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Manna Dey's Bengali songs: 14 to start with
Fourteen of Manna Dey's Bengali songs, from Abar Habe To Dekha in 1964 to a Nazrul song in the 1979 Devdas, in year order, with who wrote and tuned each one where the label names them. Every one plays on this page.
In this post (6)
A boy from Calcutta. Seventy years of singing, much of it in Bombay's studios. And a voice you can still hear on a Sunday morning, from somebody's radio across the lane. Manna Dey sang in Hindi for Raj Kapoor and in Bengali for Uttam Kumar, but the Bengali songs are the ones families keep. 24 October 2026 marks thirteen years since he died in Bengaluru. This is where we would begin.
Who was Manna Dey?
Manna Dey was born Prabodh Chandra Dey in Calcutta on 1 May 1919. His teacher and mentor was his uncle, K. C. Dey, a singer and music director who had also taught the young S. D. Burman, and who moved to Bombay in 1942. The nephew went with him. His first film song that year was for Tamanna, with K. C. Dey's music, a duet with Suraiya. He stayed in Bombay, but from the 1950s his Bengali records gave Bengal its singer back.
The honours came in two waves, thirty-four years apart: the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007. At the 18th National Film Awards, for the films of 1970 and given in 1971, he was named Best Male Playback Singer for a Bengali film, Nishi Padma, and a Hindi one, Mera Naam Joker.
1964 to 1966: the Pulak Bandyopadhyay songs
The lyricist who shaped his Bengali sound was Pulak Bandyopadhyay, a Salkia man twelve years younger than him. Pulak wrote him conversation rather than poetry: a man talking to someone who is leaving, or has left, or might come back. Manna Dey sang it as if he were still in the middle of the conversation.
3:27Abar Habe To Dekha
Saregama Bengali
1964. Pulak Bandyopadhyay's words, Ratu Mukherjee's tune, on Saregama. A goodbye that refuses to be one. Three and a half minutes, and our first pick.
3:21Hridayer Gaan Shikhe To Gaay Go Sabai
Saregama Bengali
1965, the same pair: Pulak and Ratu Mukherjee. Everyone learns the heart's song, says the title; listen for the rest.
3:16Ke Pratham Kachhe Esechhi
Saregama Bengali
1966, Pulak Bandyopadhyay again. The argument of every couple ever, set to music: who came closer first? From Saregama's collection of sixties Bengali hits.
1967: Antony Firingee and the jalsaghar
In 1967 he sang for Uttam Kumar in Antony Firingee, the life of Anthony Firingee, the nineteenth-century kobiyal of Portuguese origin who took on Bengal's poets in their own sung duels, wrote agomoni songs, and helped build the Firinghi Kalibari in Bowbazar. Ami Je Jalsaghare is from the film, and so is Ami Jamini Tumi Shashi Hey, below. Nearly forty years later he gave his memoir almost the same words for a title: Jiboner Jalsaghore, published by Ananda in 2005. The echo is hard to read as chance.
3:43Ami Je Jalsaghare
Angel Bengali Songs
From Antony Firingee (1967), with Uttam Kumar on screen. Gauriprasanna Mazumder wrote it and Anil Bagchi set it. The chandelier light of a music room, in under four minutes.
3:16Ami Jamini Tumi Shashi Hey
Saregama Bengali
Also 1967. I am the night and you the moon: an old-fashioned compliment he sings with a straight face and a smile you can hear.
1968 and 1969: the songs people sing along to
These are the ones a room joins in on. Notice how often the subject is somebody missing: an address not kept, a friend begged not to send someone away, a love that may have been meant for someone else.
3:16Ami Taar Thikana Rakhini
Saregama Bengali
1968. I did not keep her address: the whole regret is in the title. Three and a quarter minutes.
3:24Lalita Go Oke Aaj Chole Jete Bol Na
Saregama Bengali
1969. A plea to a friend, Lalita: don't tell him to go today. The refrain is the part everyone knows.
3:22Hoyto Tomari Janya
Saregama Bengali
1969. Perhaps it was for you: a love song that is not quite sure of itself, which is why it works.
3:13Jibone Ki Pabo Na
Saregama Bengali
1969. Will I never have it in this life? Saregama's track list pairs it with Ke Tumi Nandini. Just over three minutes.
The seventies: tenderness, a country, and Nazrul
3:41Tumi Anek Jatno Kore
Manna Dey Bengali Songs
1974. The uploading channel credits the tune to Manna Dey himself. With so much care, the title says, and the rest of the line is the sting. Tenderness and reproach in one breath, a very Bengali thing for a song to do.
4:13Ke Tumi Tandraharani
Saregama Bengali
1978. Pulak Bandyopadhyay's words to Prabhas Dey's tune: who are you, stealer of my sleep? Four minutes, on Saregama.
3:21Bharat Amar Bharatbarsha
90s Kid Prime
1978, and a different Manna Dey: the patriotic song. Keep it for the morning of 15 August. It lives in our Desh mood.
He sang Nazrul too. The Bengali Devdas of 1979, directed by Dilip Roy, has him sing a Nazrul song.
4:16Jedin Labo Biday
Saregama Bengali
Kazi Nazrul Islam's words and tune, in Devdas (1979), on Saregama: the day I take my leave. Four minutes. Play it last, or not at all on a bad day.
One more, with no year on its label: Khub Jante Icha Kare, Mukti Roychowdhury's words and Prabhas Dey's tune, from the Saregama album Chayanika. I badly want to know, the title says, and the song tells you what. Keep it for the evening.
4:00What is not on this list, and why
The obvious gap is Coffee Houser Sei Addata: Gauriprasanna Mazumder's words, Suparna Kanti Ghosh's tune, recorded in a Mumbai studio and released in 1983 (some sources say January 1982), the song College Street's adda still claims as its own. We do not carry it yet. The same goes for Ami Sri Sri Bhajahari Manna (1969) and Sabai To Sukhi Hote Chay (1982).
For the rest of that era, Hemanta, Shyamal Mitra, Kishore and Lata among them, our old Bengali songs list picks up where this one stops. And if you are here for the Puja days, the Durga Puja songs post has the dhak.
He recorded songs for seventy years and outlived Pulak Bandyopadhyay by fourteen. What remains is the thing he did in every one of these fourteen: he sang to one person at a time. Put Abar Habe To Dekha on, and see who in the house starts humming first.
References (8)
- Manna Dey, Wikipedia. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Manna Dey (মান্না দে), Bengali Wikipedia. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- K. C. Dey, Wikipedia. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Pulak Bandyopadhyay, Wikipedia. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Coffee Houser Sei Addata, Wikipedia. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Devdas (1979 film), Wikipedia. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Antony Firingee (film), Wikipedia. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Anthony Firingee, Wikipedia. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
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