AWAZ-E-ISHQ (hb) 2014

This book is not the biography of Mohammad Rafi Sahib, nor a collection of his songs with the sequence of time As a student of music, I’ve made an effort to write something on distinctive characteristic of his singing modality and his extremely exquisites voice The life journey; childhood; stay in Lahore and initial engagements; start of singing in Bombay; rise to excellence; then the happenings of 70s and death – on all these aspects written material is available but it’s superficial and provides only a limited information The actual topic, because of which Mohammad Rafi is called Mohammad Rafi “Sahib”, is his matchless voice and excellent art of vocal This topic is so inadequate on which no research and exploration is done What is voice? What is its structure and nature? What are its tunes? Why it affects us and what are the qualities of voice? These topics are difficult and belong to metaphysics That’s why, no one touched it The beautiful voice of Mohammad Rafi attracts every sensitive one and draws the attention of visionary people Total perfection in music by him showed new ways and destinations to film songs, and his ingredients of vocalism gave new meanings to them His voice has the angelic secrets of seven musical notes like candles illuminating in the physique of fire flies It is like the fresh dew drops that perfumed the conscious of dejected flowers and sanctified them with a new life Every song of Mohammad Rafi is a syllabus of gamut in the circumference of which our inner shrine motivates us on chanting Melody is like blood in our bodies Each of the pores of our being feels the frequency of outer music and tells it to others This book is actually a quest of finding the truth that made him restless It is the exegesis and explanation of the heart rending songs in the perspective of his amazing voice The era of 70s was very hard for him when he became the target of conspiracies and the opponents tried to sideline him as a result of cold war with Lata Mangeshkar His circle of melody was made limited Powerful and greedy class deprived him of the honors and dignity which he actually deserved All these topics are fully covered in this book About Author: Qaisar Iqbal, the author of the book is a writer, poet, and painter naturally and academically He has a perfect belief on the realities of art He considers art as obligatory for the growth and accomplishment of human self Dimensions of human voice and searching out its miracles are the aspects of his aesthetics, he is been spending his life in the quest of Beauty of the voice of Mohammad Rafi and its heart touching attraction is like oxygen for him He considers every song of Mohammad Rafi as embodiment of sentiments and mystery which have many secrets of human existence hidden in it He is a graduate of National College of Arts, Lahore He resides in Virginia (Richmond), USA, and belongs to painting and education