and Madhubala and in 1967 won the prestigious Filmfare Award for the song “Chaudhvin Ka Chand Ho” from the Movie Chaudvin Ka Chand. This song showed Rafi’s unparalleled skill and ability to evoke deep emotions in a song and was indeed a high point in his career, affirming his dominance in the Bollywood playback singing world.
An Evening with Rafi musically confirmed all the good things people thought of our local artists as the especially crafted orchestra kept happily emulating the major music directors and composers like Naushad, S.D. Burman and Shankar Jaikishan with whom Rafi worked the emotive delivery of our singers reminded us of some of the timeless songs in Muhammad Rafi’s repertoire with albeit a strong bias in favour of light romantic songs especially made to please Shammi Kapoor’s fans! Actually, the 28 odd songs chosen were a good mix of the various musical genres and, if I personally missed some of the more classical songs of Rafi like those that he sang in the film Baijoo Bawra. I especially relished the ones like Chaudhvin Ka Chand, Jab Bhi Yeh Dil Udas, Tu Iss Tarah, Parda Hai Parda and so many others. A special mention for the exquisite rendering of Dil Ke Jharoke with the superb voice of Vishal Mungroo, accompanied by accomplished musicians like Kenneth Babajie on the piano, Jade Pandhoo playing the violin, Sahil Gobin the mandolin, Outam Laulsah the octopad, Nishal Boojhawon the tabla, Vicky Munisamy the drums, Ravin Sowamber the saxophone, Rakesh Ramasamy the bass guitar, Kushraj Pydegadu the dholak, Januv Bhantooa the guitar, Avinash Ramdahin and Ashvin Jodhun on the keyboards.
Hosted by a sparkling Kamini Bubooa, the whole show was close to perfect and did not fall short of our expectations. Rama Poonoosamy whetted our appetite as, closing the Evening with Rafi, he promised more such cultural events from IMMEDIA in the coming year.
