Amar Pal (19 May 1922 – 20 April 2019) was an Indian

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

folk singer and author.

Early life

Pal was born in 1922 at

Brahmanbaria Brahmanbaria ( bn, ব্রাহ্মণবাড়িয়া, Brāhmaṇabāṛiẏā) is a city of Bangladesh and the capital of Brahmanbaria Sadar Upazila as well as Brahmanbaria District. It is the second largest city after Cumilla ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. His father Mahesh Chandra Pal died when Pal was 10. He learned

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

from his mother Durga Sundari Devi. He also trained in classical music from Ustad Ayat Ali Khan, brother of legendary

Allauddin Khan Allauddin Khan, also known as Baba Allauddin Khan ( – 6 September 1972) was an Indian sarod player and multi-instrumentalist, composer and one of the most notable music teachers of the 20th century in Indian classical music. For a generation ...

. Later Pal received training in folk music from Mani Chakraborty and Suren Chakraborty in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Career

Pal went to Kolkata in 1948 with Sachindranath Bhattacharya, a lyricist of

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

. In 1951, he first got a chance to sing in ''Akashbani Kolkata''. He recorded thousands of folk and modern Bengali songs in the next seven decades. The satirical song "Kotoi Rongo Dekhi Duniyay", in

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...

's ''

Hirak Rajar Deshe Hirak may refer to: * King Hirak, a figure in Hirak Rajar Deshe * 2019–2021 Algerian protests * Hirak Rif, protest movement in Morocco * Al-Hirak, Syria, town and sub-prefecture in Syria * Popular Movement in Iraq * Al-Hirak, Arabic name for the ...

'', made him famous. He worked in a number of Bengali films as a playback singer or music director. Pal attended seminars and workshops on folk music worldwide and became the Vice-Chairman of the Paschim Banga Rajya Sangeet Academy. He received the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

in 2007 from the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

and the

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal also known as the West Bengal Government, is the subnational government of the Indian state of West Bengal , created by the National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The ...

awarded him the Sangeet Mahasamman in 2012 for his prolonged contribution in folk music. He was honoured by the

Rabindra Bharati University Rabindra Bharati University is a public research university in Kolkata, India. It was founded on May 8, 1962, under the Rabindra Bharati Act of the Government of West Bengal in 1961, to mark the birth centenary of the poet Rabindranath Tagore. ...

and Burdwan University. Pal also wrote two books, ''Banglar Loksangeet'' and ''Banglaar Nadir Gaan''. The notable devotional songs Pal sang are as follows: * Prabhata Samaye * Jago He Nagarbasi * Jagia Laho Krishna Nam * Ami Kothay Gele * Amar Gour Kene * Rai Jago * Rai Jago Go * Hari Din Toh Gelo * Prabhate Gouranga Nam * Bharati Gouranga Loiya * Mon Radhe Radhe * Vrindabana Bilasini, etc.

Death

Pal died at

SSKM Hospital IPGMER and SSKM Hospital, or in its full name Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research and Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital, colloquially known as P.G. Hospital (Presidency General Hospital), also known as PGI Kolkata, is ...

, Kolkata after a cardiac arrest on 20 April 2019 at the age of 96.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pal, Amar 1922 births 2019 deaths Bengali musicians Bengali playback singers Bengali singers Indian male folk singers Musicians from Kolkata People from West Bengal People from Brahmanbaria district Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian musicians 20th-century Indian male singers