Culture Desk
Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre organised a musical evening of folk songs by Fakir Alamgir and Monira Islam Pappu on February 20 at 6pm at Kabi Sufia Kamal Auditorium, Bangladesh National Museum, Shahbagh in the city. Fakir Alamgir is a popular pop singer of Bangladesh who has blended traditional folk music with western instruments and has successfully fused ‘modernism’ into the old tradition of Gono Sangeet. He has released several popular albums with foot-tapping numbers like “O Sakhina”, “Shantahar” etc. His rendition of “Daam diye kinechhi Bangla” is an epic track that stirs nostalgic patriotism. Although Fakir Alamgir did not receive formal musical training, he joined the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro and rendered inspiring songs along with Abdul Jabbar, Kaderi Kibria, Apel Mahmud, Altaf Mahmud and others. In 1976, he founded the Gono Sangeet group “Wrishiz Shilpi Gosthi”. He is also the president of Gana Sangeet Shamanya Parishad.
A very popular singer, he has got many awards and honours. He was awarded the ‘Ekushey Padak’ by the Government of Bangladesh in 1999.
Alamgir is also a writer and has authored nine books so far. He published his first book Chena China in 1984. His next two publications were Muktijuddher Smriti Bijoyer Gaan and Gono Sangeeter Otit O Bortoman. In 2013 he published 3 books – Amar Kotha, Jara Achhen Hridoy Potey and Smriti Alaponey Muktijuddho.
Monira Islam has done her graduation in classical vocal music (kheyal) from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, with ICCR scholarship. Thereafter, she did her post graduation in Kheyal there and is presently doing PhD in folk music from the same university. She has also taken talim from Ustad Babu Rahman in Bangladesh, and Pt. Arun Bhaduri, Acharya Jayanta Bose, Koyel Das Gupta Naha and Abhijit Basu in Kolkata.
She has given stage performances in Bangladesh and India including at the Bangladesh High Commission and Russian and German Embassies in Kolkata. She also performs in TV and Radio programmes in Bangladesh and has performed in Tara TV and Moitry Akashbani in Kolkata. She has won awards in many competitions including 1st prize in folk music competition 2009-10 organised by the Department of Information and Culture, Government of West Bengal.
