His voice has been described by music experts as a baritone with a very high range. Rafi sang the songs with versatility, adopting new mannerisms, expressing new feelings, descending to a low pitch and then rising to a very high pitch in a single song.
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Rafi’s voice became almost synonymous with actors like Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Dileep Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, and Joy Mukherjee. Rafi was so conscientious as to note the normal speaking voice of the actor, his mannerisms, how he would pronounce certain words, and sing accordingly. The fourth layer in this bouquet was that of the actor portraying the song. The poets or song-writers Rafi worked with included Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Aazmi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Neeraj, Shailendra, and more. Rafi sang songs which were poems, standing on their own as literary works. But the compositions alone would not have worked the wonders without the beautiful words. Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Naushad, and many more. Nayyar, Madan Mohan, Khayyam, Chitragupta, Roshan, R.D. Rafi sang for some of the best music composers of his time including S.D. Rafi’s songs have been a four-layered bouquet of music, beautifully put together with melodious compositions, meaningful literary lyrics, his own versatile voice, and the actor presenting it on the screen. Rafi’s was a therapeutic voice, never harsh, never crude, always gentle, always understanding the desires of your heart, always comforting, always reaching the sky in joy with you and always shedding silent tears with you. The choice was one’s own, as it is today. One could like the all pervading, all encompassing, almost intimidating voice or one could like the soft, friendly, delicate, romantic voice which could go the mile if needed.
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Individuals either liked the rugged, hard voices or they liked the gentle, mild feather-touch of an underplayed voice of Rafi. The spontaneity of such treats and the teasing unavailability added to the attraction of the melody. In that day and age when music was not available at the tips of one’s finger, it made one’s day if one heard a lovely song floating on air from some radio somewhere. People waited at certain times of the day for theme based film music on ‘Vividh Bharati’, and the nocturnals waited for ‘All India Radio’s Urdu Service’ past midnight, for lovely soulful film songs. ‘Vividh Bharati’ and ‘All India Radio’ and “Radio Ceylon’ were the stations of choice. Radios were priced possessions then, even as late as the sixties.
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When no other music industry existed, film music reached out to millions in remote parts of India and helped them live their lives with hope, with upliftment of spirit, and faith. Our beloved Mohammad Rafi turned 96 this Decemthe man whose songs have always held a special appeal in the hearts of people who have experienced love in some form. Print of a 2016 postcard and postal stamp issued by the Government of India.