Rezwana Choudhury Bannya

Rezwana Choudhury Bannya

Bannya performing in Long Island, NY, USA (April 2012).
Background information
Native name রেজওয়ানা চৌধুরী বন্যা
Born January 13 [1]
Rangpur, Bangladesh [1]
Genres Rabindra Sangeet
Occupation(s) singer, associate professor[2]
Instruments vocal, harmonium, esraj
Website www.rezwanabannya.com

Rezwana Choudhury Bannya is a Bangladeshi singer. She is an exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, the songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore. She has won several major awards for the genre.

Early life

Rezwana was born in Rangpur, Bangladesh to her parents Mazharuddin Khan and Ismat Ara Khan.[3] Since her childhood, she had been attracted to music which quickly grew into a passion with the encouragement and help of her parents. Her early singing lessons started with her uncle Abdul Ali that continued later under the tutelage of Sanjita Khatun and Atiqul Islam at Chhayanat 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 after completion of her schooling. 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 Santiniketan, the university that was founded by Tagore himself on his philosophy of complete natural learning. Her true love for Rabindrasangeet started at Santiniketan and only became deeper by the days under the loving care of all of her gurus such as Kanika Bandyopadhyay (affectionately known as Mohordi), Nilima Sen, Shoilajaranjan Mazumdar, Santidev Ghosh, Gora Sarbadhikary, Manju Bandyopadhyay and Asesh Bandyopadhyay.

It was Mohordi who infused the true love for Rabindrasangeet in her by taking her under her loving and nurturing care. Rezwana honestly confesses that everything that she has achieved today is because of her; Mohordi was indeed the guiding beacon in her life, her true guru:-the friend, philosopher, and guide. Her relationship with Mohordi is beyond the traditional guru-shishya relationship. It is something very special that defies description and can only be in the feelings inside Rezwana's heart.

Career

Bannya performing to commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore in Kolkata (May 2011).

Bannya is currently an associate professor in the Department of Music at the University of Dhaka.[2] She also founded Shurer Dhara in 1992, a school for learning music in Dhaka. [4]

Shurer Dhara

Advised and inspired by Mohordi, Rezwana took the bold step of opening “Shurer Dhara”, a music school, in 1992 with the vision of carrying out the guru-shishya parampara of Santiniketan style of Rabindra Sangeet in Bangladesh. It was indeed a challenging endeavor and combined with her professional career, it kept her busy in every moment of her life.

Sruti Gitobitan

In 2010, in order to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, she brought out a complete audio version of Gitobitan, called Sruti Gitobitan.

Awards

Bannya was awarded:

Albums


See also

References

  1. 1 2 Bannya's official website
  2. 1 2 The University of Dhaka, Department of Music
  3. ↑ "সংগীত শিল্পী রেজওয়ানা চৌধুরী বন্যার মায়ের মৃত্যু". bdnews24.com. March 31, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Rezwana Choudhury Bannya | Most Popular Bangladeshi Rabindra Sangeet Singer". bikkhato.com. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Rezwana Choudhury Bannya awarded, 1 October 2011
  6. ↑ "বন্যাকে 'সংগীত সম্মান পুরস্কার'". Prothom Alo. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
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