This article was featured on Tribune News Service. Source: Mr. Sajjad Qadir.

Suddenly the city has found favour with legends in the field of music. While yesterday, the harmony was weaved by ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan, today it was the legendary singer Manna Dey sharing his moods at a local hotel.

The only living legend, Manna Dey was visibly perturbed as to where the future of melody was heading.Our music, which must reflect the strength of our culture, is being ruthlessly tampered with. Today the film industry does not have directors inclined towards good music. Hence there is no situation for soulful music in today’s films. That is one precise reason why our music issuffering, he said.

As he travelled down memory lane, many facts about his life came to the forefront that he trained under his uncle K.C. Dey and assisted many music directors like Mr S.D. Burman and Anil Biswas. His urge to sing variety also came to light.

I have never allowed myself to get stereotyped. And that is how the country does not know of me as a singer of particular moods. I have sung comic songs, sad songs, thoroughly classical and light classical numbers. I have sung in various languages, apart from my own mother tongue Bangla, he said.

The song Upar gagan vishal was the turning point. Other numbers like Jhanak jhanak and poochho na kaise maine rain bitayee also get equal credit, he added. The comic inclination of Manna Dey came in front of the audience through Mehmood, for whom he sang many numbers. From Aao twist karen to many others. The list is endless, he said.

Talking about whether the present day remix craze was ideal, the singer reacted strongly. This kind of music amounts to killing a song. How can you ever dream of singing what legendary singers like Rafi or Mukesh have sung? I do not claim to come up to their standards. But look at present day singers. They can sing any song, he stated.

He expressed concern over the continuously declining standards. He said he, as a singer, could only propagate music. The rest is up to film makers. They must create situations which demand good singing, he opined.

The legend also informed that pained by the erosion of music in its real form, he had stopped singing for films. This rule is subject to change. I sung a song in Prahaar, which was picturised on a professor who was rearing Nana Patekar. I sung because the lyrics, the music and the situation were all perfect.”

The maestro is in town on the invitation of the music group The Harmony. He will perform at Tagore Theatre tomorrow evening.

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