Born on Christmas Eve in 1924, Mohammed Rafi would have turned 100 this year. His birthplace, Kotla Sultan Singh, in Amritsar district was like any other village of Punjab's Majha region. Its residents reared cattle and like any other child his age, young Rafi, nicknamed Phiko, would take the neighbour's cattle to graze after school, humming folk songs.
In 1942, Phiko joined his father, Haji Mohammad Ali, who ran a dhaba in Lahore. He found a job at a hairdresser's saloon. While attending to customers, Rafi could not resist singing Waris Shah's Heer and Piloo's Mirza. His sweet voice attracted new customers. Someone visiting the studios of All India Radio, Lahore, told the story of Rafi's melodious voice to the local AIR head, Jiwan Lal Mattoo. One day, Mattoo went to the barber shop and heard the young man's voice for himself. Impressed, he called Rafi for an audition. Approved as a folk singer in Punjabi, Rafi was told to report to Mattoo's second-in-command Budh Singh Taan.
This story is from the December 23, 2024 edition of Hindustan Times Punjab.
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This story is from the December 23, 2024 edition of Hindustan Times Punjab.
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