The life of legendary singer Manna Dey, golden voice of Indian cinema

Manna Dey

Manna Dey, who passed away at 3.52 am this morning(24th Oct 2013), was remembered by friends, family, colleagues and fans from across the country and world. The singer's body was taken to the Ravindra Kalakshetra auditorium in Bangalore for the public to pay their last respects. While it poured heavily outside, friends and fans of Manna Dey sat peacefully inside reminiscing the singer's greatness.

The singer's younger daughter Sumita, who was by her father's side throughout, interacted everyone who arrived at the venue. However, the singer's elder daughter Shuroma, who lives in the US, was missed by the family as she was unable to fly down due to health issues. In addition to all the Sandalwood personalities and Bangaloreans, West Bengal was represented by Kalyan Banerjee, an MP who arrived from Kolkata.

Kannada singer Shimoga Subanna, who is popular for his folk renditions, was also present at the venue and even rendered a couple of songs in memory of Manna Dey. The singer, whose singing has touched hearts of several people across generations, will continue to stay alive with his melodies like Ae Mere Zohra Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen, Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli and Laga Chunari Mein Daag, among many others.

Credited with pioneering a new genre by infusing Indian classical music in a pop framework, Manna Dey  pitomised the golden period of Hindi cinema with his inimitable style and memorable songs like Puchho na kaise, Aye meri zoharajabi and Laga chunri mein daag.

Along with Rafi, Mukesh, and Kishore Kumar, Dey was the last member of the famous quartet of singers who dominated the Hindi music industry from 1950s to 1970s.

In a career spanning over five decades, Dey, who died on Thursday in Bangalore at the age of 94, went on to sing over 3,500 songs in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada and Assamese films before quitting movies in the '90s.

His last song was for 2006 film Umar.

While Rafi, Mukesh and Kishore were the favoured voices when it came to the lead actors, Dey stood out for his unique voice. Adept also at singing Rabindra Sangeet, the multi-talented legendary singer's experimentation with western music and qawwali produced many unforgettable melodies.

Dey, who had made Bangalore his home for the past few years, started his career in playback singing with the film Tamanna in 1943. The musical score was set by his uncle Krishna Chandra Dey and he had to sing a duet with Suraiya. The song Sur na saje kiya gaon mein was an instant hit.

In 1950, Mashal was the second film where Dey got the opportunity to sing a solo Upar gagan vishal, a melody created by Sachin Dev Burman.

In 1952, Dey sang both for a Bengali and a Marathi film of the same name and storyline, Amar Bhupali, and established himself as a booming Bengali playback singer that in years to come took him to greater heights.