Veteran Playback Singer Manna Dey to Perform
By India West. Source: Ms. Nalini Ramji
Following is an excerpt from an article on Manadey.
Hayward, Calif. – Veteran playback singer Manna Dey will perform at a concert Aug. 25 here at Chabot College. A noted Bollywood playback singer as well as an immensely popular exponent of modern Bengali songs, Manna Dey has been performing for films and on stage for over 40 years, and his popularity seems to be undiminished.
Success was a long laborious process for Manna Dey. I am a great fighter, a struggler, he says. I have done it all my life and I am still doing it. I am never able to accept defeat. The great thing about struggle, he says, is that despite moments of near despair, the pride and the confidence that come from finally having made it make it all worthwhile. Dey says classical music buffs as well as those who do not understand classical music love his music; and his training, discipline and hard work are universally recognized and appreciated.
Dey harbors no grudges for the fewer opportunities he received compared to some of the singers in his day. He has worked with all major music directors of his time and despite their willingness to give him more songs, the music directors were not always the decision makers, he says. The industry flourished on the dictates of the stars many of whom identified with a voice: For instance Rafi, a Naushad favorite, sang most of Dilip Kumar’s songs, Mukesh had a near monopoly on Raj Kapoor’s songs, both Rajesh Khanna and Dev Anand favored Kishore Kumar. However, Dey’s unique talent did not go unnoticed or unappreciated and music directors created situations and characters just to be able to have one of his songs.
Looking back at other playback singers, Dey concedes that Rafi was undoubtedly the best. Kishore Kumar had natural aptitude and a great voice, and he was a brilliant actor, says Dey, but Rafi was way above the others. Though it was not easy for a singer of Dey’s talent to see Rafi get the cream of the pickings in the hero-oriented industry while he had to sing for lesser stars, it helped him work doubly hard to make each of his songs a special work of art.
Let me put things in the right perspective. Singing is different from Play Back Singing. While singing requires training and perfection, playback singing requires an additional skill – the ability to to enact. As a born actor, Kishore could lend that extra bit of fizz to playback singing.So, if Rafi is the greatest singer ever, and correctly so, Kishore is the greatest playback singer of our times.
Rafi was a great singer technically. Kishore had created a niche for himself although he himself was a rafi-fan. Kishore’s popularity grew by leaps and bounds once he established himself. A song lover likes a song on the basis of how it is rendered. Kishore far outshone Rafi on this count and hence to date is perhaps liked for his renderings. His songs never sound monotonous. Sometimes different songs are rendered so differently by Kishore that it becomes very difficult to tell if it has been really sang by him or by somebody else. His voice modulation was outstanding and that is where he excelled and scored over Rafi. However Rafi is great in his own right so far technicality is concerned.
IT’S time M/s.Nalini Ramji get associated with Rafi Foundation or any Rafi Group in the U S and offer her expertise as she is a foremost fan of the eternal singing sensation – shri Mohd Rafi. U may please write to me for a dialogue in this regard.
Binu Nair, Mumbai, Rafi Foundation, e.mail : binus2000@hotmail.com
Anil Chaudhari jee, you may visit his website http://www.mannadey.in and write a letter to him.
Best of luck!
Amit
Sir,
I personnaly want to meet to Mr.Manna Dey Saheb in Mumbai since I am his one of the fan.I really enjoy his songs so much. can anybody help me in this matter.Even I don’t have his address.
Pl.help me…….
Anil chaudhari-9324877662
I am 22 yrs old i have been listening to since i was a child. I am a Rafi Fanatic but it is hard to believe somone’s voice could effect me so much even though they died 5 years before my birth.
Rafi is undoubtably the greatest indian playback singer, although Manny Dey Kishore and Mukhesh all sang great songs overall Rafi was special a God given talent who pocessed so much quality that his songs could move a person.
RAFI SAAB IS THE BEST N UNBEATABLE IN ANY TYPE OF SONGS N SITUATIONS .WHAT IS LATAJI TO FEMALE RAFI SAAB IS TO MALE PLAYBACK FIELD.
THERE IS NO OTHER FACT..
Kishoreda is the best.
i appreciate manna da for his greatness as a singer and a human being in acknowledging that rafi sahib IS the greatest.
i, in fact have the print copy of his full interview ( walk the talk with sekhar gupta – editor – indian express ) where he says ” RAFI IS AN ICON” . further in the same interview he says that while he has great regard for” QUOTE ” kishore ( da’s ) voice, what is there to sing in kishore’s songs/ ” UNQUOTE.
this is not to generate another needless controversy, but to put things in perspective.
IN FACT I ALSO HAVE AN INTERVIEW OF AR RAHMAN, ANOTHER GREAT COMPOSER, WHERE HE SAYS THAT ” HE IS LOOKING FOR HIS RAFI IN A MALE VOICE”.
SP Balasubramaniam was asked in a tv interview on sun tv that who was / is the single greatest influence on you/ your style of singing, at his reply was, unhesitatingly ” without doubt RAFI SAAB ”
like i said earlier, we love kishore da also, but WE LOVE RAFI SAHIB THAT MUCH MORE.
regards ss makkar
MANNA DEY IS UNDOUDTEDLY IS ONE OF THE ALL TIME GREAT SINGERS IN THIS SUB CONTINENT. BEING A BANGALI, I ALSO HEAR HIS BANGLA SONGS AND HE IS AS GREAT IN THOSE. HE SAN SOME DIFFICULT HINDI SONGS AND IT IS SAD THAT HE IS NOT CELEBRATED AS HE SHOULD BE. INFACT I THINK ONLY KISHORE KUMAR IS CELEBRATED EXCESSIVELY WHICH IS NOT GOOD BECAUSE AS FAR AS SINGING IS CONCERNED RAFI JI AND MANNA JI ALWAY AHEAD OF KISHORE. AND BIG DIFFERECE BETWEEN RAFI AND OTHERS IS THAT RAFI IS THE ONLY MAN WHO COULD SING ALL TYPES SO EASILY THAT YOU GET SURPRISED. REST WERE GOOD AT SOME LIMITED TYPES OF SINGING.
Manna Dey had in a write-up by him told that Mohd Rafi started from chorus singing, overtook evryone in godspeed and established himself as the greatest male voice of India past, present, and future.
YES DEFINITELY SHRI MANNADEY SAHAB HAS VERY CLEARLY STATED THAT RAFI SAHAB WAS THE ULTIMATE DESTINATION AS A GREAT SINGER OF HIGHEST CALIBRE
INDIAN GOVT SHOULD NOT WASTE TIME BY NEGLECTING RAFI SAHAB FROM CONFERRING BHARAT RATNA AWARD WHICH IS ALMOST DELAYED BY 26 YEARS WHICH IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SHOCKING STATE OF SITUATION SO FAR AS TRUE ART IS CONCERNED. BECAUSE WHAT WAS QUALITY OF RAFI’S VOICE AND POPULARITY YESTERDAY , TODAY AND COMING GENERATIONS IS REALLY UNBELIEVABLE. NOBODY IN THIS WORLD CAN COME HALFWAY OF MOHAMMED RAFI’S VOCAL QUALITY AND SINGING MANNERISM WHICH WILL LINGER FOREVER IN THIS WORLD OF MUSIC AMONG MUSIC LOVERS AND NON MUSIC LOVERS
THANKS
WE MISS YOU MOHAMMED RAFI AND ESPECIALLY I MISS YOU
MR. SHAMMI ACHARYA
Great article. I am just sad I dont know how to reply properly, though, since I want to show my appreciation like many other.