“Master of Singing” is too vague to justify Mohammed Rafi’s contribution to Indian Playback Music

I wish to make a comment on an article published in your letter column on July 30, 2008 “in memory of the greatest singer of all times” by Prame Kumar.
From the very onset, I would like to categorically state that Rafi was one of my favourite Indian playback singers and will remain so. He was a singer par excellence.
His voice had the magical wand to charm the most turbulent of situations; his contribution to Indian movies in terms of singing is second to none.
However, I found the article to be very ambiguous at various points. Mr. Prame Kumar initially and quite correctly mentioned that Mohammed Rafi was the greatest playback singer of all times.
He, however, went off tangent when he said that Rafi was the “master of singing” coupled with “it would be unthinkable to compare Mohamed Rafi with any other singer”.
If I am to interpret Mr. Kumar’s intentions, he was referring to Rafi saab’s contribution only from a playback singer perspective, if not, then I would like to throw some light on two of these issues.
Firstly, Mohammed Rafi was the “The Master of Singing”, and secondly “it would be unthinkable to compare Mohamed Rafi with any other singer”.
To say that Mohammed Rafi was the “Master of Singing” is a very vague pronouncement. Indian music has two sources, Hindustani Classical Music from the North and Carnatic Music from the South.
From Hindustani Classical Music there are many tributaries namely Dhrupad, Thumri, Tappa, Tarana, Kayal, and Ghazal. Bhajans can be added to the list.
Even though Rafi learnt classical music from some of the greatest that walked on the surface of this earth, personalities such as Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwanlal Matto and Firoze Nizami, he concentrated specifically on filmi music.
He did lots of Ghazals, along with some Bhajans, but areas such as Kayal, Thumri, Dhrupad, Tappa and Tarana, he did nothing much, if not, nothing at all.
So to categorize Mohammed Rafi as “the master of singing” is not a correct statement.“It would be unthinkable to compare Mohamed Rafi with any other singer” is yet another ambiguity.
Classically, Mohammed Rafi can never be compared to names like just to name a few, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pandit Kumar Gandharva, Ustad Gulam Mustafa Khan, Ustad Gulam Ali Khan, Pandit Jasraj, and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Rafi is still yet to rise to the surface of these luminaries of Indian classical music.
However, when it comes to Bollywood playback music, specifically filmi, Rafi Saab stands on Mountain Himalayas. So when we speak of Indian music, we must be very specific.