Qawwali'('Yeh Ishq Ishq hai, Aye mere zohra-jabeen, yari hai iman mera) Romantic duet (Pyar hua iqraar hua, aja sanam madhur,dil ki gira khol do, ye raat bhigi bhigi, soch ke yei gagan jhume,murmur ke na dekh, o chand muskuraya, belia belia, chand gayo pai bichua,sham dhale jamuna kinare,yei raat chalte, zindegi hai khel,aan milo san,allah jane mai hu kaun,) Classical (Poochho na kaise, Sur na saje, laga chunri me dag, phul gendwa na maro,lapak jhapak tu, nache mayura, ketaki gulab juhi, bhay bhanjana bandana, mohammed shah rangile, tum ban jiban, bhor aie gaya andhia, are hato kahe ko jhume)

• Emotional (Zindagi kaisi yeh paheli haaye,kasme wade, mitua piya tune kya kiya, hartaraf ab, dur hai kinara, nadia chale re dhara, muskura mudla,)
• Fast numbers (Aao twist karen,kisne chilman se mara e bhai jara dekhe chalo, Jhoomta mausam mast mahina, jindegi hey khelkoi pass koi fail,dunia rangabirangi, eke chaturnar,chunri samal gori)
• Patriotic songs (Aye mere pyare watan, jane walesipahi se pucho, hoke majbur, hindustan ki kasam)
• Prayer numbers (Tu pyar ka saagar hai, mere sab kuch mere geet, tu hai mera premdebta, he raam, bhaja re man ram sukhdai, pap ki samandar, bhai bhanjana)
• Filmfare Award winning: Aae bhai zara dekh ke chalo (Mera naam joker: Raj Kapoor)

Non film--hindi

• madhushala
• shwan ke rimjhim
• meri bhi ek mumtaz thi
• o rang rejwa
• shyam ho jamm ho
• hyara hu mai
• kuch eisi bhi paal hota hai

Bengali

Film

• Aami kon pothe je choli (Chhodmobeshi: Uttam Kumar)
• Aami je jolsaghorer (Antony Firingi: Uttam Kumar)
• Aami sri sri Bhojohori Manna (Picnic: Samit Bhanja)
• Ke prothom kachhe esechhi (Shonkhobela: Uttam Kumar)
• Na na aaj rate aar jatra shunte jabona (Nishipodmo: Uttam Kumar)
• Boro eka lage (Chowringhee: Uttam Kumar)
• Tum na tum na na na tum na na na (Marjina Abdalla: Debraj Roy)
• Manush khun hole pore (Chirodiner: Uttam Kumar)
• Hoyto tomari jonyo (Teen bhuboner paare: Soumitra Chatterjee)
• ogo tomar sesh bicharer (dak harkara)
• lal paguri bedhe mathe (dak harkara)
• mon re aamar shunli na baron (dakharkara)
• ful pakhi bonhu (chirodiner_ uttam kumar)
• tumi aamar chirandiner (chiradiner)
• kono kotha na bole (chiradiner)
• lal nil sobujer (chiradiner)
• na na na aaj rate aar jatra shunte (nishi padma)
• ja khushi ora bole boluk (nishi padma)
• je kodin aakash jhure (pranto rekha)
• aami kokhono hoi chandidas (shob0ri)
• shobori kanya re (shobori)
• keno dako miche papia (sudur niharika)
• ore aakash bhora tara (Aaguner fulki)
• eto putul khela hoy (rajbonsho)
• oi dure bohudure (pankhiraj)
• shuk bole sari re tui (antoni firingi)
• chmpa chameli (antoni firingi)
• keu ba korchen baristrai (antoni firingi)
• sob kheler sera banglair tumi football(dhonni meye)
• prem nagar khelte (striker)
• aami agantuk (shankhabela)
• emon bondhu aar ke aache
• ami to kumir dhore aanini kete khal (kabita)
• ei duniay bhai sobi hoy (ekdin ratre)
• tukro hasir tol foara (baghbandi khela)
• hajar takar jharbatita (stri)
• ta se jotoi kalo hok (stri)
• jemon sapinike posh manay ojha (stri)
• kaharba noy dadra (sannyasi raja)
• phul sajte lage
• bhalobasar aagun jwalao
• behag jodi na hoi raji
• se kotha ki jane indu
• ta bole ki prem debo na (mouchak)
• pagla garad kothay aache (mouchak)
• pataldangar aaara kojon (charmurti)
• bharot aamar bharotborsho (charmurti)
• aamar prothom proshno (hotel snow fox)
• jor khobor
• darwin saheber mote naki
• tos tos tos agurer ros
• rang beranger jhella (notun diner alo)
• choleche cholbe cholchei
• ki bisgher chobol dibi (protishod)
• tumi tanpura sure bedhe nao (dui prithibi)
• jhorer mukhomuki
• ke tumi (jiban rahassa
• prithibi takie dekho
• okul ganer majhi re (bhaggochakra)
• nil nil ghono nil (avi)
• duti kotha jeno

