Rafi's 87th Birth Anniversary Celebrated Across Mumbai

Mumbai celebrates legendary playback singer Mohammad Rafi's 87th birth anniversary on Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. His fans participated in 10 different public shows to pay tribute to this great singer across Mumbai. Fans offered flowers at the Mohammad Rafi Chowk in Bandra in northwest Mumbai.

"With his vocals transcending all human barriers and frontiers, Rafi-ians, as we like to call ourselves, based in Mumbai have formed the Rafi Foundation since 2007 and strive to bring Rafi sahab's music on a common platform," said Binu Nair, the founder of the foundation.

Another big celebration in the memory of Rafi took place at Rang Sharda auditorium in Bandra organized by Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Ashish Shelar.

"We have been remembering Rafi sahab on his birth and death anniversaries and have been organizing musical evenings since many years now. This is a small way to acknowledge his legendary contribution in the field of Indian music," Shelar said.

Rafi gave Indian cinema 40 golden years of haunting melodies like "Chaudhvin ka chand," "Teri aankhon ke siva" and "Tum jo mil gaye ho."

Rafi trained under Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwanlal Matto and Firoze Nizami. He sang with KL Saigal at a concert for the first time at the age of 13. That was the turning point in his life.

He was honored with the Padma Shri in 1967. He died of a heart attack in Mumbai on July 31, 1980, at the age of 56.