I do not agree rafi’s voice was sweeter than ghantasala whose voice used to change depending upon the raga he rendered. He sounded sweet to the extent specified by music rules – rafi’s voice naturally came in a sweet way – he was not that adept in change in voice technique as was ghantasala. Just go to some melodious and sweet ragas such as sankarabharanam, bilahari, kalyani etc. – compare both rafi and ghantasala songs in these ragas – ghantasala’s voice is more sweeter than rafi in these ragas, because these ragas specify a higher degree of sweetness by their quality and ghantasala displayed that. Ragas which do not require sweetness, ghantasala cannot display that, by virtue of his musical skills. Rafi used the same sweetness for all his songs in all ragaas – though they require sweetness or not (which people liked) and thus in my opinion, rafi does not satisfy the pure music rules to the level which ghantasala satisfied. Excepting ghantasala, there is no playback singer in india who was an accomplished playback singer, accomplished music director and accomplished classical musician with a majestic divine voice and achieving dominating success in all fields simultaneously without any competition as long as he was alive. Similarly there is no classical musician (on the range of ghantasala) in india who was equally accomplished as a playback singer in films without any competition for 3 decades, excepting ghantasala. There closes the issue for any further arguments in this regard.

Rafi was not formally trained – He was trained no less in the gharana of ustad bade gulam ali khan, I think your post is without sufficient knowledge of the background of the singers mentioned therein. Well, agreed that rafi was not that trained or perfect as compared to ghantasala. Next, kuhu kuhu, ghantasala’s voice appears more sweeter than rafi in the last para – “kanugava taniyaga” which is saj singar by rafi – just listen carefully in a good head phone. Not only sweeter, as you said ghantasala glides easily in the notes and entire song – so in this song, even as rafi fan, due credit I give to ghantasala – the rendition is such, even lata in hindi falls short before this man in the rendition.

Rafi’s range is different – just hear yeh mera prem patra, or jo wada kiya woh, chaudvin ka chaand, yeh chaand sa roshan chehra etc. etc. – rafi is unmatchable in these type of songs, of course which rafi have rendered in hundreds.

By the way Rafi is not “formally” trained in any form of classical music.
Rafi and SPB learnt classical music after they became filmi singers.
So I would say it is unfair to compare them in pure classical renditions
with the likes of Ghantasala.

Regarding Kishore, the moment you start listening to a song,
it just hits a chord, there is something magical in his voice and the
way he sings that just attracts you, could it be the way he intentionally
breaks his voice without losing the melody to create emotion in his sad
songs like “Dil aaj shayar hai”, “Mere mehboob qayamat higi”, “Meri
bheegi bheegi si” or “Dil aisa kisine mera toda”. It is that spl ingredient
that separates him from the rest.

Technically he is not the best but when he sings its just magical.
Same goes with SPB, yes ghantasala is order of magnitude better
technically but SPB’s voice among the mentioned singers is second
only to Kishore!!! Any good music director (be it SD or AR Rahman)
will pick the best suited voice for a particular song. Them picking Kishore
over Mukesh, Manna Dey who are classically trained or Md Rafi
who I will agree has a sweeter voice (and more versatile) has to say something about the singer Kishore was and the effect his voice
could convey .. (To me its simply magical just cant put in words)

Someone commented that ARR does not pick SPB for most of his songs
which is right but listen to the songs he picked SPB to sing (sorry
dont have hindi examples but in telugu off the top of my head its
“Prema Prema” in Prema Desam compare it to the rest of the
light hearted/headed songs).

You just can not compare two individuals, they are different and
every one has strengths and weaknesses. Ghantasala might sing
“Hayi Hayiga” technically exceedingly well but I would have to agree
that his voice is not as sweet as Rafi’s so its okay if people prefer
Rafi’s version. I grew up listening to all three singers but never
compared one to another just have a set of my favourite songs
of each singer and listen to them, sometimes in random order,
thanks to the technology to have made that possible.

