The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Academics and artistes recalled the contributions of folk singer Abdul Alim at a discussion meeting at the Dance and Music Centre Auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the city on Thursday.

Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) organised the discussion to pay homage to Abdul Alim.

Folk researcher and artiste Mustafa Zaman Abbasi and folk artiste Nadira Begum was present as discussants at the meeting, while Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam, Director General of BSA, chaired the function.

In the discussion, the speakers spoke on the life and works of the artistes.

Folk artiste Alim took music lessons from a local instructor, Syed Golam Ali and earned a reputation as a singer while quite young. He recorded first two songs for a gramophone company in 1943, said the speakers.

After 1947, Abdul Alim settled in Dhaka where he became a radio artiste. He also sang on television and for films and recorded about five hundred songs. He was highly regarded for his mystic Murshidi songs, they said.

Artiste Abdul Alim received a number of national awards, such as the 'Ekushey Padak,' 'Purbani Chalachchitra Award' and Bangladesh Chalachchitra Sangbadik Samiti Award.

After the discussion, folk artistes Azgar Alim, Abu Bakar Siddiqui, Sardar Mohammad Rahmatullah, Suchitra Chakrabart and Fatema Begum rendered songs of Abdul Alim.