On August 04, 2006 Arun was extremely
fortunate to get a chance to
meet with the legendary singer Manna
Dey. Here are some photographs and
memoir of
this special moment.
Arun introducing himself to Manna Dey
Manna Dey signing autograph for Arun. Nirmalya is waiting to be next.
Arun printed the lyrics of one of his favorite Manna number "Zindagi
kaisii hai pahelii, haay" and carried to the show. Manna
signed on that page. (The ticket of the memorable show is also included
in the scan. )
(Thanks to my wife Shaonly for taking the wonderful photographs.)
A personal memoir:
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Live Manna in LA
August 4th 2006 will always be remembered in the hearts of music
lovers in Los Angeles. This was a rare opportunity for people in Los
Angeles to listen to this living legend.
Since, unfortunately, other legendary male singers are not alive, I
always had the wish to listen to Manna Dey live. I even mentioned
this to my wife over an email four years back. The wish became true
last week.
The La Mirada Performing Arts center in Anaheim was fully packed. The
program started at 8 PM. The audience was eagerly waiting to see and
hear the legend. There was a minor setback when the organizers
introduced another singer as "voice of Lata". She sung four very good
numbers. Later in the evening, she further sung four duet songs with
Manna Dey. From the audience's reaction and my humble
opinion, it was perhaps not a good fit with Manna Dey.
Anyway, let me concentrate on Manna.
When Manna Dey entered the stage the audience gave him a standing
ovation. It was a dream come true to see this legend walking in front
of us. The clapping continued and continued, he finally gestured to
stop! Then on, the audience was mesmerized with his melodious voice.
He sang around 25 songs. After few songs, the guest started to
request for theirfavorite songs. He smiled and said, "Aare bhai, Abhi
to shuru kiya!" (Dear Brother, I have just started!) He was always
remembering the lyricists and music directors he had worked with. At
one point, he
commented that by birth he is a bengalee and sang a bengali song.
Later, he sang one gujrati and one bhojpuri song. Requests poured in
continuously. He obliged couple of them. There were repeated requests
for bengali songs. He was little reluctant to oblige them since the
organizers and the large part of the audience were not bengali
speaking. That was justified. However, at the end, after repeated
requests for one particular song, he obliged for the famous one,
"Coffee House -er sei Adda ta aaj ar nei". It is perhaps the most
popular bengali song by him, any bengali adda is incomplete without
that. He sang few verses from "Madhushala" writen by late Dr.
Haribanshrai Bachhan. Few others he sung in the evening were,
"Zindagi kaisi hai Paheli haay", "Kaun aaya mere man ke duar me",
"Kasme wade pyar wafa".
One of the impressive things was how he coordinated with the
musicians. As far as it seemed, they did not had chance to rehearse
together. Initially he was unhappy about the microphone. The audience
got tensed; anyway, it got fixed promptly. Many times, he instructed
the tabalchi - for few songs he infact recited the ‘bol’ how to play
the tabla!
The age could not crop on his sense of humor. When he needed a break
after two hours of singing, he said that the tabalchi wants to have
some tea! Few people live till 87, and many of those who live are not
at their best condition. My friend (jocularly) commented that the
only sign of him being senile is his choice of songs. He performed
some numbers which does not come into the 250 (approx) songs I have
heard. The only bengali song he sang by choice was something like,
"Jodi Himalay aar Alps-er jato jamano baraph, ekdin gole-o jay,
tobu tumi sudhu-e aamar.."
A little while after 11 PM, amidst floods of requests, he asked the
audience, "dont you have to go home?" At one point, the announcer
commented that it was remarkable to experience how a person can
perform so well at 87. The comment was very much true, the whole
audience agreed with him. The maestro said, why does the age matter,
the important thing is to keep the heart young.
After the show, I got a chance a to meet this great man. I touched
his feet and introduced myself. He asked my name and gave an
autograph. It is the first time ever that I took somebody's
autograph. And of course, I took pictures like crazy. Later, when he
was talking to other people I was watching this great singer -- it
was a dream for me.
Hats off to the maestro.
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http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~saha/stuff/Arun_with_Manna_Dey.html
August 8, 2006