Song List 24,000 rafi owner Options

[suhana_safar]

Sharad,

Can this book we bought online.

Thnx

[UKM]

I agree with Pradeep when he writes "It would be interesting to see a even list of 10,000 distinct Rafi songs".

Reproduced below is an article that featured in the Hyderabad edition of "The Hindu" newspaper:

THERE CAN be only one Mohd. Rafi, and perhaps only one Saleem-ul-Haq. Rafi is god for Haq.

The 52-year-old ex-employee of the State Bank of Hyderabad has spent a better part of his life researching the legendary music maestro, and amassed an omnibus of records and tapes with songs Mohd. Rafi has sung in his musical career.
The diehard fan claims his collection is without equal, and how many of us know that Rafi also used to sing in angrezi?

In the recently published The Biography of Mohd Rafi, The Great Immortal Singer, Saleem-ul-Haq gives an anthology of the 4,940 songs that the singer is credited to have sung and recorded in his 46 years of existence. Many of those melodies have
remained unused after recording, which the collector seems to have painstakingly sourced from the oblivion.

Like, the sequel of Chal ud jaare panchi, ki ab yeh des huva begaana from the film Bhaabhi (1957), which was Ujar gaya panchi, ab tera kahan thikana, never saw the light of the day, but outshines the prelude.

This rare number is one of Haq's personal favourites, and is included in the compact disc that comes free with the biography.

"There are 16 of Mohd. Rafi's all-time greatest rare and unused songs in the CD, including an English number - Love is a beautiful dream come true that Rafi Saab recorded abroad in 1966," says Haq. The biography is a delightful glossary on Mohd. Rafi, he prides.

The uniqueness of the anthology is that Haq has indexed the songs in alphabetical order, lapped up the different moods of Rafi sequentially and chronicled the year of recording in ascending order. There is the name of the film (in case it is a film song), music director, lyricist, the song and actors on whom it has been picturised.
Jnanpith awardee Dr. C. Narayana Reddy was pleasantly surprised to find all the ten Telugu songs written by him, for which Mohd. Rafi had rendered his voice, in the biography by Haq. In the book release function, Dr. Reddy commended Haq for his "well-researched attempt" to chronicle the legend.

In fact, Rafi sang in all major Indian languages, including Punjabi, Bengali, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Avadhi, Gujarati and Oriya, and Haq is in possession of every one of those songs. The sweetest songs are those that tell of the saddest thoughts, and Rafi seems to have lived a whole life with that. (END OF ARTICLE)

Rafians will note some errors ("46 years of existence" & "recorded abroad").

The book/CD were available at the music store Sangeet Saagar in Hyderabad.

As of now, the most accurate and reliable source of information about the total output of songs is Harmandir Singh Hamraaz's "HINDI FILM GEET KOSH" --- information about which is available on internet at http://hfgk.8m.com/. This source also credited Rafi saheb with a total number of 4900-odd published Hindi film songs. Please note, it does not take into account non-film recordings and songs in other languages.

[UKM]

Sharad:

The book and CD were being offered at the music store Sangeet Sagar in Hyderabad. I checked with their web-site host and learnt that the store does not sell on-line.