Non-Film

• Obhimane chole jeona (Bangla: অভিমানে চলে যেওনা)
• eki opurbo prem dile (একী অপূর্ব প্রেম দিলে)
• dorodi go (দরদী গো)
• dekhi oi hasir jhilik (দেখি ঐ হাসির ঝিলিক)
• Shono o gorobi dristipater jonno (শোনো ও গরবী, দৃষ্টিপাতের জন্য)
• O kêno êto shundori holo (ও কেনো এতো সুন্দরী হলো)
• Ei kule ami ar oi kule tumi (এই কূলে আমি আর ওই কূলে তুমি)
• Kôtha dao abar ashbe (কথা দাও আবার আসবে)
• Jôrorar jhumko theke êkţa moti (জড়োয়ার ঝুমকো থেকে একটা মোতি)
• Teer bhanga dheu aar (তীর ভাঙ্গা ঢেউ আর)
• Shôpon jodi modhur emon (স্বপন যদি মধুর এমন)
• She amar chhoţo bon (সে আমার ছোটো বোন)
• Coffee houser shei ađđaţa aj ar nei (কফি হাউসের সেই আড্ডাটা আজ আর নেই)
• Ma ma go ma ami elam tomar kole (মা মা গো মা আমি এলাম তোমার কোলে)
• Ogo bôrsha tumi jhoro nago emon kero (ওগো বরষা তুমি)
• Ami ajaibon shudhu
• Prokhor darun oti
• Gôhon megher chhaea
• Shôpnae baje go bashi
• Jalao akash prodip
• Na jeo na
• Ke tumi tôndra harani
• Na mago ma
• Hati hati pappa
• Ami raji rakho baji
• Esho joubon esho he
• Tumi ar ami ar
• Majhrate ghum bhenge rôe
• Amae chinte kêno parchho na ma
• jokhon keu amake pagol bole
• ami tar thikana rahini
• kothay kothay je raat hoe jay
• rangini koto mon
• lolita go oke aaj
• aakash pane chehe
• eto raag oy go
• koto dure aaj nie jabe
• hai hai go raat jay go
• je khoti aami niechilam
• nilam nilam
• shudhu ekdin bhalobasa
• e nodi emon nodi
• aami ful na hoe
• bhomra re
• mohasindhur opar hote
• ondhokarer ontorete
• ghono tomosabrita
• kotha dao aabar asbe
• aami aakash hote pari
• khub jante ichche kore
• jodi ekhono aamke
• ke jane shyam chilo
• bolo radha hote
• aaj shorote
• aamar chokhe borsha
• ei aachi besh
• ei sei ghor, sei dorja
• tumi cholte firte
• tomar niswase bish chilo
• je somadhi beditar thik opore
• tumi chithi likhe
• lagche ochena ki onek diner pore
• tomay kichui bolini to
• ei rat sesh raat
• sonar e dingulo
• jodi proshno kori
• o kuasha bhorer obujh
• dosh bochorer bonshi
• lal jobakeo lojja dieche
• kichu chai kichu pai
• keno fire jay
• soheli go ki name
• shunte shunte onek kothai
• onek kotha boleo tobu
• sonali rong mekhe
• misti ekta gondho
• obhinonondon noy
• aaj rate chader osojhhho aalo
• prithibike biday janie
• eto bhalobese tobu
• orunna kanti kore

PARTHA CHATTERJEE

Manna Dey's autobiography is as much about his involvement with Bengali film as it is about his career in Hindi film music.

