A Kashmiri Pandit who gave Mohd Rafi to the World of Music

By: B Revti

Singer Mohammed Rafi, (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) needs no introduction. His melodious songs speak about him and his personality! But how many of you know that Rafi, nicknamed as Pheeku, was introduced and groomed to world of music by a Kashmiri Pandit?

Yes,….that is indelible   part of Rafi’s life and singing that most of us do not know. It was Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo, who had traced and groomed Rafi Saheb!

Who was Pt. Jeevan Lal Matoo?

Jeevan Lal Matoo belonged to a pre- Partition family of Kashmiri Pandits settled in Amritsar. A musicologist of the sub-continent, Matoo is known for his two outstanding students— Mohd Rafi and Sitar Maestro Mehmud Mirza. Pt  Jeevan Lal’s ancestor—- Pandit Mehta Ram Matoo , a shawl trader , had actually moved to Amritsar  city from Kashmir around nineteenth century. One of the members of Matoo family (Kashmiri Lal Matoo) had even donated about one kanal of land inside walled city of Amritsar (Present location Farid Chowk) in 1908 AD for construction of a community centre and a Shiva Temple, now known as Shivala Kashmiri Panditan.

 Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo, a vocalist, had a profound knowledge of classical music and was associated with All India Radio (AIR). He had also set-up a community gathering at Shivala Kashmiri Panditan Lahore in Mohalla Sareen area of the city. This community centre for Kashmiri Pandits in Lahore was constructed by Raja Dina Nath Madan, the then Finance Minister in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore.

 Alas! The partition of the country proved to be a great setback for this music genius. He had to migrate to Delhi as a refugee from Lahore, where he joined Delhi Station of AIR. In Delhi, he founded Radio’s first National Orchestra called Akashvani Vadya Vrinda, which was later taken over by Sitar Maestro, Pandit Ravi Shanker who too had joined AIR, New Delhi as Music Director in 1950. Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo lived in the Independent India’s National Capital unnoticed. In India, he had tried to devote his time and energy to music only .However, he always missed his Lahore. Away from his Lahore, he always felt like in exile at Delhi!

Pt.   Jeevan Lal Matoo, who served at AIR, Lahore from 1937 to 1947 and headed the music section, had secretly recorded a live radio broadcast of Khayal and Thumri rendering by Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan in 1947.  Music lovers, the world over, remain indebted to this Kashmir legend for these recordings. The purpose for these secret recordings was to please Ustad Waheed Khan, who incidentally happened to be a Guru of Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo. Matoo was himself a great exponent of Kirana Gharana and had profound knowledge of Punjabi folk and Indian classical music.

Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo was married to Roopwanti Bakaya, daughter of Niranjan Nath Bakaya. Roopwanti died in New Delhi in 1973. Apart from Jawahar Matoo, Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo had another son –Moti Lal Matoo (1927 -2009) who had settled in Canada. Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo was closely related to the family of Justice Ram Narain Dar of Lahore. Kishen Narain Dar, son of Justice Ram Narain Dar served as superintendent of Police J&K, during the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh.

Pt Jeevan Lal’s contribution for All India Radio, Lahore

For AIR, Lahore, Jeevan Lal Matoo brought some noted Punjabi singers— Noor Jahan, Zeenat Begum, Ali Baksh Zahoor, S Mohinder, Assa Singh Mastaana, Vidya Nath Seth, Surinder Kaur, Prakash Kaur and Shiv Dayal Batish as contractual artists. Malika Pukhraj was already well known to him, as she was an approved singer of AIR, Lahore. Film music composers— Amar Nath, Gobind Ram and Dhani Ram were influenced by the music of Pandit Jeewan Lal Matoo. Noted Sitar player Mahmud Mirza was a direct disciple of Pandit Ji. Mohammad Rafi and Mehmud Mirza never forgot Jeevan Lal Matoo. Both would pay glowing tributes to their Guru both in private and public lives.  Kartar Singh Duggal, well-known Punjabi writer, who also worked at AIR, Peshawar before Partition, would often say that everyone who rose to become someone in the music world during the early forties in undivided Punjab found himself indebted to Pandit Jeewan Lal Matoo of AIR, Lahore.

Discovering Mohammad Rafi

It was both destined and a chance for both Pt Jeevan Lal Matoo and Mohammad Rafi to meet each other! In 1943, Pt Jeewan Lal Matoo is reported to have gone out of his residence for a haircut at a barber’s shop in Lahore where a new helper (nickname Pheeku—Mohammad Rafi) to the main barber was singing Waris Shah’s `Heer’ in his style.  Jeewan Lal Matoo was attracted to the voice quality of the boy whom he invited to AIR, Lahore for audition. The young Rafi cleared the audition in one go. So much was Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo impressed by the tonal quality of Rafi that he imparted some basic knowledge of classical music to the prospective singer at his residence.

The boy picked up very fast and was soon in the panel of approved artists of AIR, Lahore. Later, Matoo sent Rafi to Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan for regular training. This new singing sensation introduced by Pandit Jeevan Lal Matoo was soon noticed by Lahore’s film Music Director, Shyam Sunder for his new film ‘Gul Baloch’. After Jeevan Lal Matoo’s help and training, this casual helper Pheeku at the Lahore saloon, who later moved to Mumbai, rose to unprecedented heights in the Indian film Industry to be known as Mohammad Rafi, the great singer!