The legendary singer-composer Kamal Dasgupta was remembered through a musical show organised by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on
Sunday at National Music and Dance Center.
The programme shed light on the life and works of the legendry musician and transported the audience to the yesteryear Bangla melodies as celebrated singers like Iffat Ara Dewan, Shoma Rani Roy,Sumon Chowdhury, Sarmin Sathi Islam, Khairul Anam Shakil and others rendered songs composed by Kamal Dasgupta.
A teacher of Dhaka University Sayem Rana and director of Music and Dance department of DU Sohrab Uddin delivered key-note speech on the celebrated musician’s life and works.
Kamal Dasgupta (July 28, 1912- July 20, 1974) took Bangla music to a different height of popularity through his flamboyant compositions. An astonishing number of 8000 songs of different genres have immortalised his name and made him one of the most influential music maestros in the Indian subcontinent.
‘In today’s context it is difficult to discover a music maestro like Kamal Dasgupta. For his immense contributions to contemporary Bangla music and Nazrul Sangeet, his name will never fall into oblivion. Of the thousands of songs to his credit, 400 are Nazrul Sangeet, and the rest are based on various styles such as geet, meera bhajan, kabir bhajan in Hindi; naat; thumri and ghazals in urdu. His contribution and reputation as a musician is incomparable,’ said Sohrab Uddin.
The discussion was followed by a soulful soiree of Kamal Dasgupta’s musical majesty. Contemporary singer Shoma Rani Roy was the first to appear on stage. Through her solo renditions like Asha diye je chole jay and Khoniker bhalo laga, the singer set the atmosphere for an evening of melody.
Veteran singer Sumon Chowdhury received a big round of applauses from the audience for his solo rendition of two songs- Kotha kow thakiona chup kore, and Ghumero chhaya chadero chokhe.
Other renowned singers performed his songs- Iffat Ara Dewan sang Jodi apnar moner madhuri mishiye and Prithibi amare chay, Sanoara Jahan rendered Jaago omito piyashi chitto, Sharmin Sathi Islam performed Hay pothik jao phire and Mon niye priyo jeyona phire. Khairul Anam Shakil beautifully rendered two songs on the occasion- Mone pore aj and Tumiki ekhon dekhicho.
‘It is important to protect, promote and preach the works of a legend like Kamal Dasgupta, for the future generations. I think, programmes like these will certainly serve the purpose’, Kazi Sohan from the audience expressed his views to New Age after enjoying the show.
-With New Age input
