Tête-à-tête
"Nazrul songs do not provide a shortcut to stardom"
-- Leena Taposhi
 
by Ahsan Habib

Courtesy: Daily Star [BD: October 9, 2006]

Nazrul Sangeet singer Leena Taposhi currently works as a faculty member and deputy director of Shanto Mariam University of Creative Technology. She also runs Benuka Lalitkala Kendra and Anandogeet Badyam, which provide training to aspiring singers and musicians. She talked to The Daily Star recently about her musical career and her present interests.

Leena is presently engaged in her PhD on 'Use of Ragas in Nazrul Songs', under the supervision of Nazrul scholar Professor Rafiqul Islam. "The use of different ragas, familiar and less known ones, is evident in Nazrul's songs. Finding those less known ones is very difficult as we lack relevant books in Bangladesh; I have to collect books from India," said Leena, acknowledging the difficulties which she faces in the course of her research. Earlier she had completed her M Phil on 'Variations of Nazrul Songs and Their Characteristics' from Dhaka University.

Talking about the lukewarm response of the younger generation to Nazrul songs, Leena said, "Nazrul songs do not provide a shortcut to stardom. One has to put in rigorous hours of practice to gain a standing in the field. Those who seek to grab public attention effortlessly prefer other songs. However, fortunately this is only a slice of reality. A lot of promising Nazrul singers are coming up who are devoted to the genre."

"As Nazrul is a part of our national identity and an essential part of our tradition, of our heritage, collective as well as individual efforts are required to preserve his works," added Leena. In her view, Nazrul singers in Bangladesh have a high dedication to their genre and work tirelessly to promote Nazrul and his compositions, even with the minimum support from the media. "Government and non-government organisations confine themselves to arranging death and birth anniversaries. Nazrul singers are invited only to render songs. No proper evaluation system for Nazrul singers and scholars is in place. Though some artistes are honoured at functions, in the absence of institutional support this has little impact."

Leena was inspired to be a singer by her father MA Khan, who was at heart a true lover of music. She began to receive music lessons in 1976. She first participated in BTV's Notun Kuri and Esho Gaan shikhi. After graduating from the Music College in Dhaka she went to Vishwabharati University on a scholarship to study classical music in 1981.

On her return from Shantiniketan, she did her Masters in Economics from Dhaka University.

Her mentors in Shantiniketan were Mohan Singh Khangura, Younus Hossain Khan, Alok Chattyopadhyay and Kaberi Kor. During her stay in Kolkata she also received training in Nazrul Sangeet from Dhirendra Chandra Mitra. Sheikh Lutfar Rahman, Akhtar Sadmani, Narayan Chandra Boshak and Khaled Hossain were her mentors in Music College in Dhaka.

Leena has four albums to her credit to date. They are Nazrul Geeti (1986), Hajar Tarar Bhire (1986), Khelichho E Bishwo Loye (2000) and Tumi Ki Ashibe Na (2002).

 

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