Legendary singer Feroza Begum who played an instrumental role in popularising national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam’s songs in South Asia died at the age of 84 in the capital’s Apollo Hospitals last night.
Her family said she had been suffering from kidney and heart complications for some time.
Chinmoy Bhattacharya, duty manager at the hospital, confirmed that she passed away around 8:30pm.
President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and JaPa Chairman HM Ershad expressed their grief at the demise of Feroza Begum.
Three days ago she was admitted to the hospital with kidney complications. On Monday, Feroza was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit as her condition deteriorated.
The prolific artiste was born in Ratail Ghonarpara of Gopalganj on July 28, 1930 to zamindar father Khan Bahadur Mohammad Ismail and mother Begum Kaokabunnesa.
In 1955, she married famous composer Kamal Dasgupta, a renowned singer, music director and composer of many Nazrul’s songs. Their sons Hameen Ahmed and Shafeen Ahmed are popular rock artistes, while Tahsin Ahmed lives abroad.
Feroza won the Independence Day Award among many other acclaims. The prominent Nazrul Sangeet exponent was born on July 30 in 1939 to an aristocratic Muslim family in the Faridpur district.
Her dead body will be kept at Central Shaheed Minar from 2pm to 4pm for people to pay their respects.
Shamsuzzaman Khan. director general, Bangla Academy, said: “Demise of this legendary figure is bad news for the sub-continent and its music industry.”
“She will be remembered forever with the memories she leaves behind. This loss cannot be compensated,” he stressed.
Feroza, who was drawn to music from her childhood, was considered the most prominent Nazrul Sangeet singer in the subcontinent. She is particularly given credit for successfully reviving the popularity of the music genre at a time when it was losing popularity. Her unique presentation contributed to it.
Her Namaz-e-Janaza will be held after Asr at Azad Mosque in the capital’s Gulshan area. She will be buried at Banani graveyard.
“Whenever I hear the name of Nazrul the second name comes into my mind is Feroza Begum. It’s impossible to think Nazrul Geeti without her,” said Fatema Tuz Zohra, another eminent Nazrul Sangeet singer.
Feroza, who involved herself in the music industry in this subcontinent for more than six decades, became an institution from an individual personality.
Since her childhood she had had craving for music side by side with her studies, paintings, acting and dancing.
Although her family was not a very conservative family there was no music practice in her family. But her family made a great contribution to her love for music. There are many old records of music in their home.
Once she performed a song in the presence of many famous people and achieved appraisal from the listeners. On returning home, her maternal uncle asked her: “Do you know where you played music?”
Feroza replied: “How do I know? Have I seen anyone before?”
Her uncle then told her: “Did you see the man who wore a tupi? He had long hair, sat in the middle of the audience and also brought you cordially to sit with him. He was none other than the famous poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.”
Later she found the famous poet as her teacher from who she learned Nazrul Sangeet. The flamboyant personality was known for her mesmerising singing style and lovely voice, said Nazrul exponent, researcher and Chairman of the Nazrul Institute Trustee Board, Professor Rafiqul Islam.
Sharing her memories, Rafiqul Islam said: “She was an unbelievable singer who had the power of taking someone with the emotion of the song into the world of music. It is a matter of great sadness that we lost her. She can never be replaced.”
In 1942 when she was a 12-year-old girl her first recorded song titled “Morur buke jibon dhara ke bohalo” was released. In 1949 “Ami gagone gahone shondha tara”, a Nazrul Sangeet, was recorded by Gramophone company while in 1960 during Durgapuja two of her most popular songs “Dur Dipo Bashini and Momero Putul” were released.
Her “Shawono Rate Jodi” was released in 1968 and had sold out more than 2 lakh copies. She was then awarded the Gold Disc Award by the CBS company of Sony Corporation in Japan.
About 1600 of her songs had been recorded, while she rendered many both in India and Pakistan.
She received many awards in her lifetime in Bangladesh and Pakistan, the most significant being Shadhinata, Shilpakala Academy, best Television Singer awards along with the Nasiruddin, Sir Salimullah and Satyajit Ray gold medal awards. But her contribution to the field of music in the subcontinent is most outstanding of the awards she had received.
