Rafi, a legendary versatile singer, who conquered the hearts of millions through his golden, magical, melodious and God’s own voice was born on Dec. 24, 1924 in Kotla Sultan Sing of Amritsar, Punjab, India.

He started singing as a small boy deeply inspired by the songs of a wandering fakir of his village. “Pheeko” (Rafi’s nickname) from his younger days was obsessed with music.

The ocean of talent in Rafi was recognised by Abdul Hameed (a real mentor), friend of Rafi’s elder brother, who was instrumental in motivating the young singer, encouraged and took him to Bombay. But for this gentleman, world would have missed a precious gem.

Rafi, possessing inimitable, incomparable voice, was an institution by himself. Be it a devotional song (sukh ke sub saathi), romantic song (Tumsa nahin dekha), patriotic song (Jahan daal daal par), sad song (Toote huve khwaboone), Qawwali (Parda hai), etc., the singer used to render the song in an impeccable manner.

Hence, one of the music directors of yesteryears has complimented that “Many great singers missed their notes and never seen Rafi making mistakes.”  Another music director seconded the previous one addressing a group of new music directors that “you are unlucky since you do not have a Mohd. Rafi to record your songs.”

Rafi received innumerable number of awards for his songs ‘Ye mera Prem Patra padhkar’, ‘Chaudhavi ka chand ho’, ‘Teri pyaari pyaari soorat ko’, ‘kya huwa tera wada’ to mention a few and the most prestigious Padma Shri Award.

The humble singer believed that his real award was the admiration of the people and would admit that “The universe of Music is so vast, exploring it fully is just impossible in a life time and I am only attempting to know a part of it.” No doubt, a real down to earth human being, singer of the millennium, committed to music, is none other than Rafi.

Although Rafi sang his first film number in ‘Gul bolach,’ a Punjabi film released in 1942, followed by Hindi song from film ‘Gaaon ki gori,’ it was the 1952 film ‘Baiju Bawra’ which brought Rafi’s popularity to its pinnacle (o duniya ke rakhwale song). Rafi has sung in almost all Indian languages and in some foreign languages also.

Rafi used to sing for any occasion flawlessly in songs like ‘Nanhe munne bacche teri mutti mein kya hai’ for children, ‘Garibon ki suno’ for poor, ‘Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai’ for marriage function, ‘Ehesaan mere dilpe tumahara hai dosto’ friendship song, and the list is endless.

‘Aasman se aya farista’ was not just another film song picturised on Shammi Kapoor (for whom Rafi has lent his voice in 190 songs), in real life also he was a real ‘Farista.’

The music directors created composition especially for him. Lyricists believed their words created magic only when sung by Rafi and the heroes found their voice.

We Kannadigas are fortunate to have one song in Kannada ‘Neenelli Nadeve Doora.’ Tears rolled down from the eyes of the singer in the recording of song ‘Babul ki duaayen letija’ proving himself the most loving father.

“Jism ko mout aati hai lekin rooh to mout aati nahin hai.” Eventhough Rafi is not with us physically, through his sweet voice, he will always be remembered by connoisseurs of music all over the world. “Jaanewale Kabhi nahi aate, Jaanewale ki yaad aathi hai” and Rafi’s voice always reverberates in our ears as his song goes on like this ‘Tum Mujhe Yun Bhula Na Paoge.’

– Dr. M.S. Natashekar