Sanjeev Rambhadran's first claim to fame was when he became the winner of the famous Saregama competition on Zee TV in the mid-90s. The program then was hosted by a young Sonu Nigam and the judge for the finals was none other than the doyen of Hindi film music- Anil Biswas.
Born and brought up in the US, Sanjee is now an acclaimed and much sought-after singer in the US program circuit. He is also a multi-instrumentalist. In this special series to commemorate Mohammed Rafi's 40th death anniversary, Sanjeev brings out various facets of Rafi's gaayaki through his songs with 40 different music directors.
He also brilliantly pens his thoughts on these musical gems. Here is the first one from the series.
Over to Sanjeev Rambhadran for a musical treat!
DAY 1: My somewhat irregular posting frequency will do an about face in the coming days. While the idea of me posting a rendition of a Mohd. Rafi song should surprise no one, my latest pursuit will hopefully be both entertaining and engagingly suspenseful.
As has been stated countless times by music lovers everywhere - if Rafi-sahab’s voice drove on-screen stardom for a range of actors of varying talent, it also proved indispensable for a legion of music directors of varying name and fame.
To start things off, here's an iconic gazal that made a splash despite being Rafi-sahab's sole entry in a soundtrack dominated by other singers. Composer Ghulam Mohammed's scant share of the limelight over his career was hardly commensurate with his quality, and regrettably he did not live to complete his eventual magnum opus, "Pakeezah."
Hope you will follow along and this series of videos will trigger both warm memories and a slightly impatient urge to know what lies in store! Happy viewing/listening!
Kesariya Balam
