News4u Special Feature By Veera Chaturvedi-I will not go into the details of when Manna de sang his first song or that he was the nephew of a renowned singer K.C.Dey. I rememeber listening to a song by this singer when I was hardly 8 or 10 yrs of age. The song was a chorus from Ashok Kumar starrer “Mashaal”. It ran as follows ” Ooper Gagan Vishal, neeche gahra pataal, beech mein dharti, wah mere malik to ne kiya kamal”. From amongst a throng of chorus singers a voice used to rise and fill up the sky like the light of the morning sun. It had the power, depth, the gravity, the melody and the sweetness of a great singer. It was the voice of Manna De.

Since then I became his follower and he like a jugglar kept changing faces and filling his audience with awe. He surprised and enthralled, he touched the innermost recesses of heart as well made us smile at his vocal antics. He came out as a polished classical singer but at the next moment tickled our funny bone as well.

I loved him as a romantic singer when he sang”Pyar hua iqurar hua hai”. I often wondered why Raj Kapoor ever opted for another singer other than Manna De. For Raj Kapoor he crooned the most romantic songs of film music -’ye raat bheegee bheegee’ and ‘aaja sanam ‘. In Basant Bahar when he sang ‘ nain mile chain kannha’- Shankar Jaikishan brought out the best of this singer. Apart from these there are many more romantic numbers we can never forget like ‘ na jaane kanha tum the’, ‘tum gagan ke chndrama ho’, and ‘neel gagan ke kale badal kar denge badnam’ were other feathers in his cap as a romantic singer. “kaun aya mere man ke dware’ is an unforgettable composition spilling out romance and love.

Manna De but knew no bounds. He could touch the meloncholy chord with as mcuh ease as the romantic. In fact all the sad songs are another face of romantic songs only. Its only the spirit of the song that changes. Love, happy, gushing love and the sad lonely voice of a lover separated from the beloved thats the only difference between the two. If there was ever a truely meloncholy song recorded it was in Manna De’s voice, the composer S.D.Burman brought out a miraculous quality of Manna De’s voice. The pathos, so cleraly expressed in his sweet and vibrating voice, the modulations were so expertly handled that “poocho na kaise maine rain bitai” became a symbol of sorrowing love. The same note of sadness pervades his all time great bhajan “bhay bhanjana vandana sun hamari’ and still in Naushads immortal composition from ‘Mother India’ “junhria kati jaye re umaria ghatti jay’.

Being a non hindi speaking was never an impendiment to his singing. When he sings ‘ o meri johara jabeen’ or ‘ ai mere pyare watan’ not a single word is mispronounced.

Manna De excelled in classical singing. Whether he was singing with Bhimsen Joshi, Krishna Ran Chonkar or Amir Khan sahib, he never faltered. When he recounts with humility that he was dizzy with fright thinking of having to sing with such stalwarts of Indian classical singing. It only proved his respect for those who had earned a name in this genre, he very seldom stepped in. But when he sang ‘jhanak jhanak tori baje payalia or laga chunri mein daag or chum chum baje re payalia- you wonder at the range of his voice, the magic of his renditions in whatever he chose to lend his voice to.Ofcourse my tribute to this great singer would be only half complete if I did not mention his private songs ‘meri bhi ek mumtaj thee’, ‘Nathli se toota moti re’, ’sawan ki rimjhim mein’ and kis tat bandhe nav re manjhi’ etc etc They are all along with his rendering of Bachchan’s Madhushala or Alha are themselves gems studded in a life devoted to sining only. He regaled us with ‘phul gendwa na maro’, ‘chatur naar’ and such others, made us cry with ‘ ai mere pyare watan’ filled with joy singng ‘meri johra jabeen’ and left us awe -struck by his classical numbers. Today at the ripe age of 90 after getting the Dada Sahib Phalke award he still is the same Manna De for whom the great singler Rafi said ” people listen to me, I listen to Manna de’

Please Manna De sing on……..