Farida Parveen brings Lalon to Delhi

As Delhi groaned under the scorching heat of early June, the first weekend of June (2 and 3) provided a few hours of relief as Farida Parveen, one of the top practitioners of Lalon geeti, sang the mystic poet's songs at two separate functions at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, official residence of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, and India International Centre, a cultural hub of the Indian capital.  

Mukherjee received the first copies of book “Lalan Shah Fakir Ke Geet” written in Hindi by Professor Muchkund Dubey, former High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh in the late 1980s, and a DVD of selected songs of Lalon on June 3 at the auditorium at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Speaking on the occasion, the Indian President congratulated Dubey for his pioneering work and for giving an opportunity to recognise and pay tribute to Fakir Lalan Shah. He also congratulated India's Sahitya Akademi for publishing the book and Indian Council for Cultural Relations for supporting the project of producing a DVD containing the Hindi translation of Lalon's songs done by Dubey and sung by Farida Parveen. 

He expressed the hope that the translation and musical rendering of Lalon songs into Hindi would contribute in an unprecedented way to popularising the incomparable compositions in all parts of India.

Mukherjee said “Rabindranath Tagore was the first to publish a significant number of songs of Lalon and played a central role in bringing his compositions to a wider audience. Today, Lalon geeti is in the mainstream of folk music in Bangladesh.”

Bangladesh's Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, also present on the occasion, said the launch of the Hindi translation of Lalon's poems and songs marks a “new historic bridge of friendship between India and Bangladesh”. He said the works need to reach more and more souls as spreading of Lalon songs in Hindi begins “a new era of   a secular subcontinent, free from terrorism and discrimination.”

 Among others present at the programme at the Rashtrapati Bhavan were Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman, Chairman of Bangla Academy Shamsuzzaman Khan and Bangladeshi High Commissioner to India, Syed Muazzem Ali.

Barely 24 hours before the event at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Farida Parveen and flautist Gazi Abdul Hakim performed for about 90 minutes at the Multipurpose Hall of India International Centre on June 2, mesmerising an audience of about 300 people.

Farida Parveen sang eight songs of Lalon in Bangla and Hindi (translated by Professor Dubey) alternatively. She began by belting out “Paarey Loyey Jao Amaye” in Bangla which was followed by Hindi rendering of the hugely-popular “Barir Kachey Arshinagar.”   

Among the other songs by Farida Parveen were “Pakhi Kokhon Jani Urey Jaye” (in Bangla), Hindi versions of “Milon Hobe Koto Din-e” and “Khanchar Bhitor Ochin Pakhi”.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Professor Dubey, a former Foreign Secretary of India, said his interest in Lalon as a “songster, poet and sadhak” was ignited when he was posted in New York during his career as an Indian diplomat and grew when he was posted in Dhaka.