Today (July 27) marks the 90th birth anniversary of the birth of the legendary folk singer Abdul Alim. He became a household name with his renditions of popular folk songs, like ‘Allah Megh De Pani De,’ ‘Haludia Pakhi,’ ‘Sab Sakhire Par Karite,’ and countless others.
Family members of Abdul Alim told media outlets that they will celebrate the occasion on a limited scale due to the COVID-19 situation.
Jahir Alim, son of Abdul Alim, told the press: “We will not arrange any programmes to celebrate my father’s anniversary of birth this year as the Covid situation is worsening. We will place floral wreaths on his grave at Banani Graveyard in the morning. Different TV channels will air special programmes marking his birth anniversary.”
Alim was born on July 27, 1931, in Talibpur village in Murshidabad, West Bengal of British India. He was fascinated by music at an early age.
His music lessons started with a local instructor named Syed Golam Ali and he gained fame as a singer in his locality during his teenage years while still in elementary school.
Later on, he went to Kolkata and became acquainted with folk singer Abbasuddin Ahmed and poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Alim also took lessons in folk music as well as classical music from musicians like Bedaruddin Ahmad, Ustad Mohammad Hossain Khasru, Momtaz Ali Khan, Abdul Latif, Kanailal Shil, Abdul Halim Chowdhury and others.
After 1948, Abdul Alim decided to get settled in Dhaka.
Alim, a popular radio and television singer based in Dhaka, recorded over 300 gramophone records and sang playbacks in over 100 films.
He even recorded the songs for the first film to be produced in the then East Pakistan called ‘Mukh O Mukhosh.’
The folk legend received numerous awards in his lifetime. He was posthumously awarded the Ekushey Padak, the second-highest civilian award in Bangladesh, in 1977 and Independence Award in 1997.
He won the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in 1975 for playback in the classic film 'Sujan Sakhi.'
Alim passed away on September 5, 1974 in Dhaka.
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