::: Star Insight :::

She
From Mymensingh

Honouring Professor Sumita Naha

The eminent Tagore Artiste Prof Sumita Naha was commemorated on 22 May at the Mymensingh Press Club for her life long contributions to Tagore songs.

.........................................................................................
Aminul Islam

Professor Sumita Naha

A function was organized to accord Professor Sumita Naha on the occasion of the 10th centennial of Poet and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore at the Mymensingh Press Club on 22 May 2011. The entire programme was conducted by Sultan Uddin Khan, with Mymensingh's Deputy Commissioner Lokman Hossain Miah chairing a discussion session afterwards joined by Rabindra researcher Professor Monjurul Alam Champak from the Bangladesh Agricultural University, Prof Atiqur Rahman, Club Vice-president M A Matin and Secretary Ataul Karim Khokon.

Sumita Naha was handed with a felicitation letter and a crest to properly show respect to the veteran artiste. The letter was read out by eminent literature expert Salim Hasan in front of the audience before it was handed over.

Sumita was termed as a great Tagore artiste by all the speakers present at the function. They were all happy to be a part of honoring the veteran singer at the press club auditorium. They all agreed upon her not only to have enlightened herself but also her audience and the cultural arena of the district through her talents. They carried on saying that artistes with classical backgrounds are rare to come upon these days. To portray the beautiful songs of our country it is important to have at least some basic knowledge of classical music. But that poses no problems for Sumita as her background is very rich and surrounded in the classical arts.

The function included performances of many songs by Tagore along with poetry recitation. Performers from Alokdhara Sangeet Budhayatan had participated in performing chorus and solo pieces. The poetry recitals were joined by Salim Hasan, Rubina Azad and Shamimatus Sabah Mugdha.

Professor Sumita Naha was born in 1948 to parents late Dr. Sudish Hoom Roy and Srimoti Geeta Hoom Roy. She completed her SSC and HSC from Mohakhali Girls High School and Govt. Muminunnesa College in 1963 and 1965 respectively. She went on to pursue higher degrees and achieved her Honors in Bengali Language in 1968 from the Government Ananda Mohan College and she pursued her masters in the same field in 1969 from Dhaka University.

She was involved in music from a very early, but even then she considers herself a relentless learner of different parts of music, even after her retirement since 2006. The cultural background of her family had paved her way as she was apprenticed by the great maestro Ustad Mithun Dey. Sumita Naha is enlisted with Bangladesh Betar and BTV as an upper grade artiste of classical music and Rabindra Sangeet.