Andrew Kishore laid to rest

Renowned singer and one of the most recognisable playback voices, Andrew Kishore, was laid to eternal rest at Rajshahi City Church's cemetery around noon today.

Earlier in the morning, hundreds of his fans and relatives attended his funeral at the church with flowers in hand.

After the funeral, Andrew Kishore's coffin was kept at a stage set up at the church premises where a cross section of people placed wreaths to pay their last homage to their favourite singer.

One of Kishore's last wishes was to have his coffin kept at Rajshahi University's Central Shaheed Minar and Rajshahi Government College premises for his fans but authorities of the institutions expressed their inability to ensure proper health rules during possible gathering amid the coronavirus situation.

Kishore, eight-time National Film Award-winning playback singer, was flown to Singapore in September last year when he fell sick and was diagnosed with cancer in his intestines.

After nine months of treatment, his cancer kept reappearing and he was flown back to the country on June 11. He was flown to Rajshahi on June 20.

On July 6 evening, Andrew Kishore passed away while staying with his wife Lipika Andrew at the residence of his elder sister Dr Shikha Biswas.

Kishore's body was kept at the mortuary of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital until his son Joy Andew Soptok and daughter Minim Andrew Songya reached Rajshahi from Australia to attend his funeral.

Soptok reached Rajshahi on July 9 while Songya on July 13.

Hundreds of fans and relatives of Andrew Kishore attend his funeral at Rajshahi City Church with flowers in hand around noon on Wednesday, July 15, 2020. Photo: Collected

Apart from family members and relatives, artists arrived from across the country to pay last respects.  

People from different professions who loved Kishore for his popular songs also paid tributes to him.

Among others, Rajshahi city Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, Rajshahi lawmaker Fazle Hossain Badsha, lyricist Ethun Babu and Bangladesh film artists' association general secretary Zahed Khan were present at the funeral.

Around 11:30am, his body was taken to the graveyard for burial.