Home   Forum   Wiki   Notes   Register   FAQ   Sitemap   About Us   Contact Us  

SPB the greatest singer that India had ever produced

Topic started by greatest_spb_fan (@ 212.2.14.241) on Thu Aug 2 04:57:19 EDT 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

why don't anybody start a thread like 'SPB the greatest singer that India had ever produced', pls

---

Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Manzoor Ali (@ 204.157.41.31) on: Sun Jan 6 22:28:52 EST 2002
  
  Hi Ali,
  
  It was nice to read such a detailed article on who's the best singer.
  
  Well, I dont think SPB voice is bronze and Rafi's is Gold. SPB has proven himself as the best singer in all terms. As you said about his high pitch, I have been to lot of high shows and live recordings, needless to say, he has sung effortlessly with low to high and vice-versa with ease. Leave alone his awards, his voice speaks for himself. Btw, how could you expect SPB to sing 30,000 songs in 10 years to surpass Rafi when SPB started his career only in late 60's.
  
  I agree that most people refer Rafi as the singing icon but that was during his era and he did domniate and was the best during that time so that made him an icon. I bet, if it was the other way, SPB would've been the singing icon for ever other but for now I know that for many SPB has become an icon. During the MPK and HAHK period (thats mid 90's) Lata recommeded SPB as her co-singer.
  
  Personally speaking SPB is also a down to earth man, who once when went for a recording and found the pre-recorded voice to be good and told the Director/Music Director to have the same guy sing for the song and that new singer as Malaysia Vasudevan. Thats just one instance of his character...
  
  To summarize, SPB has his own style and he has proven his voice in all sorts of notes from the 60's to the Digital Era and he's still going on..... which makes him second best to none in singing...
  
  Those were my thoughts and this is not to personally hurt anyone's feelings.
  
  I look forward to comments from the folks out there...
  
  Cheers.. !! Happy New year..
  
  Man.
  
  
• From: fan (@ 202.9.148.39) on: Sun Jan 6 23:12:09 EST 2002
  
  mr ali, through your lengthy article, i found that you are totally ignorant of spb's versatility and divine quality of his voice. you have taken some songs from hindi movies and jumped to the conclusion of putting rafi ahead of spb. What spb did in hindi is a small drop in the ocean. That drop alone was enough for you to compare with rafi. That in a way shows the class of spb. When you take the ocean into consideration(i.e. his songs in tamil,telegu and kannada and other languages) you will find spb several steps above the ladder . If you understand the languages , just trace through scv,ushe, teja channels to know the quality of spb and then come into conclusion. What you say is just like saying dilip kumar is better than sivaji in acting. If rafi is still alive today, he will definetely tell that spb is the ultimate legend
  
  
• From: Manzoor (Man) (@ 204.157.40.97) on: Sun Jan 6 23:32:34 EST 2002
  
  Hi Fan,
  
  I think you (fan) has brought out this clearly that Ali has compared only Hindi songs. I realized this point after I posted my previous message. I think Ali should listen to one of the latest "Mun Paniyaa" song (tamil) in Nandhaa. At the age of 55+, he has this wonderful gifted voice (Masha Allah).
  
  Reply to unbiased, SPB is defintely a legend.
  
  :-)
  
  Man.
  
  
• From: VR (@ 66.188.201.72) on: Mon Jan 7 00:34:15 EST 2002
  
  Mr Ali
  
  Comparing singers is like comparing apples and oranges. What you have written may sound like a scientific or a factual comparison but it is not...it is a mere analysis of opinion, not fact.
  
  Is there a scientific way of comparing two singers? I do not think so, cause what makes a singer unique is not just his pitch, range etc, but distinctive voice quality.. One cannot compare Garth Brooks to SPB, or SPB to Rafi, or KJY to Frank Sinatra... You just cant.. it is all taste... and taste and opinions differ.
  
  If range was the sole criterion to assess a singer, no one can match TR Mahalingam for instance..
  
