मन्ना डे

Manna Dey (1 May 1919 – 24 October 2013) was the most rigorously trained and most self-effacing pillar of Hindi film music — the singer composers turned to when a song demanded true classicism. Born Prabodh Chandra Dey in Calcutta, his first school was the home of his uncle, the blind singing legend Krishna Chandra (K.C.) Dey; he went on to train under Ustad Dabir Khan, Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan. He came to Bombay with his uncle in 1942 and made his playback debut the same year with a duet with Suraiya in Tamanna.

His reputation was built on songs of classical weight: 'Laaga Chunari Mein Daag' (Dil Hi To Hai, 1963) and 'Poochho Na Kaise Maine Rain Bitai' (Meri Surat Teri Ankhen, 1963) remain the benchmarks of raag handling in playback singing. The ache of 'Ae Mere Pyare Watan' (Kabuliwala, 1961), the mehfil sparkle of 'Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen' (Waqt, 1965), the riotous mock-classical duel of 'Ek Chatur Naar' (Padosan, 1968) opposite Kishore Kumar, the philosophy of 'Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli' (Anand, 1971), the qawwali muscle of 'Yari Hai Imaan Mera' (Zanjeer, 1973) and the friendship anthem 'Yeh Dosti' (Sholay, 1975) — few singers have ever covered such range.

As one of Raj Kapoor's singing voices he delivered the immortal duets of Shree 420 and Chori Chori — 'Pyar Hua Iqrar Hua' and 'Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi'. 'Ae Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo' (Mera Naam Joker, 1970) won him the Filmfare Award. Honoured with the Padma Shri (1971), Padma Bhushan (2005) and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2007, Manna Da recorded close to four thousand songs in Hindi, Bengali and other languages. He died in Bangalore on 24 October 2013 — and the throne of 'the singer's singer' has stood empty since.

Manna Dey brought a concert vocalist's equipment into the recording studio: complete command of raag and taal, taans of genuine classical velocity, and the rare ability to keep all that architecture inside a three-minute song without crowding the lyric. Composers used him as their specialist — for the Bhairavi lament, the Darbari gravity, the qawwali engine — yet his Raj Kapoor duets prove he could be utterly simple too. His comic-classical numbers ('Ek Chatur Naar') required the hardest trick of all: singing brilliantly while pretending to sing badly.

• The benchmark of raag handling in playback singing
• Classical-velocity taans tamed into the three-minute song
• Authenticity in every form, bhajan to qawwali
• Comic numbers sung with full classical discipline