KUSHTIA, July 7: Despite suffering from multiple complications, including throat ache, kidney disease, irregularities of blood circulation to the brain, and heart problems, noted folksinger Kangalini Sufia wishes to sing again.
Kangalini Sufia, a well-known folksinger, has a social mission to convey the hard reality of the downtrodden and underprivileged women through her songs. Her common themes are inequality, oppression and exploitation that women face every day.
The artiste, now 55, was born at Ramdia Village of Rajbari District. Hailing from an impoverished Hindu family, her father was Khokon Halder and mother Tulu Halder. Now she is living in Kushtia beside Lalon Shah Majar at Cheuria.
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 the name of 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, the former director general of Shilpakala Academy, christened her as "Kangalini Sufia", and later she attained fame with this name across the country.
Kangalini Sufia is a regular artiste of Bangladesh Betar and Bangladesh Television as well as various private channels. Apart from Bangladesh, she has performed in the 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.
Kangalini Sufia has received around 30 national awards, including the Shilpakala Padak in 2017. She also has 10 international awards to her credit.
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, rather she has acquired knowledge on music as rituals from her gurus. While singing, she plays her ektara and moves the audience.
While talking with this correspondent recently, 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 get close 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.