  SPB's acknowledgement of Rafi as the ultimate and far superior to him reflects the mans humility, but is not gospel truth.
  
  Having said that, why so many love SPB is that he seems to have it all...a wonderful voice, a superb range, high notes without sounding nasal, emotion, depth, versatility, and durability.
  
  
  
• From: Raghuvaran (@ 212.2.14.241) on: Mon Jan 7 06:04:40 EST 2002
  
  Ali;
  
  Hi, at last some proper posting!
  
  You have only compared M.Rafi's Hindi songs with SPB's Hindi songs, how is that fair, out of SPB's 40,000 songs, his hindi songs would not be more than let's say 1,000 songs, yet you are being unfair in comparing SPB's 1,000 hindi songs with M.rafi's 30,000 hindi songs!, Can you justify that please? How many South Indian (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Karnatake) of SPB have you heard?
  
  don't you think you should have heard the entire range of both of these legends,rather than Just M.rafi's range, b4 comparing these two legends???.
  
  You said SPB can not match Rafi in high octaves, well if that's the case, can Rafi(Or any other singer) match SPB's bass in lower octaves???of course not!
  
  I agree with you that
  SPB,KJY,IR,MSV,SPS,Lat,Asha....etc.have said that Rafi is their favourites, but they have also praised SPB down 2 earth, did you know that?
  
  you said >>"Before each song, Rafi used to study the character whom he was singing for and
  . SPB may have sung
  over 40,000 songs but in 1979 Rafi was the only singer to sing over 30,000 songs and SPB could only pass him after his death<<", how on earth SPB could have sung over 30,000 songs in ten years, as he just started in 1969, this bland statement shows your ignorance of SPB!
  
  you said >>"SPB has said that he used to be jealous of Rafi because of how such a voice could convey the emotion of each word <<" this statement shows just how humble & down to earth SPB is!
  
  you said>>"When the 80's and 90's came around music deteriorated and became worse and therefore today you see many old songs being played more than newer ones because of the lack of quality"<<,
  I agree with you on this.
  
  I can also produce list like you have done to prove SPB is better than Rafi, but I am at work now, no time 4 research, but I will do so when I get the time.
  
  Oh by the way, did you know that Rafi once said in an interview that SPB was his favourite!
  
  I am sorry, if I have offended or hurt anyones feelings, as I did not intend to do so.
  
  Raghu
  
  
• From: Raghuvaran (@ 212.2.14.241) on: Mon Jan 7 10:01:53 EST 2002
  
  Has any body heard a song from "en kaadhali", it is by SPB & P.Jeyachandran???
  
  
• From: Yakkov (@ 65.106.79.131) on: Mon Jan 7 16:50:13 EST 2002
  
  Ali, your article seems to be a straight lift from mohdrafi.com discussion forum. You forgot to mention the rave reviews that rafi got for his voice for a song that is in the Hollywood movie "Ghost World", a 60s song. Anyway, point is most of what you have written is again JUST OPINION.
  
  you also claim that Rafi could match any actor? Totally wrong. Rafi never matched well with Amitabh. Kishore was far better in this regard.
  
  
• From: Manzoor (@ 204.157.41.110) on: Mon Jan 7 21:25:32 EST 2002
  
  Ali,
  
  When you wrote that only M.Rafi gets into the character /actor before singing a song I totally disagree with you and that shows that you havent heard many of SPB's songs.
  
  Infact, SPB has gone to the extent of damaging his voice to sing some specific songs, I remember 2 songs after which he wasnt able to record for almost a week or so.
  1. a song from Anjali (tamil)
  2. a song from Indran Chadran
  
  I could hardly make it out it was SPB.
  
  Another instance, I guess that was AR.Rahman's 1st interview which was on TV, when asked about SPB, he said, he has got his own style and he went on to give an example of one of his recording, where he generally walks in, go thru the notes, writes the lyrics in telugu and there he goes into the recording room and when the SPB sang everyone suddenly was wondering who was singing and if it was SPB. So thats SPB and the song is from the movie Kezhaku Chemailey.
  
