She was 11 or 12 years old when she came to HMV studio in Kolkata with her brother and uncle to audition for songs. On that day, the girl s...
She was 11 or 12 years old when she came to HMV studio in Kolkata with her brother and uncle to audition for songs. On that day, the girl sang 'Jodi Porane Na Jage Akul Piyasa', then Dwijendralal Roy's 'Kalo Pakhita Morey Keno Kore Jwalaton'.An elderly man was listening to her renditions and praised her by saying," You see, this girl will sing very well one day'. That little girl was Feroza Begum, and her uncle later told her who had listened to her songs for so long, was none other than Kazi Nazrul Islam. The rest is history!
An amazing digital archive on the legendary artist of
Nazrul songs Feroza Begum was launched on her birthday, July 28. On this day
Feroza Begum Archive (www.ferozabegum.com)
officially started its journey. In the beginning there is a biography,
list of awards, there is a treasure trove of songs having a high range of variety
like Nazrul's songs, Rabindra Sangeet, modern Bengali songs, Geet and ghazals.
Anyone can listen to all her songs. There is also information about the songs like
release year, composer-lyricist names, publisher company details etc. You can also access all her interviews
from television to radio, various stage programmes with just one click These
include interviews published in various Bengali and English newspapers,
programme reviews, reports too.
The photo gallery has pictures from her solo journey to
pictures with family, musical moments, even pictures with different stalwarts
from various professions of our society. Various celebrated artists of
different generations talk about her. There are also plans to add any
information, videos or songs from admirers who have them in their collection to
this archive.
In addition, there are handwritten notebook copies,
notations, letters etc. There are biographies of her husband, renowned composer
Kamal Dasgupta, transcripts of songbooks, reports published in newspapers,
songs and pictures. Among the most popular songs of Feroza Begum to the tune of
Kamal Dasgupta are Emono Barosha Chhilo Sedin, Ami Banaphool Go etc.
Feroza Begum's niece Shusmita Anis, the brain behind this
mammoth initiative, says, "We are very honoured and proud of this work. It
is a privilege to have such a legendary artist as a member of our family. This
work can also be called my Gurudakshina to her. The digital archive of this
dream was built with great care and love. It was really a very difficult task
to document her works under one single roof. It was possible with the
cooperation of the family. This archive is a treasure trove and will be helpful
for those who will study her songs for any research-based job. "
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