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Summary The death anniversary of versatile, legendary singer Muhammad Rafi is being observed today.
Mohammed Rafi was born at Kotla Sultan Singh, a village near Amritsar in Indian Punjab. He moved to Bombay in 1944. Rafi learnt classical music from Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwanlal Matto and Firoze Nizami.Rafis first public performance came at the age of 13, when he was allowed to sing at a concert in Lahore featuring K L Saigal. In 1941, Rafi, under Shyam Sunder, made his debut in Lahore as a playback singer in the duet Soniye nee, Heeriye nee in the Punjabi film Gul Baloch. In that same year, Rafi was invited by All India Radio Lahore station to sing for them. He made his professional debut in the Shyam Sunder-directed 1941 film Gul Baloch and the Bombay film, Gaon Ki Gauri, the following year.In a career spanning about 40 years, Rafi sang over 26,000 film songs. His songs ranged from classical numbers to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals, and from slow melancholic tunes to fast and melodious fun filled songs. He had a strong command of Hindi and Urdu and a powerful range that could accommodate this variety.
