Manohari Singh (8 March 1931 – 13 July 2010) was an Indian

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

, saxophonist and was the main arranger of seminal film composer R. D. Burman. He along worked with Basudeb Chakraborty as music composers, the duo also popularly known as Basu-Manohari.

Early life

Manohari Singh was born in a Nepalese

Bhusal Bhusal or Bhushal ( ne, भुसाल) is a surname belonging to the Khas people of Bahun caste from Nepal. Notable people with the surname Bhusal include: *Beduram Bhusal, Nepalese politician * Sujata Bhusal, *Nirajan Bhusal,American Citizen ...

family in Kolkata. His father and uncle used to play in brass bands. In 1942, he joined the brass band at Bata Shoe Company, Bata Nagar in Kolkata, under its Hungarian conductor Joseph Newman. When Newman left in 1945 to join HMV, Manohari followed. From classical music, he started playing Hindi and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

songs for the HMV orchestra, since Newman arranged music for many composers like Kamal Dasgupta,

S D Burman Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. A member of the Tripura royal family, he started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one o ...

Timir Baran Timir may refer to: * Timir Biswas (born 1982) Indian singer in Bengali and Hindi * Timir Chanda (born 1978) Indian cricketer * Timir Datta, an Indian-American physicist * Timir Pinegin (1927-2013) Russian-Soviet sailor * Timir mine, Sakha, Ru ...

and Ravi Shankar. He also played

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

and

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

at the

Calcutta Symphony Orchestra The Calcutta Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra that once existed in Calcutta, India. The last conductor of the orchestra was Bunny Jacob.Francisco Casanovas Francisco Casanovas Tallardá ( Barcelona, October 9, 1899 – Murcia, December 16, 1986) was a Spanish conductor, composer, pedagogue, clarinetist, saxophonist and flautist. Biography Francisco Casanovas Tallardá was born in San Gervasi ...

, conductor at the Symphony Orchestra and band-leader at Firpo's Restaurant, George Banks, trumpet player at the Grand Hotel, and others, Manohari was introduced to the Calcutta nightclub scene. He had already tried his hand at the English key

, the

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

and the

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, but now he decided to learn the saxophone in order to be able to play at nightclubs.

Career

When the conductor Joseph Newman left HMV in 1950 to settle in Australia, Manohari moved on to play at Firpo's with his own band. Urged by the music director Salil Chowdhury, Manohari decided to try his luck in Mumbai, moving there in 1958. His first break in the

Hindi film industry Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

was in 1958 with Sachin Dev Burman, as a saxophonist for the movie

Sitaron Se Aage ''Sitaron Se Aagey'' () is a 1958 Hindi Black-and-white family film written and directed by Satyen Bose. The film starred Ashok Kumar and Vyjayanthimala, with Johnny Walker, Rajasulochana, Shammi, Jagdish Sethi, Manmohan Krishna and Leela Mishr ...

. He went on to play with many other

s, his strongest association being with

R.D. Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work ...

, for whom he played the saxophone in many compositions. In addition to playing the

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

, Manohari Singh was also the music assistant and arranger for R. D. Burman.

Memorable Hits

Among other notable works, Manohari played on the well-known hit "Gaata Rahe Mera Dil", composed by

S.D. Burman Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. A member of the Tripura royal family, he started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one o ...

, from the movie Guide. He also played for songs in the movie Chalte Chalte and

Veer Zaara ''Veer-Zaara'' () is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Yash Chopra, who co-produced it with his son Aditya Chopra. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta as the eponymous star-crossed lovers: Veer Pratap Singh (Khan ...

. He also released an album titled Sax appeal containing saxophone renditions of various Hindi movie music tracks Manohari Singh was said to deeply cherish his gold-plated Selmer saxophone (bought in New York City in 1969) and tried to avoid getting even his own finger-prints on it.He (as Basu-Manohari) composed for "Sabse Bada Rupaiya", produced by Mehmood, starring Vinod Mehra and Moushmi Chatterji in lead rode. Here in a romantic song "Wada karo sajan", one can enjoy the same beauty and touch of Panchanda.

Awards

Manohari Singh was felicitated at the

Yashwantrao Chavan Natya Gruha Yashwantrao Chavan Natya Gruha is a theatre auditorium and exhibition hall located in Kothrud, Pune. The theater is named after first Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the division of Bombay State and the fifth Deputy Prime Minister of India ...

(auditorium) on 19 March 2006, on the occasion of his 75 birthday. He was also awarded with "Memorable Contribution to Music Award" at the Tata Indicom Radio Mirchi Music Awards function held on 27 March 2009.

Death

Manohari Singh died after a Cardiac Arrest on 13 July 2010 in Mumbai.

Selected filmography

''Santaan-1989'' - Nepalese Movie ''Kanyadan- 1991''- Nepalese Movie 'Sabse Bada Rupaiya - 1976 - Hindi movie (as Basu-Manohari)

Memorable Nepali songs

References

External links

An article in Hindi about Manohari Singh on The Bhopal Post web-siteIMDB entry on Manohari Singh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Manohari 1931 births 2010 deaths Musicians from Kolkata Indian saxophonists 20th-century Indian musicians 20th-century saxophonists Indian male musicians 20th-century male musicians