For Lovers of Mohd. Rafi

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venkatcr

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For a long time, I generally refrained from listening to a re-singing of Rafi songs. For me the voice of Rafi and his unique style of signing is critical. I used to not attend these musical programs that meant singing of old songs of Rafi, Kishore and others, though some of the singers were friends of mine.

One such friend, OS Arun, was a person who changed my mind a bit. His voice, when he wanted it, has an uncanny resemblance to that of Rafi, and he will sing a full Rafi song without any accompanying instruments, and never miss a beat. It was always a pleasure to sit and listen to him humming Rafi songs.

Recently I came across a recording that shook me to the core. Not because of the voice (which was excellent) but because of the team that played the background music accurately, and in many songs, better than the original. Imagine a team that does not understand a word of Hindi, and does not know what Indian music is. Imagine such a team giving background music to 'Tum Jo Mila Gaye Ho' from Hanste Zakam accurately by just looking at music notes on piece of paper.

Welcome to City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra led by Michael Seal.

In 2008, this team has created magic by what I would arguably call the best background music I have ever heard for Rafi's songs. As Sonu Nigam says, 'Mind you this music is not in their system', and to render it so accurately is phenomenal. A genuine tribute to Indian music from the West. Believe me, CBSO's music take these songs to a different level.

See the videos here.

An Evening in London - Rafi Resurrected (Part 1 of 2) - YouTube
An Evening in London - Rafi Resurrected (Part 2 of 2) - YouTube

Just the music can be heard here:

Rafi Resurrected - Sonu Nigam And Cbso Cd 1 Songs : Listen & Download Rafi Resurrected - Sonu Nigam And Cbso Cd 1 Songs Online through Gaana+
Rafi Resurrected Vol 2 - Sonu Nigam - Listen to Rafi Resurrected Vol 2 songs/music online - MusicIndiaOnline

Just listen to the songs. Maybe you will understand why I spend two nights listening to the songs again and again.

I am also desperate to get the CDs. I want to listen to all the songs on my system. I am sure it will sound wonderful. If any of you know how to get the CDs, please do let me know.

Cheers
 
Moment I saw this CD in Crossword , I grabbed it knowing that symphony orchestra has dome wonders with many singers and band before like-Metallica,
Scorpions and James Bond themes..

So choosing Rafi's song with Voice of sonu nigham should be an anavoidable
purchase since we have grown up listening to the Rafi's song.

No wonder Venkat, you are listening it for 2 nights.
 
I wonder if you are old enough to have seen the genesis and extraordinary growth of T-series. Anyway I will relate it as best as I can remember. Do forgive any errors here guys. Do correct me if I am not absolutely accurate anywhere.
On man, a son of a fruit juice vendor in Karol Bagh, Delhi started out by pirating Hindi film music. Later he saw a lacuna in the music copyright laws of the land in which only the original version is copyrighted and not the lyrics. So he got together some singers and musicians and made copies of the original tunes and, boy, did they sell! That was Super Cassette Industries which later became T-Series. The prices were dirt cheap and they sold on footpaths and stores alike. Remember, these were the days of the audio cassette. Gulshan Kumar, the fruit juice vendor, became a millionaire overnight and nearly brought the already floundering HMV to shut shop. It is another story that some folks at HMV realized that they had been sitting on a gold mine and not utilizing it. Only then did they bring out the original tunes on tape in large numbers - these were mostly on records until then - and survived the T Series onslaught.
Gulshan Kumar selected a lot of singers who could copy the voices of the leading singers of those days. Among these, Sonu Nigam sang for Rafi and Anuradha Paudwal for Lata. These two were the closest to the original voices.
If you can get hold of some of the earlier recordings, you will see how close Sonu was to Rafi at the beginning of his career before he found his own voice, literally.
Read about Sonu on Wikipedia.
A detailed story of T-Series.
 
actually, in mid 80s T series started its musical revolution(I must say) and benefited are the ones which have just bought those cassettes and started their
journey with the low cost ones. T-series started with old songs with new singers and better recording in stereophonic sound and singers were Vipin Sachdeva for Rafi, Babla for mukesh, Bela sulakhe for Asha and for Lata I dont remember.
Later on discovery of kumar shanu for kishore and Sonu Nigham for Rafi somewhat changed the scene.

And if someone remembers-Jhankar Beats songs were introduced (songs with electronics drum beats) and they became quiet famous too..

I remember when I bought my first T-series Cassettes of "Dance-Dance"" & "Commando" combo of Mithun and that was licensed OST for T-series and I said to my father, this costs only 15Rs and father agreed, at that time normal HMV cassettes were around 50-80 Rs. So T-series had definitely changed the indian music scene and guys form my generation were the luckiest one IMO.

Anyway the Sonu Nigham's symphony orchestra is way ahead of that Era of copy catying...and essay:D written above is not in anyway to undermine the
musical richness of soulful combo of birmingham orchestra and sonu nigham specially Rafi..

By the way for buying..here you go..

http://www.amazon.in/Rafi-Resurrect...d=1413175704&sr=8-2&keywords=rafi+resurrected
 
Last edited:
Yes, Dheeraj, very true. Only I wrote for the closeness of Sonu's voice to Rafi. I find it far closer in those earlier recordings. Being a die hard fan of Rafi ever since student days a long time back, at times on casual listening I found it difficult to recognize if it was the original or a T-Series copy. The CBSO is unmistakably Sonu. No question of the quality of the music.
I was just checking on the net, CBSO has had a Rahman concert as well.

dheerajin said:
Anyway the Sonu Nigham's symphony orchestra is way ahead of that Era of copy catying...and essay:D written above is not in anyway to undermine the
musical richness of soulful combo of birmingham orchestra and sonu nigham specially Rafi..
Click to expand...
 
This Sonu album that's been discussed here is available on Saregama as a 2 cd pack. This program was shown on television too. I actually first saw this program on in flight
 
Naturelover said:
Only I wrote for the closeness of Sonu's voice to Rafi. I find it far closer in those earlier recordings. Being a die hard fan of Rafi ever since student days a long time back, at times on casual listening I found it difficult to recognize if it was the original or a T-Series copy. The CBSO is unmistakably Sonu. No question of the quality of the music.
I was just checking on the net, CBSO has had a Rahman concert as well.
Click to expand...
I think this set of Cds will be helpful for you-
Buy Sonu's tribute to 100 all time hits of Mohd.Rafi Online at Low Prices in India | Amazon Music Store - Amazon.in

and happened to read about Rahman's CBSO-
Rahman the conductor was a letdown!
 
If I was a singer (think Mungerilal:)) I would love to have the CBSO as my backup band.
 
venkatcr said:
Thanks so much. I have ordered it. I tried searching so much for it and missed it completely.

Cheers
Click to expand...

venkatcr, you have placed order for the last piece. When I try on Amazon, now it's out of stock!

Cheers.
sunder.
 
Great site Naturelover. Thanks for the link. Takes me back to the time when i used to wait for the Binaca Geetmala.
 
I dont think Naturelover was referring to the sound quality on that site. He was referring to the way the songs have been packaged. Especially the top songs every year on Binaca Geetmala. I have never seen that on any other site
 
Ok no issues..piracy has killed audiophile world specially mp3 ..so just wanted to inform him...otherwise googlecis there to give you each & every song you want..even ratest one..
 
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