Guwahati: The renowned Assamese singer, Bhupen Hazarika, popularly known as "Sudankantha", was born on September 8, in the year 1926, in Assam. He is the voice behind the popular Assamese songs Bistirno Parore,' 'Moi Eti Jajabor,' 'Ganga Mur Maa,' and 'Bimurto Mur Nixati Jen', 'Manuhe Manuhor Babe', 'Akaxi Ganga Bisora Nai' took Assamese songs to the world stage is known by everybody.
On September 8, 2022, Google honoured Hazarika with a Google Doodle to mark his 96th birth anniversary. On the occasion of his birth anniversary, let us look at some interesting facts about the multi-faceted genius
1. Bhupen Hazarika was the oldest of his ten siblings and the veteran singer sang his first song at the age of 10.
2. He worked at All India Radio, Guwahati where he won a scholarship from Columbia University and set sail for New York in 1949 where he earned a Ph.D. (1952) on his thesis "Proposals for Preparing India's Basic Education to use Audio-Visual Techniques in Adult Education". ) and also received Lisle Fellowship from Chicago University, USA.
3. He also served as a teacher at Gauhati University. It is worth saying that he was not only a notable singer but also an intellectual.
4. Also, being the lone winner of the highest honor in Indian cinema in 1992 the Dada Saheb Phalke Award along with the Sangeet Ratna honor of the Sangeet Natak Akademi (2009) from Assam which was conferred to him for his lifetime contributions to the Indian cinema and music respectively.
5. He was one of the leading authors/poets of Assam and has more than 15 major books on short stories, essays, poems and children's rhymes to his credit.
6. The multi-talented personality also, served as the Secretary of the Reception Committee at the Third All Assam conference of IPTA. Later, he contested as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from the Guwahati constituency, persuaded by Chandan Mitra via Kalpana Lajmi which he lost to the Indian National Congress candidate Kirip Chaliha.
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