Bhupen Hazarika- Indian Male Playback Singer of India

Personal life and education

Bhupen Hazarika was born in Sadiya, Assam. A child prodigy, he wrote and sang his first song at the age of 10 in the first ever Assamese film Jyoti Prasad Agarwala's Joymoti and worked for the second Assamese film, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala's Indramalati, in 1939 when he was 12 years old.

He completed his Intermediate Arts from Cotton College in 1942, and went on to Banaras Hindu University to complete his B.A. in 1944 and his M.A. in Political Science in 1946. He earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York in 1954, submitting a dissertation titled "Proposals for Preparing India's Basic Education to Use Audio-Visual Techniques in Adult Education". He was the president of the "Asom Sahitya Sabha" in 1993.

Career

As a singer, he is known for his deep baritone voice and crisp diction; as a lyricist, he is known for poetic compositions and parables that touch on a wide range of themes ranging from the erotic to social and political commentary; and as a composer for his use of folk music with a touch of the contemporary. He also participated, first as a child artist, and later as a director, in the nascent Assamese film industry. He is immensely popular in the states of Assam, West Bengal as well as in neighbouring Bangladesh. In addition to his native Assamese, Hazarika has sung in many other Indic languages, including Bengali and Hindi, many of these the translation of originally assamese-composed songs.

Awards

National Award as the Best Regional Film (1975)

Padma Bhushan (2001)

Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1992)

Asom Ratna (2009)

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2009)

Conferred as the first Indian Music Director for best music Internationally for the film Rudaali at the Asia Pacific International Film Festival at Japan in 1993.

All India Critic Association Award for best performing folk artist (1979)

In February 2009, the All Assam Students Union felicitated Dr. hazarika by erecting a life size statue in the heart of Guwahati. It was unveiled by Dr. Hazarika himself.

Legacy

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika has been known to create a great impression on both Assamese and Indian cinema, literature and music. He has immense repute, touching on reverence in his native Assam, the other north-east states and the neighbouring state of West Bengal. He had created memorable national award winning Assamese films in the otherwise nascent Assamese film industry which somewhat revived it. His notable contributions to literature also made him the president of the Asom Sahitya Sabha. In music his balladic voice coupled with the themes of social consciousness as well as love have made his songs immortal. He is considered as one of he greatest contributor to Assamese culture after Sankardev and Jyoti Prasad Agarwala.