MANNA DEY, the ebullient singer of Hindi and Bengali film songs through the 1950s to the 1980s, wrote his autobiography, Jeebonir Jalsa Ghare, in 2005. An English translation, Memories Come Alive, has just come out. Those who love and admire the singer will welcome this volume but may be slightly disappointed by its tone, which is a compromise between the intimate and the formal.

As a singer Dey was in his prime from 1945 to 1980 or a year or two later. His voice was known for its clarity of tone and steadiness of pitch. It became "silvery" as it soared higher and higher, for instance, in his duet with Lata Mangeshkar, "Aa ja sanam madhur chandni me hum", from Chori Chori (1956) when he floats into the antara with the words "bheegi bheegi chandni... ".

It is indeed a bit strange and even bizarre that despite the quality of his voice and his ability to sing a wide variety of songs - he could render with ease romantic numbers, melodies based on classical ragas, folk forms, comic ballads and even adaptations from Latin American music and rock `n' roll - he never shared the number one spot, which he so richly deserved, with another marvellous singer, Mohammad Rafi. It is an unspoken regret that has stayed with him through his life.

As a singer he was a late starter. While at Scottish Church College and a little later at Banga Bashi in Calcutta (now Kolkata), he was much in demand for intercollegiate cultural meets and won many prizes, singing a variety of songs. His uncle, the legendary blind singer-actor of Bengali and Hindi films of the 1930s and 1940s, Krishna Chandra (K.C.) Dey, however, was not impressed. Young Manna was then better known as a wrestler! Wrestling certainly added to his natural robustness and possibly gave him the stamina to acquire quite amazing breath control when he took to singing seriously.

Incidentally, the nickname Mana, meaning "darling", was given to him by his mother, Mahamaya Devi, and got corrupted to Manna. He was actually named Prabodh Chandra Dey, but having such a long name would not do for a singer in those changing times. The Second World War was on, and even countries like undivided India could not help but be affected by the new technology that the Armageddon-like situation in the world had created. Traditional cultures the world over revealed cracks. The quality of film music in India was changing like rapid underwater currents though nothing much was revealed on the surface. The old style, the highly melodious music of New Theatres, Calcutta, with the incomparable K.L. Saigal as its king and the great K.C. Dey as its prince regent, was still reigning supreme.

The short-wave radio service from Britain and America brought popular music to our shores, and the free availability of Western classical and pop music in certain metropolitan stations of All India Radio slowly began to affect a very small band of listeners, which included composers and arrangers of film songs, particularly in Bombay (now Mumbai) and Calcutta.

However, when Manna Dey arrived in Bombay in 1942 as a 23-year-old, his mind was full of the traditional melodies - khayals, thumris, dadras, bhatiyalis and kirtans - his uncle had taught him. He had come to train as an assistant to K.C. Dey, who was composing the music for Tamanna. He sang his first duet with a beautiful young girl, who would soon make her mark as the singer-actress Suraiya.

A year later, in 1943, an eccentric genius called Sajjad Husain set a raga-based melody to a waltz rhythm in the song "Badnam mohobat kaun kare", rendered superbly in the film Dost by the classically trained Noorjehan. In the same year, Manna Dey rendered four songs for composer Shankar Rao Vyas in the film Ram Rajya directed by Vijay Bhatt.

Manna Dey, in later life, wondered why, despite having successfully rendered many hits for the top male stars of Hindi cinema, he was invariably saddled with songs for comedians and old men. He answered the question himself by saying that he had begun singing for Valmiki in Rama Rajya! During that time he was also given the sad responsibility of teaching a romantic song to his soon-to-be colleague Mohammad Rafi.

