KUSHTIA, Sept 7: Kangalini Sufia, a well-known folk singer, has a social mission of conveying the hard reality of the downtrodden and underprivileged women through her songs.
the common themes of her songs are inequality, oppression and exploitation that women face everyday.
The artiste, now 55, was born at Ramdia Village of greater Faridpur District. She belonged to an impoverished Hindu family. Her father was Khokon Halder and mother Tulu Halder.
As a young girl, she stood apart from her peers, as she wanted to sing constantly. At the age of 14 or 15, she began singing at village functions and was received with resounding applause. She married Sudhir Halder. Three years after the Liberation War, she converted to Islam and took on the name Sufia Khatun.
Sufia made her stage appearance with her unique style though she initially emulated the well-known Ustad Halim Boyati and Aynal Boyati of Faridpur.
Mustafa Monwar, former DG of Shilpakala Academy, gave her name "Kangalini Sufia" and she later attained fame with this name across the country.
Kangalini Sufia is a regular artiste of Bangladesh Betar and BTV as well as various private channels. Apart from Bangladesh, she performed in UK, South Korea, Qatar, Italy, Hong Kong, US, Thailand, China and India.
She usually performs with a five-member troupe that includes Baul Jahangir, Baul Mander Fakir, Pushpo (Sufia's sister), Chumki Kangalini (Sufia's granddaughter) and Bilkis Banu.
Sufia's second husband, Baul Sekom is a dotara player and lives in London where he works.
Though she does not have any academic knowledge on music, she has acquired knowledge on music as rituals from his gurus. While singing, she plays her Ektara and moves the audience.
Once in an interview with this correspondent, Kangalini Sufia said, "To me music is devotion. It's not myself but my soul sings, where my murshid (guide) lives."
She also said, "I am not old. A singer cannot be old. I live with my voice. I sing from my heart to be closure to God. My age does not change anything for me."
Sufia has some volumes of songs to her credit, the most popular ones being "Narir kachhe keu jaiyo na," "Nari kul-e jonmo nia theklam bhison dai," "Bandhu bichched," "Antokatha," "Poran-er bandhob re" and "Konba pothey Nitaigonj-e jai." Laser Vision, Soundtec, Sangeeta, Concord are the studios that have released her albums. She has also done playback for three films: "Darodi Shatru," "Agun" and "Raj Shinghashon."
Sufia expressed her gratitude to both the Premier Sheikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia and well wishers for extending support to her when she was laid low by an illness.
In conclusion, Kangalini Sufia said, "I'm grateful to my audience for their constant support and appreciation; I am also indebted to those who have given me the opportunity to sing on stage."
She also said "I may not have become rich, but I have earned a lot of love, and I am happy with it. I just want to express about folk sing to people. That is enough for me. I do not want anything else in life.
