There never was and there never be a singer of his versatility and calibre for all times to come.
People have tried and people will try to be as good as he was but alas, take it from me they shall never ever succeed in duplicating Rafi's magic or even come close to it. Rafi was incomparable and shall remain so as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
He is number one and the others start 11th onwards.
Leave him alone. Nobody should even daydream of coming close to him and displacing from his numero UNO position. This pace has ben retired from the face of this universe.
Let the Mangeshkar sisters who are hell bent on stalling the Pedder Road flyover also learn something from this great man who was not only a great singer but even a greater human being. I do not think he would have objected to the flyover which would make it simpler and easier for so many lacs of fellow human beings. Greatness with humility is something all of us should learn from this man who left us over 25 years ago and made music lover orphans for all time to come.
Ever since i started listening to music i have only and only one favourite:Md rafi.If anybody wants to learn the intricacies and control of rythem he/she must listen to Md.Rafi.He was an emperor amongst the several Kings in his time.Amongst his generation he was untouchable as he had no limitation in terms of voice,sur-scale,and above all versatility.
Only one singer had his kind of mastery over singing and that was Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Apart from that he was a perfect picture of a god fearing,and utterly humble persona this made him great amongst others.Some of my favourites song are:
1. Kaarwan gujar gaya gubar dekhte rahe..
2. Mere mitwa mere meet re..
3. Jane walo jara mudke dekho mujhe..
4. Aaj purani rahon se koi mujhe awaj na de...
5. Rahi manwa dukhki chinta kyun satati hai..
6. Parda hai parda..
7. Ek tha diya ek baati..
8. Chalkaye jaam aiye aapki aankhon ke naam..
I pray to god that give another rafi to the generation of sonu,shan,reshamiya.Real tribute to such a soul will be in apreciating good soulful music and consider our selves blessed and proude that we had a singer like Md. rafi Only In India like we are having Lata Mangeshkar.
Life would not have been the same if i had not listened to Rafi's songs which taught me what emotions are all about. Be it, Koi saagar dil ko bahala tha nahin, or Aap ke pahaloo mein aa kar ro diye or Donon ne kiya tha pyaar magar or Naseeb mein jiske jo lika tha all of these and many more have taught us the emotion of sorrow and grief while jaane kahan mera jigar gaya jhi, all line clear, yeh hai bambai meri jaan, chal mere bhaai there haath jodtha hoon, padkamma padkamma ekkada pothav raa, ham kaale hain tho kya hua dilwaale hain and muthu koodi kavvari gala have made us laugh, rejoice and look at life in a different perspective.
An irreplaceable voice that echoed our sentiments got lost in the annals of time...wish someone brings it back!!!!
He was simply great. There has been no other play back singer with such a range. Be romantic, classical, serious, gazhals, Qawwalis, devotional songs, anything he sang with such perfection and melody. He must have sung maximum filmy bhajans. My favourite is "Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj", "Sukh ke sab saathi" from bhajans. "Koi sagar dil ko bahlata nahin" and "Kabhi khud pe kabhi halaat pe rona aaya" from serious songs. "Jiya ho kuchh bol do", "Darde dil darde jigar", "Khoya khoya chaand" from romantic and of course "parda hai parda hai" from qawwalis. Bhagwan hame ek baar phir se Rafi de de.