A.M. FARUQUI

MANNA DEY DURING a performance in Bhopal in October 2006.

Two songs immortalised Manna Dey in Bombay in the short span of three years and, ironically, put him in the role of the commentator rather than the leading participant in the story in a number of Hindi films. The first, "Upar gagan vishal" (composer: S.D. Burman, lyrics: Pradip) for Nitin Bose's Mashal in 1950 and, the second, "Chale radhe rani" (composer: Arun Kumar Mukherjee, lyrics: Bharat Vyas) for Bimal Roy's production of Parinita.

"Upar gagan vishal" is a soaring eagle of a composition that tests the mettle of any singer, calling for range, malleability of voice, gravity and sweetness, and a subtle understanding of the lyrics, which describe the creation of the universe poetically but not inaccurately. If one single song brought lasting glory to a lyricist, it was this one.

"Chale radhe rani", on the other hand, is a poignant Vaishnav kirtan-like composition sung by a wandering old mendicant to project the dilemmas of the heroine, Lalita, an orphan. For one so young, Manna Dey in both these songs revealed an astonishing maturity in understanding the nature of the fundamental ideas and emotions that govern everyday life. But it was this very quality that prevented him from regularly singing romantic numbers for living stars such as Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Bharat Bhushan and Raj Kapoor. He was always considered the perfect voice for a buzurg, or an elder, but not a young dashing romantic hero.

It was Shankar of the Shankar-Jaikishan duo who saw in Manna Dey an exceptional singer of romantic songs as well. In Raj Kapoor's Awaara (1951), Shankar got him to render with Lata Mangeshkar the memorable duet "Tere bina aag yeh chandni". After that, he sang in all of Raj Kapoor's home productions but played a curious role to aid the actor-director's schizophrenic screen persona. Manna was always at hand to render exquisite duets with Lata Mangeshkar and bolster the actor's great lover image. However, it was Mukesh who almost always sang those songs of have-nots that bolstered Kapoor's socialist image and helped him earn millions from the erstwhile Soviet Union. The songs from his films were immensely popular there, not in the least "Aawara hun" (singer: Mukesh) and the duet "Pyaar hua iqrar hua" (Lata Mangeshkar and Manna Dey), because they were based on Byloru ssian folk melodies.

Shankar-Jaikishan's best songs were raga-based and had both lilt and sonority. For a period of 10 years, from 1951 to 1961, they had an ecstatic run of success in the golden age of Hindi film music, and Manna Dey, in no small measure, contributed to it. Listening to him render Shankar-Jaikishan's compositions in Basant Bahar (1956), one understands why.

Songs like "Sur na saje", "Nain mile chaen kahan" with Lata Mangeshkar, "Bhaya bhanjana" and "Ketaki ghulab" with Bhimsen Joshi have become evergreen as much for their singers as for their composers. But how much credit must the composer get for these raga pradhan offerings? After all, it is the singers who are classically trained and have sculpted out the contours of these melodies in the act of singing. The composers, at best, offered a clear sketch of what was to be recorded.

This interpretation gains credence when Manna Dey says that S.D. Burman only gave him "a brief" for the composition in Aheer Bhairav in the film Meri Soorat Teri Ankhen (1963) and it was he who worked at it until it became "Poocho na kaise maine raen bitayi", a truly memorable composition. The story does not look like a settling of scores between two highly creative people who, despite their best intentions, could not really become friends.

Manna Babu is full of admiration for colleagues such as Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar, but it is Asha Bhonsle he singles out for praise: "In her voice modulation, she excels even her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar". Of Mohammad Rafi, he says, "Rafi's renditions were like an early spring morning with its varied hues and shades and appealed to me immensely."

He is not so kind to Talat Mehmood and Mukesh. He feels Talat's leaving the film industry was a mystery and that he perhaps lacked perseverance. The truth is that although Talat was a pioneer of ghazals and geets in films, his kind of music was sidelined by the early 1960s. His Urdu diction was impeccable and his silken, soft voice was more suited to the gentle melodies of another era.

