Death of Feroza Begum was a big blow to World of Nazrulgeeti.

Death of Feroza Begum was a big blow to World of Nazrulgeeti. Famous singer Feroza Begum died on 9th September, 2014 at the age of 84 years. She had been survived by 3 children. She was the wife of famous singer and composer Kamal Dasgupta. Between 1954 to 1967 she lived in Kolkata. After that she permanently went to Dhaka in Bangladesh. She was one of the great Nazrul geeti singers after Dhirendra Nath Dey and Manobendra Mukherjee. Some of her most famous nazrulgeeti included “shukhna pata nupur paye”, “ami bono phul go”, “gobhir nisithe ghum bhenge jai”, “joto ful toto bhul”, to name a few. Very significantly she was very close to and met great poet and composer Kazi Nazrul Islam who was also called Bidrohi Kabi. She met him at the age of 10 years. Kazi Najrul Islam’s songs are called Nazrul geeti. Many Bengali singers had sung eminent songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam. The list is very long and some of the great names include Jaganmay Mitra, Dhiren Mitra, Manabendra Mukherjee, Satinath Mukherjee, Mohammad Rafi, Anup Ghoshal, Kamal Dasgupta, Akhibandhu Ghosh, Ajay Chakravarty and others. Most of the songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam are very classical in nature. It is very difficult to sing those songs unless the singers have special skills. Feroza Begum revived Nazrul Geeti both in Kolkata and in Bangladesh at a time in the 1980s when the craze for Nazrul Geeti was drying up. She had given adequate expression to the words of Kazi Nazrul Islam. Her songs should be preserved and restored.

Kamal Dasgupta's contribution in Bengali modern songs.

Kamal Dasgupta’s contribution in Bengali modern songs.

Kamal Dasgupta, the legendary composer of 40s and 50s had brought more variation in contemporary film music and also contributed in the world of modern Bengali songs. Bengali films were at a rudimentary stage when Kamal Dasgupta composed songs for Bengali films. The other composers who also composed music in Bengali films during that period include Himangshu Dutta, Pankaj Mullick, Raichand Boral and others.

Kamal Dasgupta’s composition “kotodin dekhini tomai” became famous in the 40s. It was later sung by even legendary singer Manna Dey. The notable songs of Kamal Dasgupta which were sung by established singers of the 40s and 50s included “prithibi amare chay” sung by Satya Choudhury, “duti pakhi duti teere” sung by Talat Mehmood, to name a few. Singers like Jagonmoy Mitra, Talat Mehmood and Robin Majumdar were greatly influenced by the singing style of Kamal Dasgupta.

Jhuthika Roy, an eminent female singer of the 40s and 50s was also influenced by the style of singing of Kamal Dasgupta. At that time Robin Majumdar was a popular matinee idol in Bengali films. His films like Bhangagora, Kobi, Joideb with Asitboron, addressed the common mass who were not that interested in historical films which were the other type of films that were made at that time. Jhuthika Roy had famous basic discs for devotional songs in the early 40s and 50s.

In the early 50s, Robin Majumdar’s film Jogajog was a very big hit. The songs like “ei kigo sesh dan”, “baluka belai miche” composed by Kamal Dasgupta reached every Bengali during the 50s. At a time when Kamal Dasgupta became indispensable in Bengali films and contemporary modern songs he left for Dhaka (Bangladesh). Kamal Dasgupta’s brother Subol Dasgupta also gave notable tunes legendary singers of the 50s including Jaganmoy Mitra and Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya.

In Dhaka, Kamal Dasgupta worked on songs of Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. Under his patronage, Feroza Begum became one of the leading singers of Nazrul Geeti of all times. But Kolkata lost one of the creative genius Kamal Dasgupta as he settled in Dhaka (Bangladesh).

In the 50s and 60s many legendary composers like Robin Chatterji, Sudhin Dasgupta, Salil Choudhury, Anupam Ghatak, Anil Bagchi, etc., made notable contribution in Bengali music and they are considered the biggest giants of modern songs. But historians agree that Kamal Dasgupta’s music was very relevant during the 40s, when film was at its infancy and Bengali modern songs at its immature stage. Kamal Dasgupta’s works should be restored and preserved.