Popular Indian singer Haimanti Shukla in an interview with New Age highly admires Bangladeshi listeners for their love for Bangla songs.
Haimanti Shukla is now in Bangladesh to perform in a musical programme on a private TV channel. She has shared her feelings and opinions of music in an exclusive interview with New Age.
‘I love to visit Bangladesh as the people of this country are devoted to Bangla songs, and I can’t remember exactly how many times I have visited to this country since my first visit in 1989 for playback of a feature film,’ expressed Haimoti Shukla.
A classically trained and very experienced singer, Haimanti has a solid reputation in Bengal. The endowed singer got her training from her father eminent artiste Harihar Shukla, and, as a singer by instinct, she took part and won the first position in a music competition at the age of only three. She has presented numerous timeless songs like Ogo brishti amar, Amar bolar kichhu chhilona, Ogo swapno tumi chole jeyona, among many others.
However, Haimanti Shukla considers the recent period is restless and the agitation is reflected in the songs that are being produced these days. ‘I think, nowadays, the songs are less appealing where instrumental music often gets more attention than the voice comparing to the songs of our time. Moreover, the excessively loud application of musical instruments sometimes torments my ears,’ Shukla expressed her opinion about contemporary music.
‘I often think that I don’t understand their music. May be it is the generation gap that should be blamed,’ added the humble artiste.
The endowed artiste generally releases musical albums every year during Durga Puja festival. ‘I release new albums during Durga Puja only. A new album named Mon-e Ki Pore featuring some modern songs composed and lyrics by Buddhudev Ganguly and Chirenjib Bashu respectively, will be released during next Durga Puja festival,’ said Haimanti Shukla.
‘During next Durga Puja, the music lovers will get the album which will contain some very soothing songs which sound like Kirtton songs,’ said the artiste in commenting about her album release.
The versatile singer further said, ‘I am easy with any type of songs though I think classical song is the base of all music, and, to sing well, one has to practice the genre with heart and soul.’
As an artiste of West Bengal, Haimanti Shukla is greatly influenced by legendary singer Manna Dey. ‘You can find shadows of Manna Dey in my songs, I admire him most as a singer and we have done numerous songs together,’ recalled Haimanti in sharing her musical experiences.
However, there is another good news for Haimanti lovers in Bangladesh that she is going to sing for an album titled Satkahon jointly produced by both the Bengals.
Composed by Ratna Chawdhury from Kolkata, the songs of the album are adapted from Bhanushingho’s poems on Radha-Krisna by Sheikh Hafizur Rahman form Bangladesh.
Courtesy of New Age
