Who else? It is indeed Mohammed Rafi.  The best quality male voice that Indian Music has ever produced – it is Rafi Sahab’s voice. His voice was pure as crystal, with high quality tone & texture and his singing was flawless. He could sing any type of song effortlessly and with great emotion & ecstasy.

Mohammed Rafi got his classical training from Ustad Abdul Vahid Khan and Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan. Rafi got a break in playback singing through music director Shyam Sundar. However, he became a popular singer after Naushad Sahab signed him for film Baiju Bawra. O duniya ke rakhwale, Mana tarapat hari darshan ko aaj became the hit songs. Soon, he became a favourite singer of popular music directors like O P Nayyar, S D Burman & Shankar Jaikishan of that era and created great hits with them. Rafi became voice of Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand and major heroes during those times. He also gave his voice to Singer Kishore Kumar who started his career as an actor.

Rafi’s speciality was that he could sing classical based songs very smoothly, I mean, without compromsing on his texture of voice. The variations he sang were with ease and he maintained the softness of his voice while singing them. He had tremendous range of voice and hence he could maintain his voice quality while singing high notes and even low notes.

Rafi is the only singer who has sung some of the longest songs in hindi films such as ‘Ye duniya ye mehfil mere kaam ki nahi’, ‘Mere Mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam’, ‘Rang aur noor ki barat kise pesh karoon’.

Some of his songs which I like the most are ‘Zindagi bhar nahi bhulegi vo barsat ki rat’, ‘Tumhari zulfa ke saye me shaam’, ‘Teri aakhon ke siva duniya mein rakkha kya hai’, ‘Tere mere sapane ab ek rang hai’, ‘Ye zulfa agar khulke bikhar jaye to acchha’, ‘Mai nigahen tere chehre se hataoon kaise’, ‘Chhoo lene do nazuk hothon ko’, ‘Ek haseen shaam ko dil mera kho gaya’, ‘Achal mein saja le na kaliya’, ‘Man re tu kahe na dhir dhare’, ‘Dard e dil dard e jigar’..the list will go on.

Some of his duets that I like are ‘Deewana hua badal’, ‘Isharon Isharon mein’, ‘Aaja Aaja mai hun pyar tera’, ‘Abhi na jao chhodkar’, ‘Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko’, ‘Phir miloge is baat ka vada kar lo’ (Sung with Asha) & ‘Ye dil deewana hai’, ‘Dil Pukare’, ‘Tasvir teri dil mein’, ‘Teri bindiya re’ (sung with Lata).

Rafi’s voice was made for any kind of song be it a romantic song, a patriotic song, a classical based song, a comedy song, a fast hindi pop song. Rafi sang each song with great ease and perfection. Unfortunately he lived only for 55 years and after him the film industry struggled to find another voice like him.

Today you may find singers who imitate Kishore Kumar but you won’t find another Mohammed Rafi. Rafi truely was a complete singer! 

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi at the age of 82 still sings with same energy & passion. He is the most powerful singer in hindustani classical music today. Bhimsen Joshi belongs to the Kirana Gharana. He is the disciple of Sawai Gandharva who was one of the initiator of Kirana Gharana. Sawai Gandharva was a chief disciple of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is a master of Khayal form of singing.  Any Raga form he sings he goes deep into it and brings out all the details and presents it in a very powerful manner. His voice & his notes (Swara) has got so much depth that it gets registered in your mind & body when you listen to him. When you see him perform, he sings with full passion, his entire body moves from head to the waist in the sitting posture. He is probably the only performer who has tried to give more than 100% in each of his performances.  The hours of riyaz (practice) that he has gone through in his young age has helped him to reach great heights during his performances. To me, he is the greatest hindustani vocalist of all times. He has a natural heavy voice which is so close to the nature. If the mountains like the himalayas could talk or sing they would resemble Bhimsen’s voice.

The speciality about Panditji’s singing is the depth in the khayal (very slow beat siniging) singing, the perfection of notes & the prolonged high speed tanas! When he performs he dominates not only the notes, but the taal & laya in a very natural way. The music flows in him and comes out with great aggression. The best thing about his singing is his voice quality which he has maintained for more than six decades. While singing both the lower & higher notes, his voice is so clear and profound.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has sung many bhajans in Kannad (his mother tongue), marathi & hindi. His bhajans in marathi are most popular and are all classics. If you do not like classical music so much, you should atleast have a collection of Bhimsen Joshi’s bhajans in your home. It will definitely create a positive energy & happy atmosphere in your house. You should listen to bhajans early morning, but anytime is fine.

Pt. Bhimsen Joshi has received many awards including the Padma Vibhushan and the sangeet natak academy award. Some of his disciples like Upendra Bhat and his son Srinivas follow his style and singing, but I like Anand Bhate (who was a child prodigy and was named as Anand Gandharva) who has been a disciple of Panditji but maintains his own style & voice.

The best quality of Panditji is his simplicity. He is a very humble & kind person. He has been very successful & famous individual but success has never got into his head. To me, he is the ‘Real Artist’.

Well, the other day I saw movie ‘Om Shanti Om’. Movie was good. Liked Shah Rukh’s acting!!! BTW, I am Aamir Khan fan. Anyway, the songs in the movie were all decent, except the ‘Darde Disco’ (I really wonder lyricist’s imagination to arrive at this terminology). The one song I liked was ‘Tumko paya hai ke jaise khoya hun..’ After the movie was over I kept singing the tune and realised that there are many songs on similar lines or in same pattern both in rythm & melody. ‘Pukarata Chala hun mai’ (Mere Sanam), ‘Dilbar mere kab tak mujhe aise hi tadpaoge’ (Film: Satte pe satta), ‘Mein shayar to nahi’ (Film: Bobby), ‘Ye rate ye mausam nadi ka kinara..’(Film: Dilli Ka Thug), ‘Ye hawa ye nadi ka kinara..’, ’Dil ki nazar se nazaro ke dil se(Film: Anadi)’, ’Ye jo Mohabbat hai..’ (Film: Kati Patang)..& so on.  All these songs are played on 6 beats, but even the notes are similar and so the melody.  Are these songs based on some Raga? They must be close to some Raga. Is it Kirwani? I think so. Well, I am not an expert on classical music but would appreciate if someone can come up with the name of the Raga…Thanks!