Solo album pays tribute to Feroza Begum Kamal Dasgupta

Cultural Correspondent
Singer Shusmita Anis has launched a remastered version of an album titled ‘Smritir Uddeshshe’ paying tribute to the legendary musician couple Kamal Dasgupta and Feroza Begum.
The album was launched at a programme held in Kolkata, India on July 26 marking the birth anniversary of the couple, which was celebrated on July 28.
Smritir Uddeshshe was first launched in 1998. It contained 10 songs sung by Shusmita Anis. The songs had been tuned by Kamal Dasgupta and penned by Pranab Roy while the music was done by Feroza Begum. It was launched under the banner of Raga Music.
While speaking about her new album, Shusmita Anis said, ‘I am very grateful to the creator for giving me the opportunity to release these songs. It is a great pleasure for me that I could release the album again marking the birth anniversaries of Kamal Das Gupta and Feroza Begum,’ said Shusmita Anis.
The album was released all over the world in online, telecom and digital markets.
Kamal Dasgupta, music director, composer and folk artist, was born on July 28, 1912 in Narail. He sang modern songs in Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, and Tamil. He composed the music for about eight thousand songs. His work was based on classical music and tended towards the Thungri style, though he also drew inspiration from other sources. He passed away on July 20, 1974.
Feroza Begum was born into an aristocratic Muslim family in Faridpur on July 28, 1926. She stepped into the world of music at an early age and regarded as nightingale of Nazrul Sangeet for her contribution to the genre.
She also got the rare opportunity to learn music directly from Kazi Nazrul Islam and legendary composer Komal Dasgupta, whom she later married in 1956 amid reservations of her family.
Feroza Begum had to face many challenges during her music career spanning over 70 years. Though she could sing deserve genre songs, she decided to pursue Nazrul Sangeet, which was not even considered a separate genre back then.
With lot of dedication and hard work Feroza Begum managed to establish Kazi Nazrul Islam’s songs under the title of ‘Nazrul Sangeet’. She released 12 LP records, 4 EPs, 6.
CDs and more than 20 audio cassette albums.
She received numerous awards including Independence Award, Ekushey Padak and others. Feroza Begum passed away on September 9, 2014.