100 feet high Minar being built in Punjab to commemorate the birth centenary of Mohammed Rafi

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Mumbai Preparations are going on for grand celebrations in Mumbai for the birth centenary of great singer Mohammad Rafi. At the same time, a 100 feet tall ‘Rafi Minar’ is being built at his birthplace in Punjab. The organizers gave this information on Saturday.

The main event will be held on Sunday at Shanmukhananda Hall in collaboration with the World of Mohammed Rafi Welfare Foundation (WMRWF) and Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeet Sabha (SSFASS), with a series of events scheduled over the next 12 months of 2024. It will culminate in a mega musical crescendo on Rafi’s 100th birthday on December 24, 2024 (December 24, 1924 – July 31, 1980).

WMRWF Founder-Director N. R. “There will be 12 special concerts on the 24th of every calendar month in the centenary year, featuring only Mohammed Rafi’s songs,” Venkitachalam told IANS. We will be inviting the popular ‘Rafi Special’ from all over India to perform and bring alive the memories of Rafi Sahab.”

“Apart from the audience at Shanmukhananda Hall, all the shows will be live-streamed on YouTube for Rafi’s fans across the world,” he said.

“The concert will include music directors, lyricists and actors for whom Mohammed Rafi sang,” Venkitachalam said.

“Along with the show, a series of charitable, medical and social initiatives for the poor will also be launched, which will be funded by the proceeds of the Rafi concert,” said Dr V Shankar, President, SSFASS.

SSFASS will launch an endowment in Rafi’s name at Shanmukhananda Community Charitable Hospital, under which free kidney dialysis will be provided to one patient per day, the dialysis center being the second largest in India.

Additionally, SSFASS has instituted the ‘Shri Shanmukanand Mohammed Rafi Centenary Memorial Award’ for a young musician, which carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh every year, a trophy and a ceremony at the Shanmukanand Hall on the birth anniversary of the great singer (24 December). There is a live concert.

In a unique initiative for any singer, SSFASS and WMRWF are constructing a 100 feet (30.5 m) tall ‘Rafi Minar’ (tower) in memory of Mohammed Rafi at his birthplace in Kotla Sultan Singh village near Amritsar (Punjab). .

Venkichalam said, “‘Rafi Minar’ will be made of steel, and will be engraved with 100 Top Songs of Rafi Sahab to remind the coming generations of his valuable contribution in enriching human life through his singing. Can go. The Indian flag will fly proudly at the top. The memorial will be ready in the first half of 2024.

Besides this, the two organizations are also reconstructing Mohammad Rafi’s alma mater, the Government Primary Urdu School, where he studied till class IV before moving to another higher educational institution in the same village.

Venkitchalam, who built the ‘Mohammad Rafi Memorial’ and arranged for the renaming of a road in Bandra, Mumbai in 2016 on the singer’s 92nd birth anniversary, said, “We are planning to make Rafi Sahab’s school a complete one with all the facilities. “We will renovate, provide computers and start a music section in his memory in the third grade where he studied.”

The organizers urged the Government of India to release a commemorative coin of Rs 100, a postage stamp of Rs 5 by IndiaPost, a special cover and postcard through the Maharashtra Postal Circle for the Mohammed Rafi centenary. He appealed to the state and Center to provide land for a permanent memorial at the singer’s birthplace in Mumbai.

–IANS

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