Now, you can listen to Nazrul Geeti in Odia

| | CUTTACK
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Now, you can listen to Nazrul Geeti in Odia

Sunday, 02 August 2015 | VIRAJ SHUKlA | CUTTACK

Songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam, popularly known as Nazrul Geeti, can now be heard in Odia, thanks to Cuttack-based singer Namrata Mohanty, who has produced and recorded an album of Nazrul Geeti translated into Odia in her melodious voice.

For the first time, Nazrul Geeti has been translated and recorded in any Indian language in the form of a studio album.

The album has 12 immortal love songs of the great Bengali revolutionary poet-musician Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976), who wrote and composed nearly 4,000 songs which are widely popular in India and Bangladesh with fans and followers spread all across the globe.

Odisha’s veteran lyricist and music composer Swarup Naik has translated the songs into Odia while noted music designer Nityashree Ranjan has arranged the music tracks and supervised the dubbing sessions.

Singer Namrata says she started contemplating and working on the project over three years ago. "love songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam impressed me a lot when I heard them first. The meaningful lyrics and the melodious music are simply matchless which mesmerisd me."

"His compositions are very difficult to sing. I selected twelve songs which I liked most and it took me several days to learn the songs. My album is a musical tribute to the great personality. I hope the listeners would like my work," she says.

The much-awaited album is expecting release on the occasion of the 40th death anniversary of Kazi Nazrul Islam on August 29, 2015 at Nazrul Mancha, Kolkata with a similar release function in Cuttack or Bhubaneswar.

Namrata Mohanty is a B-High grade singer of All India Radio (AIR), Cuttack since 1983. She has received rigorous training in Hindustani classical vocal from eminent musicians like Dhananjay Satapathy, A Maheswar Rao and Shantanu Das.

She has lent her voice for many Odia albums. Her first solo album of Odia modern songs Janhare Tolide Ghara released in 2009 was received well by the listeners. It had lyrics by front-ranking lyricists of Odisha like Bijaya Malla, Nizam and Arun Mantri, and well-known composer Om Prakash Mohanty had set them to tune.

Her second solo Odia album Dipa Jale Dipa libhe released in 2010 evoked lot of curiosity and excitement among the listeners as she had recovered and rendered some lost and unpublished lyrics written by the legendary songwriter-singer-composer of Odisha, Akshaya Mohanty. Noted music director

Om Prakash Mohanty gave a fresh leash of life to the lost lyrics through his befitting compositions.

last year, she simultaneously released two more solo albums Chhuti and Ninad. Chhuti is a collection of twelve Odia modern songs written by lyricist Bijaya Malla and composed by Om Prakash Mohanty. Ninad is a collection of eight traditional Hindi bhajans written by saint-poets like Tulsidas, Surdas, Meera Bai, Kabir and lalit Kishori. Veteran composer A Maheswar Rao has composed the music. The two albums reflect her versatility in singing traditional bhajans as well as peppy modern songs. While Ninad reached a wider audience all over the country, Chhuti appealed to the young generation of Odisha.

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