  One other thing, I have noticed from the Mumbai film industry is that they dont recognize someone from the south so easily, for eg. although SPB got National Award for Ek Tu J K L, he wasnt awarded any Filmfare award and until he got for MPK and went on to remain nominee for Saajan and HAHK.
  
  So I think you should listen some of his songs before coming to any conclusions.
  
  May be sometime later, I shall list some of the very best songs of SPB.
  
  -Man.
  
  
• From: VR (@ 66.188.201.72) on: Mon Jan 7 21:34:09 EST 2002
  
  Raghuvaran
  
  En Kadhali is a beautiful song by SPB and KJY..
  
  
  
• From: VR (@ 66.188.201.72) on: Mon Jan 7 21:39:42 EST 2002
  
  Doubters of SPB should go to Dhool.com and listen to SPB's cover of BalaMurali's "Oru Naal Podhuma" Ive listened to both versions back to back...Even Balamurali will have second thoughts on whose version is better...
  
  I dont like to compare....but I cannot imagine even Rafi performing so flawlessly one of the most vocally difficult songs
  
  
  
• From: Manzoor (@ 204.157.41.110) on: Mon Jan 7 22:04:51 EST 2002
  
  Raghu,
  
  Which movie is the song that you are referring here ? Is it new one ?
  
  Thanks,
  
  -Man
  
  
• From: Ali (@ 149.99.196.44) on: Mon Jan 7 22:27:25 EST 2002
  
  Dear all,
  
  Firstly, I just used two quotes from the mohdrafi.com site and those were about the Baiju Bawra song
  and about the quality of Rafi's voice. I used these because they described these two aspects well and
  fitted what I wanted to say. The rest of the article is all my words and no one else's.
  
  Secondly, I would like to clear up something. When I said Rafi was the only one to have sung over 30,000
  songs in 1979, I did not mean that SPB had sung close to 30,000 songs by then either. SPB had just started
  his career in 1966 so ofcourse he couldn't have sung that much only 13 years later. What I meant was that the
  amount of songs a singer has sung does not necessarily mean that they are the greatest as others have mentioned.
  My point was that by 1979, Rafi was the only singer to have sung over 30,000 songs and if SPB to this date has passed
  him, this alone does not make a singer the greatest.
  
  Thirdly, many some of you have said I was only comparing SPB's hindi songs to Rafi's hindi songs. I was just
  using some examples to enhance my point. I cannot just use SPB's hindi songs to prove a point but at that time
  I was using general examples.
  
  VR mentioned that what makes a singer unique is not his pitch, range etc but their distinctive voice quality. I agree with the voice
  quality but I also feel range, pitch, modulation, expression, tone all come into play when you compare two singers.
  For now, I will stick to distinctive voice quality.
  
  When you mention distinctive voice quality, I feel Rafi is in a league of his own. I will point out two aspects of voice quality.
  The first is that Rafi could express the emotion of each word that he sung which is an extraordinary feat and this aspect has also
  been quoted by SPB in my earlier posting. His voice had the ability to sound the same powerful way when it reached high and low pitches
  as compared to other singers who crack when they reach certain levels they cannot reach. The second aspect is voice modulation. His voice
  for Dilip Kumar is vastly different from that of Dharmendra and also very different for Shammi Kapoor. Each actor knew they were going to
  sing in their own identity voice when Rafi sung for them. That is one extraordinary quality which no singer has matched to this date. Only
  certain singers can match certain actors but not one singer like Rafi who can match all. His voice could change for different people and
  the quality remained in the voice. This brings me to the point about Amitabh. I feel Rafi matched Amitabh
  more than Kishore did. If you look at Amitabh's career, you will notice Rafi was his
  first voice and not Kishore. Rafi's voice made Amitabh look more passionate and confident
  and made him portray more emotions as compared to Kishore's voice who sounded rough and
  less expressive. Most of Amitabh's best and most lasting songs have been sung by Rafi.
  To name some : 'John Jhonny Janardhan', 'Mere dost Qissa', 'Koi aur duniya mein tum', Patta Patta Buta Buta', 'Teri bindiya re' etc.
  
