Rafi’s songs in young hearts but not on city stage today

continued uninterrupted for 35 years nurturing the region’s talent, was brought to a halt by the covid pandemic.

The moving spirit behind Rafi-e-yaadgar, BD Sharma says: “Along with BM Kalia and Anil Verma, we built this society in 1986 and with the efforts of our members, we were able to sustain the events without interruption. But sadly, we have had to give it a miss this year due to Covid-19. However, we will sing Rafi’s songs at our homes and wait for the day when young singers can be back on stage.”

Interestingly, Sharma fell in love with Rafi’s voice as a sixyear-old after listening to the singer’s film bhajan ‘Zara saamne to aa ja chhaliye’ at a paan shop in Ambala. His great compliment to the singer is: “When the Almighty wants to sing to people, he takes the form Mohammad Rafi.”

There are hundreds of Rafi memorial societies in India for such was the power of the songs he sung, but this society is special as the singer hailed from the Punjabi soil and enthralled the country with his voice. Yaadgaar-e-rafi spotted adolescent singers including Amritsar’s Vipul Mehta and Ludhiana’s

Ishmeet Singh, who went on to become Indian Idols, and Rinku Kalia, who became a Saregama singer.

The society made a special effort to include people who were connected to Rafi and were thrilled when Shahid Rafi, son of the singer, graced Rafi Nite with his mother and wife. Among other famed people who have been guests of honour are music directors Naushad, Ravi, Kalyanji Anandji, Pyarelal, lyricists Majrooh Sultanpuri, Hasrat Jaipuri, singers Suman Kalyanpur, Bhupinder and Mitali, actors Rajendra Kumar, Biswajit, Asha

Parekh, Zeenat Aman, Shatrugan Sinha, Mala Sinha, Vyjanthimala & others.