Manna Dey the First Sufi Voice of Indian Music

    Heard a heart wrenching news today morning.  Manna Dey is no more. That eternal and ethereal voice which serenaded our lives, mostly without making any noise and starry tantrums has gone. Of course, a lot has already been written and will be written about the perfect mix of classical and Bollywood singing maestro. All I have to offer here is my respect and a thought which occurred to me after I was thinking about him and his unfathomable repertoire of work. In my opinion Manna Dey is one of the first voices in popular hindi music which represented Sufi/ philosophy genre of songs. Apart from Mukesh if I am not mistaken. Remarkably, that too in mainstream Hindi movies. The place today is been occupied by plethora of singers, specially Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.Trace  his journey and his work and you would immediately know what I mean. Some remarkably outstanding songs of this genre (which I know in my limited knowledge) are " Laga chunari me daag", " Zindagi kaisi ye paheli", "Kasme vaade pyaar wafa sab", "Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo", "Poochho na kaise maine rain bitayi", "Chalat musafir moh liya re" to name a few amongst other fabulous songs. All these songs are immortal. All of them have shades of sufism. A certain philosophy about life and the ways of this world. Sometimes in a light hearted way and sometimes with a lot of force and conviction.He immortalized these songs, films and the situations. We use these songs even today to describe a situation in life and none other than Manna Dey is responsible for it. Talking about immortal songs, one song I know which I guess will be alive and kicking till the time Bengali community is there on this planet earth! "Coffee housher adda" is one song which will perhaps has come a long way and will go till bengali civilization is alive and kicking. Another gem "Hoyechhi tomari jonno" by Manna Dey is still a hot favorite amongst the lovers in Kolkata."Coffee Housher Adda " is a song of nostalgia. Song of separation and longing. Manna Dey with Mukesh was the only singer who sang with aplomb maximum number of sad and haunting songs till 70's. Post that Kishore took over.There was not a fixed genre for Manna Dey. Though he rarely sang for the leading actor. With Kishore Kumar he sang iconic "Ek chatur naar". A supremely sweet romantic duet with Lata Mangeshkar "Ye raat bheegi bheegi" and absolutely brilliant rendering of "Ae mere pyaare watan". What else to say. Thanks for enriching us master. Respect.