THE HINDU PHOTO LIBRARY

NARGIS AND RAJ Kapoor in "Chori Chori". For this movie, Manna Dey sang 'Aa ja sanam madhur chandni me hum' with Lata Mangeshkar.

Mukesh had some training from Pandit Jagannath Prasad but was mainly self-taught, modelling himself on his idol K.L. Saigal. It is true that it took two hours to get him into tune, but once that happened he was unbeatable. Like Talat, Mukesh too was essentially a singer of geets and ghazals. He got into trouble when he had to prove his versatility and sing all kinds of songs beyond his natural pitch, which he had to do in order to stay employed.

Manna Dey, for some inexplicable reason, is unusually kind to G.M. Durani whose voice he found mellifluous but whom he thought lacked staying power. Durani never really was a front runner as a playback singer except for a brief while before his more gifted colleagues made their presence felt.

In Bengali films, Manna Dey finally found the fulfilment of singing for leading men. He sang quite regularly for the then topmost star Uttam Kumar, who starred with Tanuja in Anthony Firingee. The songs of that film were composed by Anil Bagchi, and Manna Dey's rendering of "Ami Jamini tumi shashi hey" and "Ami jay jalsa ghare" are as haunting as any sung by him. His autobiography is as much about his involvement with Bengali film songs and other forms of sugam sangeet as it is about his career in Hindi film music. He is full of praise for colleagues such as Sudhin Das Gupta, Anil Bagchi, Nachiketa Ghosh and composer-singer Hemanta Mukherjee. He shows great affection and respect for Gauri Prasanna Majumdar, a sensitive and versatile lyricist. He is equally caring about another gifted lyricist, Pulak Bandopadhyay, whose suicide left him bewildered.

Today at 87, Manna Dey, after a long and arduous journey through life and music, has found happiness, most of all in the company of his Malayali wife, Sulochana, whom he fell in love with and married more than 50 years ago. His two daughters, Sumita and Suroma, have grown children. Life now offers another kind of pleasure. Zindagi kaisi hey paheli haye kabhi yeh hasaye kabhi yeh rulaye (Life! What a riddle it is! Sometimes a laugh; sometimes a cry).

Music has become commercial commodity: 
Manna Dey
Neena Bhandari

Music has become a commercial commodity, where a singer’s popularity is judged by how many CDs he sells and not by the quality of his singing, says veteran Indian singer Manna Dey.

Speaking to newspersons here today, Dey who is here to promote Indian culture, says "Today’s singers have cut-throat competition. Music has become a commercial commodity and the choice of words, thoughts and lyrics no longer matters".

Pop songs have come to the fore even with their pedestrian tunes, unqualified singing prowess and meaningless words because they sell, he says adding "today promotion is the key".

Commending young singers, he says "I was pleasantly surprised to see young talent in ‘Tvs Sa Re Ga Ma’. It means, there is no dearth of talent".

To become a good singer, Dey says, one has to have a good voice, a guru for guidance and dedication. "My uncle K.C. Dey initiated me into music. I religiously performed riyaz for a couple of hours daily. I have been a very strict singer, never lackadaisical about rendition of the songs".

Music lovers in Sydney will have a rare opportunity to attend a workshop on classical and non-classical music to be conducted by the versatile single next week.

Even at 81, Dey, who mesmerised audience at the Bengali songs concert here, says "I enjoy singing for the Bangladeshis because they know each and every song of mine by heart. They have kept Bengali music alive, while in West Bengal there has been an influence of Bollywood".

An eight-minute video presentation "An introduction to Manna Dey" by Sydney-based filmmaker Anita Brar was to introduce the singing legend to the expatriate Indian community at a Hindi concert.

Having sung in almost every Indian language and English, the octogenarian singer says, "I wanted to sing on an all-India basis. I have translated Tagore’s songs in Hindi".

In a singing career spanning 50 years, Manna Dey has seen the growth of music in the country. "We are at a stage where we say no more".

He says "In the film industry one has to be on the guard and not make sweeping statements".

