| RAFI FOUNDATION N R PADMANABHAN (President) A S MURTY (Secretary) K V SHARMA (Treasurer) |
PRESS RELEASE
Rafi Foundation, Hyderabad Chapter, was formed in the year 2007 with an aim to unite all protagonists of Mohammed Rafi, the legendary singer. It is the culture at Rafi Foundation, Hyderabad Chapter to bring to fore thousands of songs of Rafi Sahab which are peerless and are class musical compositions. Over the last few years, our strength has been growing in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and newer members are joining us in droves all the time. Our presence over the virtual world by way of websites, blog pages, social networking sites and groups has enhanced our presence and our activities multifold.
One of the main activities of Rafi Foundation, Hyderabad Chapter is organizing weekly Musical Sessions of our members where Karaoke based singing is practiced. While we are all admirers of Mohammed Rafi Sahab who has been our idol for times immemorial, we also patronize all good retro music from Hindi films and thus our members sing the songs of all the legends of the golden era of Hindi Film Music i.e. of the period 1950-1980.
We are not commercial and all our members contribute in small measure to sustain our activities. Although we have done some musical shows in the recent times, they have all been staged from our own funds and Rafi Foundation has not sought public funds for our pastime. Our membership boasts of very highly placed music lovers who come from almost all walks of life – literature, legal profession, bankers, software pros and hoteliers. The passion of retro music and respect and reverence to the legends of Hindi film music has brought us all together to spend quality time immersing ourselves in music – a la Mohd Rafi.
Mohammed Rafi Sahab was born on 24th December 1924 at village Kotla Sultan Singh, approx.. 30 Kms from Amritsar in the then undivided India. His family sifted to Lahore for better prospects and it was in that city that Rafi Sahab learnt Hindustani music from reknowned musicians. He came to Bombay (now Mumbai) in the year 1942 to make playback singing his profession and soon he came to be sighted as a singer of repute. It did not take long, therefore, for Rafi Sahab to replace the then established singers and the top slot among playback singing was held by Rafi Sahab for the next four decades. Although now 31 years have passed since his death, Rafi Sahab and his songs are immortal and will remain enshrined in the memory of all music lovers in the sub-continent for ever. His fan following spans across the seven Oceans and throughout the world in all the continents.
Rafi Foundation, Hyderabad Chapter, is therefore organizing this special Musical Tribute to Rafi Sahab by presenting 86 songs of Rafi Sahab – solos, duets and chorus. Our lady singers will however also chip in with some of the most memorable songs of Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhonsle and Lata Mangeshkar. 21 singers from our Group will present these songs non-stop from 11.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. on Christmas Day i.e. 25th December 2011 at the picturesque Rajasthani resort of Dhola-ri-Dhani.
