Google salutes legendary singer Mohd Rafi on his 93rd birth anniversary
Mumbai, Dec 24: Google has honoured the legendary Indian playback singer Mohd Rafi by dedicating a doodle to him on his 93rd birth anniversary which falls on today. Rafi was born on December 24, 1924 in Kotla Sultan Singh, a small village near Majitha in Amritsar district of Punjab.
Rafi was known for his melodious voice and versatility. His songs ranged from classical numbers to patriotic, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans. Rafi was the one who made Bollywood music world famous with his melodious voice.
Rafi developed a taste for singing drawing inspiration from a fakir in his village at a very tender age of 6. Apart from Indian languages, he also sang songs in English, Farsi, Arabic, Sinhalese, Creole and Dutch. He began singing by imitating the chants of a fakir in the streets of his native village Kotla Sultan Singh where his family lived.
Rafi’s father moved to Lahore in 1935, where he ran a men’s salon in Noor Mohalla in Bhati Gate. Mohammed Rafi was the second eldest of six brothers born to Hajji Ali Mohammad. Rafi began his formal training in classical music here from Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwan Lal Mattoo and Firoze Nizami.
Rafi’s first public performance came at the age of 13, when he sang in Lahore featuring K. L. Saigal. In 1941, Rafi, under Shyam Sundar, made his debut in Lahore as a playback singer in the duet “Soniye Nee, Heeriye Nee” with Zeenat Begum in the Punjabi film Gul Baloch. He made his Hindi film debut in Gaon Ki Gori in 1945 with the song, “Aji dil ho kaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi”.
Rafi is primarily noted for his songs in Hindi, over which he had a strong command. He sang around 7,405 songs in many languages. Among his noteworthy numbers include “Chaudhvin Ka Chand Ho”, “Baharo Phool Barsao”, “Kya Hua Tera Wada” and others. During his entire career, he worked with many great music directors like O.P. Nayyar, Laxmikant Pyarelal and R.D. Burman, Rafi and delivered some of evergreen hits including Yeh duniya yeh mehfil, Chura liya hai tumne, Tum jo mil gaye ho and many more.
Rafi has six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award to his credit. In 1967, he was also honoured with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India.
Mohammed Rafi died at the age of 55 on 31 July 1980 in Mumbai, following a massive heart attack.