Rezwana Choudhury Bannya Explained

Rezwana Choudhury Bannya
Native Name:রেজওয়ানা চৌধুরী বন্যা
Native Name Lang:bn
Birth Date:1957 1, df=yes
Birth Place:Rangpur, Bangladesh[1]
Genre:Rabindra Sangeet
Occupation:Singer, professor
Instrument:Vocal, harmonium, esraj

Rezwana Choudhury Bannya is a singer from Bangladesh. She is an exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, the songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore.[2] She has won many awards including Bangladesh's highest civilian award, the Independence Day Award (2016) and India's fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri (2024).[3]

Early life

Rezwana was born in Rangpur, Bangladesh to her parents Mazharuddin Khan and Ismat Ara Khan. Her early singing lessons began with her uncle Abdul Ali and continued later under the tutelage of Sanjida Khatun and Atiqul Islam at Chhayanaut and Bulbul Academy of Fine Arts (BAFA) in Dhaka. As she continued taking lessons in music and singing, she also joined the Economics Program at the university of Dhaka after completion of her schooling.[4] However, soon her inner self came to the realization that music was her destiny. She received a scholarship from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to study in Sangit Bhavana at Santiniketan, the university that was founded by Tagore himself. She took lessons from artistes including Kanika Bandyopadhyay, Nilima Sen, Sailajaranjan Majumdar, Santidev Ghosh, Gora Sarbadhikary, Manju Bandyopadhyay and Asesh Bandyopadhyay. Years after receiving her master's degree from Visva-Bharati, she trained under Kanika Banerjee (Mohor Di) in private sessions for an extended period of time, as she recalled in the Musiana episode, "Meeting Mohar Di", hosted by Srikanto Acharya.

In 2021 she completed her research on Rabindra Sangeet at the University of Dhaka, for which she received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Career

Bannya is currently Professor and founding chair of the Department of Dance at the University of Dhaka; previously, she had been a professor in the Department of Music at the same university.[5] Inspired by Kanika Bandyopadhyay, she founded in 1992 Shurer Dhara, a prestigious music school in Dhaka. with a focus on Ranbindra Sangeet. Bannya is currently Honorary Dean, Faculty of Performing Arts & Chairperson of Music Department of Tagore University of Creative Arts. In 2010, in order to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, she brought out a complete audio version of 2,233 songs in Tagore's Gitobitan, which was titled Sruti Gitobitan.[6]

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: My Life. Rezwana Choudhury Bannya's official website. 29 July 2017. 3 January 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200103151952/http://rezwanabannya.com/Bannya%20di%20site/My%20Life.html. dead.
  2. News: https://www.anandabazar.com/entertainment/rezwana-choudhury-bannya-plans-to-teach-tagores-songs-and-thoughts-to-children-of-prostitutes-in-bangladesh-dgtl/cid/1317877. bn:Rezwana Choudhury Bannya: বাংলাদেশে যৌনকর্মীর সন্তানদের রবীন্দ্রনাথের গান শেখাবেন রেজওয়ানা. 10 December 2021. 21 Dec 2023. anandabazar . bn.
  3. News: 14 individuals, Navy picked for Independence Award 2016. 2016-03-08. The Daily Star. 2018-01-15. en.
  4. News: Kallol . Hashibur Reza . My life is blessed, I do not have any regrets: Rezwana Choudhury Bannya . 25 June 2024 . The Daily Star . 9 April 2024 . en.
  5. http://www.du.ac.bd/department/common/facultymemberdetail.php?memberid=FMTMU93015&bodyid=DMUSIC The University of Dhaka, Department of Music
  6. Web site: 'Shruti Gitobitan' (শ্রুতি গীতবিতান) . 11 February 2018.
  7. Web site: Rezwana Choudhury Bannya Most Popular Bangladeshi Rabindra Sangeet Singer. bikkhato.com. 10 January 2014.
  8. News: Rezwana Choudhury Bannya awarded . 1 October 2011. 29 July 2017.
  9. News: bn:বন্যাকে ‘সংগীত সম্মান পুরস্কার’ . http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/news/341415 . Prothom Alo . 2 April 2013 . bn . 29 July 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130405042730/http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/news/341415 . 2013-04-05.
  10. Web site: AUW Confers a Doctorate of Arts, honoris causa, Upon Rezwana Chowdhury Bannya . Asian University for Women . 10 June 2019.