Srini

Thanks for a good post without any flames.

Ok, now for my rejoinder.

Meends – Kishore was no less a master at meends and harkats when so inclined. Just listen to some of his early songs when he was singing in the Talat and Saigal style. There are harkats galore in songs like “Aa mohabbat ki basti”, “Husn bhi hai udhaas”, or even “Dukhi man mere”. There are some great meends in later songs like “Main Shaayar badnaam”, “Diye jalte hain”, songs from “Amar Prem”, “Kinara” (“O majhi re”) etc.

Taans – I’m sorry, Rafi WAS NOT a master of taans by any yardstick. The taans in “Madhuban mein radhika” (picturized on Mukhri) were not sung by Rafi. Gamakas are, strictly speaking, different from taans. Gamakas are similar to microtones and are usually a set of notes clustered around the primary frequency, though there are exceptions. They make up parts of taans, like a subset. Taans can comprise double, triple, or even quadruple note clusters of varying frequency. Sapaat taans, for eg., comprise note clusters with near vertical increase in frequency. There was a very good alaap that Rafi pulled off in that song, though, I think in the line of “Dholak cham cham”. But we don’t know if Kishore would or would not have been able to pull it off. My listening to Kishore’s renditions of Rabindra Sangeet, and a host of non-film songs suggest that he could’ve pulled it off. Though I am not so sure. Regarding gamakams, what about Kishore’s yodelling ? That’s a perfect cannon for gamakams as it includes vocal rolling and sliding of the notes. And Kishore can do it while going up or down in the frequency scale. It’s a different matter that it’s done without swaras.

I don’t want to generalize you into a category, but it’s just that classical vocalists are prejudiced against anything that involves the falsetto register. But I, despite learning Hindustani classical, have no such issues. Classical music is mostly about voice control, and achieving that level of control that Kishore does in the falsetto is no simple feat. Add to that his ability to quickly slide into and out of the falsetto register with such awesome precision. These are all signs of a very gifted musician with commendable voice control.

The few times Rafi tried to render competent taans, he came out distinctly uncomfortable. For eg., listen to the following duets: “Kuhu kuhu bole koyaliya” and “Jhanan jhan”. Where as Lata was like a sliver of lightning in tracking all the taans and alaaps, Rafi was very laboured. Here is a link to the second song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQNcsfFw7_E

Here is another song that brings out his discomfort.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoQJIy8o9Qc&feature=related

Kishore never ventured into this category, and wisely so.

I’m sorry to say but Rafi’s renderings of strictly classical pieces were not convincing by any means.

Further it’s a common myth (and your post seems to suggest that you have unwittingly gone the same path) to associate demanding calibre of songs with the number of swaras (as in actual use of the swaras) or notes it contains, and thereby conclude that it needs more skills and hence a singers superiority is proven. Complexity of a song should never be judged based on it’s fun content. When you accept this view, it becomes evident that Kishore’s comedy songs (and there are innumerable) are no less “complex” than the songs sung by Rafi.

Range – I can accept that Rafi had a wider range if you count the sheer number of notes. However, you have to admit that Rafi’s lower octave range was very limited. In fact there are hardly any songs that he sang in the E1 scale. Kishore’s voice had no such limitations. Listen to Rafi’s “Yahan badla wafa ka” and you will see how he struggles to sing in the lower octave.

It’s in the middle and upper octaves that his real talents emerge. Obviously, in the upper octave, he was king.

Regarding the live version of “O duniya ke rakhwale”, he does go higher based on the notes, but scalewise he starts off lower by a whole step and so, on an absolute scale, he does NOT go higher than the original version. Further, the live version is no patch on the original version (esp. the “Around the world” version was a pale comparision) and he really struggles when he starts off with “Oooo … duniya”.