  Manzoor, you mentioned that SPB had damaged his voice to sing some specific songs. I didn't mean singing specific type of songs that
  are hard to sing, but changing his voice to fit all actors. Singing specific songs is a different topic itself.
  For example when Rafi sung for Shammi Kapoor he could match all his personality traits and all his physical and facial movements. Same thing with
  a comedian like Johnny Walker or another actor such as Dharmendra etc. These actors have openly stated that Rafi used to sound just like them
  when he sung for them.
  
  SPB mentioned in an interview which I think was on SUN TV if I'm not mistaken, that the only voice he ever wished
  to have was that of Rafi. All the praises that SPB showers on Rafi shows that SPB feels that Rafi is the ultimate. It does not just show his humility
  and down to earth character. If that was the case than no praises should be showered on anybody because we will all show our humility. The purpose
  of the praise is to show that he feels Rafi is his ultimate icon and his guru. There's nothing wrong in that.
  
  I would like to share some songs of SPB which I find good out of his repetoire:
  
  Paadum Pothu Naan - Netru Indru Naalai (shows high range)
  Vaigaraiyil Vaigai Karayil - Payanangal Mudivathillai
  Aedivilo Virasina - Kanne Vayassu (shows high range)
  Idi Toli Raatri - Manju (telegu)
  Kala Chedirindi - Devadas (telegu)
  Naa Hridayapu Kovelalo - Iddaru Ammayilu (telegu)
  Neeli Neeli Meghama - Neeli Meghaalu (shows high range)
  
  These songs show SPB's command over switching notes as well as his ability to scale high notes as well. One aspect I would like to add is the way Rafi started his songs.
  Music directors used to come to Rafi and ask him how to start a song if they had trouble in doing so. Rafi used to start his songs brilliantly and used his effetive range
  in doing so as well sometimes starting with a high pitch or low pitch or sometimes starting it with his own style. This is just a point I would like to make. Also, I would like
  to mention a point that there are songs which Rafi continuously sang at a high scale such as 'Aaj mausam bada be-imaan hai', 'akele akele kahan ja rahe ho' and songs in which
  he has employed bass and high notes well such as in 'bahon mein tere masti ke dhere' and etc. I am just making you aware of these qualities because Iknow SPB has employed
  them as well. Rafi also used to overshadow co-singers when he entered a song. One example I would like
  to relate is the song 'kya mausam hai' from Doosra Aadmi. It was sung by Kishore, Lata & Rafi and Rafi had a small but everlasting effect on the song. His part 'yeh mastiyan yeh sama' at
  a high unthinkable note overshadowed the two singers and changed the complexion of the song. Many other examples are there where he has overshadowed other singers with his entry. I want to
  know if there have been any qawalli's sung by SPB. To conclude, the more we compare singers the more arguments we will get into. So what I think is that if you do not want to compare
  then we should stop because then people will make weird comments and there will be a war of words. My purpose was just to enlighten everyone with qualities of Rafi because there has been
  so much discussion going on in this forum about him and SPB. Please take my comments into consideration and tell me what you think and I will respect your comments. Also one last thing
  where did Rafi say SPB was his favourite singer ?. I have never seen or heard that anywhere. I do know that his favourite singer was K.L. Saigal and he got to sing with him in a 1947 song. Just wanted to know ?
  If you want to hear more of Rafi please feel free to ask me regarding any types of songs.
  
  Thanks
  
  
  
  
• From: Ali (@ 149.99.196.44) on: Mon Jan 7 22:29:44 EST 2002
  
  Correction
  
  In the part "Rafi had a small but everlasting effect on the song."
  
  I meant he had a "small part but an everlasting effect on the song."
  
  Goes to show what too much typing can do !!
  (Joke)
  
  
  

---

List all pages of this thread

Post comments