Thank you so much for your swift reply. We share the same love and respect for Rafi Sahab. I agree with you 100% that he was absolutely one of a kind. But as I said, you have brought me closest to the feeling that I am hearing the emotion and power of that voice. You have great talent and I am sure Rafi Sahab’s blessing. Your humility is an example to all of us. And I love your style and interpretation in its own right. I posted as much in a comment on Youtube ( although my nick peterklus for Youtube is the name under which I posted). Maybe for the other songs I will add my actual name at the end of the comment.

I will also try to post some comments on your website which I visited a couple of days ago – it is a lovely website. I listened to every single song you had kept there for playing. The 3 CDs you made – are they Rafi Sahab’ s songs? How does one go about ordering them? I would very much like to purchase all three, and it will be a small contribution to support and encourage your magnificent enterprise.

I close with a couplet from a favourite Rafi Sahab song “Tumhari zulf ke saaye mein shaam kar loonga”

Nazar uthaayi tho poochoonga ishq ka anjaam

Nazar jhuppayi to khaali salaam kar loonga

I love music of all kinds from many nations and cultures. I am originally from the south, Trivandrum, although I was born and brought up in British Malaya ( Kuala Lumpur ) and educated mostly in English schools there and in India. Although I lived in India only 17 years, I am at heart, always an Indian. I did a PhD in cognitive psychology and neuroscience and my research areas are human attention and memory, at the interface between brain and mind. I also write (in English) poetry and fiction and am trying to get a first novel published.

The saddest thing for me is the rift between the two great cultures of India, Hindu and Muslim. I grew up with many Muslim friends in the south and we were like bhai-behen. Love transcends these differences, and I wish it were so with the subcontinent. Some day, I want to study Urdu ( probably after retirement! ), and learn more about the literature and poetry of one of the sweetest languages on earth. Of course, most of the songs I love from the film world are essentially Urdu poems.