Regarding expressions, I do not have too much to say because we are touching subjective issues here. For me, most of Rafi’s sad and philosophical songs rarely have any effect. And I think that is because he “works” on it, he “tries very hard” to put those effects. So, in effect, it doesn’t sound like coming from the heart. There are some songs that I do enjoy though – songs from “Guide”, “Seema” come to mind. When Kishore sings “Zindagi ka safar” or “Woh shaam kuch ajeeb thi”, it comes straight from the heart. He doesn’t do anything to “try” and bring the effect. His intonation seals the deal. It’s like when you are sad, your voice has a certain intonation that immediately tells the other person that you are sad. You don’t “try” to sound sad.

Kishore, to me, is extrinsically original, while both are intrinsically original. When I say intrinsic, I mean that the pauses, the inflections in the voice, the whispers etc. that they put in the song to do justice to the lyrics.

By extrinsic, I mean the ability to create a song that was not even thought of by the composer. For example, the song “Aake seedhi lagi dil pe” was supposed to be a duet by Kishore and Lata. But due to some personal reasons, Lata was absent for the recording and then Kishore suggested, on the spot, that he will sing both versions. That is what I mean by extrinsic originality. His ability to include yodelling in songs also suggests that. It does not matter if his personality was a maverick or not.

Coming to masses and classes, you are not entirely correct. Classical maestros like Bhimsen Joshi, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Kumar Gandharva etc. regard Kishore very highly. In fact, Rafi was originally my favourite singer much before I learnt classical music. It was after learning classical music that I became aware of his limitations and was not entirely impressed by his classical songs, and was simultaneously enthralled by Kishore’s unique approach to singing and his capabilities as a singer and musician. I love Rafi’s film songs, but not his classical renderings.

In fact, except for Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle during their peak, I rarely listen to Hindi Film Music for classical songs.

Great post and great points. Rafi is unmatchable. kishore kumar’s songs are relatively easier to sing than most of rafi’s songs which are more tougher . That is enough to conclude on rafi’s greatness.

I will be happy to listen to a song of rafi touching ma in the lower octave as you mentioned, could you kindly share one song of rafi where he touches ma. Because, I have heard one kishore kumar song where he touches the lower ma note in the lower octave. But I agree with you that rafi had rendered more high pitch notes than kishore, might be due to his classical strength over kishore. Needless to say rafi’s modulation skills are more superior to kishore, who generally has plain style of singing in most of his songs. I think kishore could touch the pa note in the higher octave, and I feel he had done that in ek chatur naar song with manna dey.

I was told that rafi had touched dha note in o duniya ke rakhwale , in the higher octave, excepting zindabad zindabad song where I think he had gone to a even higher note, but I have heard from musicians that these songs just cover two octaves and accordingly land in limited notes as compared to a three octave rendition where in even higher notes are covered. One such example frequently discussed here was siva sankari of ghantasala and even a sanskrit rendition syamala dandakam by name, where in ghantasala easily sustains top sa in the higher octave and the compositions in three octave is considered as a superior one to establish the coverager of notes in a wider voice range. Needless to say the said songs are very tough songs even to attempt. However, coming to rafi and kishore, the former’s versatality which you have highlighted deserves appreciation and i am in agreement with your post.

Let me start with the basic – the voice texture : Both Kishore and Rafi had a fine voice texture. No comparison. This parameter is nothing more than an individual preference. If you ask me my own predilection, it is Rafi’s voice.

Sur-taal – It’s a crime to discuss sur-tal as a parameter when we are talking about two greats. Needless to say, both were extremely sureelas. They would not have survived the industry going by the noetic standards of the music directors of the golden era.

Meend – Here, Rafi was a master. Observe the meends in the very light “Jungle mein mor nacha” to the semi classical “Main nigahen tere chehre se” to the classical “Ek shehanshah ne banvaake” – flawless, impeccable rendering of the meends. I am not aware of an equivalent level of meend exhibition on any of Kishore’s songs.

Taan – You must observe the taan in “Madhuban mein radhika”. Taan is an understatement – he is rendering gamak with vakra swaras.Please enlighten me with a matching rendition of Kishore.

