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 second one from the series.
Over to Sanjeev Rambhadran for a musical treat!
DAY 2: We are just a week removed from the centenary of singer-composer Hemant Kumar. His runaway singing success in both Hindi and Bengali notwithstanding, a number of his compositions became hits in the voices of his male colleagues. His best-known collaborations with Mohd. Rafi include films like Jagriti, Do Dil, Miss Mary, and Biwi Aur Makaan, soundtracks in which Hemant Kumar the singer is curiously nowhere to be found.
A notable departure from this phenomenon is the 1956 movie Taj. Hemant Kumar’s voice features prominently, with two solos and arguably the film’s best-known song, “Baansuriya Phir Se Bajaao” with Lata Mangeshkar. By the mid-fifties, however, Mohd. Rafi had staked a very viable claim to situational songs involving high-intensity drama and the upper registers, and thus would have come very quickly to mind as composer Hemant Kumar pondered this melody and the film situation (with lyricist Rajinder Krishan scripting a thrilling finish).
Hope you enjoy Day 2 of my 40-day journey celebrating the music of Mohd. Rafi.
Kesariya Balam
