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Probal Chowdhury

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Probal Chowdhury
প্রবাল চৌধুরী
Born1947
Died17 October 2009(2009-10-17) (aged 61–62)
Chittagong, Bangladesh
NationalityBangladeshi
OccupationSinger
Known forSwadhin Bangla Betar Kendra broadcasts (1971)

Probal Chowdhury (Bengali: প্রবাল চৌধুরী; 1947–2009) was a Bangladeshi freedom fighter, playback singer and composer. He rendered several songs from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra during the Bangladesh Liberation War. After the war, he pursued his solo career in playback.

Early life

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Probal Chowdhury was born in 1947 in Chittagong district, Bengal Presidency, British India (now Bangladesh).[note 1] He was the sixth of Manmohan and Lilabati Chowdhury's ten children.[1]

Career

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He made his radio debut in 1966.[1] In 1971, during the Bangladesh Liberation War, the family evacuated to Calcutta, India. There he, his elder sister Kalyani Ghosh, and younger sister Uma Khan joined Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, the radio station of the Bangladesh government in exile, as singers.[4] In 2017, the government of Bangladesh recognized them as freedom fighters in acknowledgment of their contribution to the war effort.[5]

After the war he continued to sing on albums, radio, Bangladesh Television, and in films.[1][2] Among the songs he is remembered for are "Lokey jodi mondo koy sheto nohey porajoy",[1] "Ami dhonyo hoyechhi ogo dhonyo tomari premer jonyo" in the film Sona Bou,[2] and "Phuler bashor bhanglo jokhon" in the 1984 film Chandranath.[6]

Chowdhury retired in 2004 from Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation in Chittagong, where he was an assistant manager. He died in Chittagong on 17 October 2009.[1]

Notes

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  1. ^ Sources vary as to where in Chittagong district he was born, and when. At least one places his birth at Rahmatganj in Chittagong on 20 May,[1] others say he hailed from Binajuri village in what is now Raozan Upazila,[2] and was born on 25 August.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Alamgir, Nur Uddin (19 October 2009). "Probal Chowdhury: Singing of Liberation". The Daily Star.
  2. ^ a b c "Singer Probal Chowdhury dies". bdnews24.com. 17 October 2009.
  3. ^ শিল্পী প্রবাল চৌধুরী [Artist Probal Chowdhury]. Daily Azadi (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  4. ^ Habib, Ahsan (16 December 2006). "Kalyani Ghosh and her glory days". The Daily Star.
  5. ^ "58 more artists, cultural personalities recognised as freedom fighters". Dhaka Tribune. 11 July 2017.
  6. ^ Mallick, Sadya Afreen (22 February 2010). "The Art of Words". The Daily Star.