Manna Dey - A musical genius rarely matched

Credited with pioneering a new genre by infusing Indian classical music in a pop framework, Manna Dey epitomised 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 today 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 'Hamari hi mutthi mein' for 1991 film 'Prahaar'.

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.
Dey was much in demand for complicated raag-based songs and was once even pitted against his idol Bhimsen Joshi in 1956 movie 'Basant Bahar' for 'Ketki, gulab, juhi' song, something that he initially refused.
While his mastery over classical numbers somewhat pigeonholed him, the uniqueness of his voice made it impossible for any singer to replicate him.