"I have rubbed shoulders with great singers like Rafi, Talat, Lata, Hemant and Kishore, who deserve every accolade. Their singing by any yardstick you measure is great."

While drawing comparisons is healthy, to ask someone of Naushad’s calibre "Why did you ask Rafi to sing and not Manna Dey" is ridiculous. Again, Lata Mangeshkar is an institution, there should be no comparison between her and any other singer, he adds

"The one on Manna Dey, titled My Life, My Music, is the first in the series," says Malay Das Gupta, who has directed the series for Saregama India.

Plan and plot From modern to classical, Rabindra Sangeet to folk and baul, the company plans to cover every legend there is to.

Documentaries on Suchitra Mitra, Dwijen Mukhopadhyay, Sandhya Mukherjee, Arati Mukhopadhyay and Purna Das Baul are also being made. There are plans to release documentaries on Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle too.

"These documentaries have been divided into two to four parts, each approximately 25 minutes long. In this artistes share their experiences," informs Das Gupta.

The one on Manna Dey is 95 minutes long and has been shot in digital format. The film incorporates clippings of his popular Bengali and Hindi film songs. Unseen, unheard The singer has talked at length on his association with yesteryears legends like SD Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, Raj Kapoor, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Salil Chowdhury.

The documentary also throws light on some little known facts. For instance, not many know that he loved to fly kites with buddy Mohammed Rafi.

While the first two parts of the film talk about Dey as a young man in Kolkata, the last two parts chart the growth of the singer as an Indian phenomenon. High hopes Das Gupta hopes nostalgia buffs will lap up the series which is being made in Bengali with English subtitles.

The series is also special for Saregama, as they will be marking their entrance in eastern India, with this TV programme.

However, neither the channel on which the series will be telecast, nor the pricing of the  home videos has been finalised yet.

sudipto.shome@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI, APRIL 4. For someone whose singing career spanned over five decades, legendary playback singer Manna Dey comes across as the epitome of modesty.

When asked whether the Padma Bhushan had been bestowed on him a tad too late, the 84-year-old Dey smiles and says, ``At least it came. I am satisfied.''

Dey, who received the coveted award this year for his lifelong contribution to music, has had a successful innings in the annals of Bollywood but says he isn't likely to return to tinseltown soon.

``This is no age for playback singing. I can't sing for a 24-year-old hero. But if a song is made well, I don't mind singing for a character artist,'' says Dey.

At the same time, the adage 'once a singer, always a singer' holds true for him.

``My singing career was quite colourful. I have sung for all artistes - whether hero, villain or comedian,'' says Dey. ``I can't stop singing. I was born to sing and I will do so as long as I live.''

Not many know that Manna Dey was initially groomed to be a music-director. By the time he finished his graduation from Calcutta University in the pre-independence era, Dey was already assisting music directors like Chandraprakash and Anil Biswas and seemed destined to follow in their footsteps.

But lady luck intervened and a song that Dey sang for the film `Ram Rajya' changed everybody's opinion about his vocation.

``They all said I was better off as a singer. Who knows? Maybe they just didn't want me as a rival music composer,'' Dey says. There was no looking back after that. Although he never quite got the kind of success that contemporaries Mohammad Rafi and later Kishore Kumar achieved, Manna Dey went on to record several unforgettable numbers.

Notable among them are evergreen melodies like `Kaun Aaya Mere Man ke Dware', `Aayo Kahan se Ghanshyam', `Tu Pyar ka Sagar Hai' and `Aye Mere Pyare Watan'. And who could forget the `Ek Chatur Naar' duet with Kishore in `Padosan'?

Characteristically, Dey is effusive in his praise of playback singer Mohammed Rafi.

``Rafi, Lata and Asha are my favourite singers. I think of Rafi as the top singer in the world. He was a gift of God just like Lata Mangeshkar. No one can learn to sing like them,'' he says.

But the octogenerian singer is scathing in his criticism of the current generation of music composers.

``All the maestros have gone. Only Naushad is still there. And the younger generation does not know how to make music,'' he says. Dey also feels that composing music today is a trifle compared to the hours of rehearsals required earlier.

- PTI