Sthan, Murki, Khatka – Give special attention to the Sthan for the alaap Rafi sings “Ajhun aaye balma”. Listen to the murkiyan and khatka in the antaras. Flawless again. Is it raag pilu? In fact, Rafi was a master of murkis and khatkas – to give you a couple of examples, try to appreciate the murkis in “guzre hai aaj ishq mein” ,”taqdeer ka fasana” – you will be treated to some exemplary stuff.

Now coming to the range – Do I really need to compare here? It is very obvious. Rafi could probably touch the Ma on the lower octave and maybe Dha,Ni on the higher octave. Everything between was a cakewalk for him. I’m sure you have listened to “O duniya ke rakhwale”. In one of the stage shows where he sang live ( I am mentioning “live” since many artists today lip-sync on stage), he took “O Duniya ke rakhwale” to a scale higher than the original. I must admit – I do not know Kishore touching a note more than the highest note in the antara of “Mere naina sawana bhado” in any other song. Please let me know if you know sone songs here.

When we talk of expressions, it is better when we substantiate with the help of rasas/bhavas – Let me give you a couple of examples for each rasa (for it will take a few months to complete the list) – I will not try to explain these since the expressions are very well expressed by Rafi.

Bhakti – This is already discussed in the main article here – A mention of “Man tarpat hari darshan” will suffice. Try this if you want bhakti rasa with viraha – “Duniya na bhaaye mohe”

Karuna – “O door ke musafir”, “Bhari duniya mein aakhir”, “Toote hue khwabon ne” – These songs tug at the heart strings. Rendered with perfect expressions.

Veer – “Kar chale hum fida” – The be all and end all of heroic patriotism. Not many Indians can hold back tears of patriotism while listening to this song.

Vibhatsa – disgust – Check out this gem from Pyaasa – “Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya hai”.

Vichitra/adbhuta – “Tareef karu kya uski”, “Yeh dil tum bin kahin”

Bhayanaka – “Subah na aayee Shaam na aayee” – The horror of pain and death.

Hasya – “Sar jo tera chakaraye”, “Bade miyan deewane”. Take note that Rafi Sahab not only sang for heroes, but also to comedians like Johny Walker and Mehmood. And the ones for Shammi Kapoor- “Yahoo!”, “Suku Suku”.

Virah – “Din dhal jaaye haaye”, “Hum tumse juda hoke”

Vairagya – “Aaj purani rahon se”, “Na aadmi ka koi bharosa”,

Krodh – “Guzre hai aaj ishq mein”, “Zindabad zindabad ae mohabbat”

Shringar – Love/Lust – The list can be endless here. To name just a few – “Deewana hua badal”, “Jaan-e-bahaar husn tera”, “Baahosh-o-hawaas mein deewana”, “Aaja re aa zaraa”, “Ye aankhen uff yumma”, “Abhi na jao chhodkar”. There are innumerable ghazals based on Shringar – I’ll keep t for another day due to lack of time.

Shanta – Tranquility – “Tumse kahu ek baat paro si”, “Tere mere sapne”

Vatsalya – “Main gaun tum so jao”, “Aaj kal mein dhal gaya”, “Babul ki duayen”

When I look for suitably expressed rasas from Kishore, honestly, the ones which came to my mind dont really match upto the list above.

Originality – Rafi had his own voice, own style, own nuances – everything about his singing was original. His voice and style till today remains unique. Kishore was an original too. I really dont understand what do you mean when you talk about extrensic originality. Kishore, by person was an eccentric genius, a maverick of sorts and it showed in his acting, singing and direction. So, how does it make him more original?

After trying to explain the intricacies of music to people, I have concluded that Kishore is liked more by the masses (probably because he was the voice of the two greatest superstars – Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bacchan). Rafi is the choice of the classes. From purely singing point of view, to me, Rafi is the greatest. Let’s leave it at that.