Sudeb Dey, the nephew of Manna Dey. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 24: To revive the magical voice of legendary singer Manna Dey, his nephew Sudeb Dey is planning an all-India release of the last recording of his songs in an album next year.

Sudeb was in the city to perform at a musical night, organised by Pragati, a city-based cultural organisation.

He feels that the charisma of his uncle’s voice is very much alive among the music lovers and it will get a new lease of life after the release of the album.

“My uncle had recorded the Gayatri Mantra in 2010. He believed in it and used to chant it often. While he was not into mainstream singing, at that time, he recorded it out of pleasure but never got an opportunity to release it,” said Sudeb. “He has a lot of dedicated fans all over the country, and that is why I want the recording to reach out to a larger audience. I am in talks with a few music companies and probably the album will be out by next year,” the singer said.

Sudeb’s performance at Rabindra Mandap took the audience to a trip down memory lane as it reminded them of the glorious era of the legendary musician. Sudeb sang a number of evergreen Manna Dey songs such as Zindagi kaisi hai paheli, Laaga chunari mein daag, Pyar hua ikrara hua and Ek chatur naar karke singar. His rendition of Manna Dey’s famous Odia song Jamuna jaana from the movie Sakhi Gopinath was very well received by the audience.

Another Bengali song Tumi chole jaoar por depicting the equation between Sudeb and his uncle was also appreciated. Pondering over the uncle-nephew relationship, Sudeb said: “My uncle gave me the basic training in music. Despite his busy schedules, he met me once in six months to impart advance training on the intricacies of music.”

All of Sudeb’s efforts aim to ensure that people remembers his uncle through him.

“I am nowhere near my uncle’s class and none can ever be. But since I have trained under him, people find a lot of similarities between our singing styles, and in most of my concerts, I make it a point to sing his songs. I try my best to remind the audience of the legendary singer, and there could be no better compliment than this,” summed up the committed nephew.