Singer Jatileswar Mukhopadhyay passes away at 83, CM condoles death

Kolkata: Music composer and singer Jatileswar Mukhopadhyay died at a private hospital in Kolkata on Friday. He was 83 and is survived by his wife and a daughter.

Condoling his death Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted "Saddened at the demise of veteran singer Jatileswar Mukhopadhyay. A big loss to the world of music. I wished him on his birthday only a week ago. Very sad. Condolences to his family."

Mukhopadhyay was admitted to the hospital with age-related ailments. His condition became critical after kidney failure. His mortal remains will be kept at Rabindra Sadan on Friday where singers and his admirers will pay their last respect. He will be cremated later during the day.

Born on December 13, 1934 in Chinsurah, Mukhopadhyay graduated from Chinsurah College. He took lessons in classical music for nearly 10 years from Satinath Mukhopadhyay. He also took training from famous Hindusthani classical vocalist Chinmoy Lahiri.

Badhu Amar Chokhe was the first hit song composed and sung by him in 1968. His first record was Ekti Rangin Phool which was released in 1963. He had worked with several musical greats like Sudhin Dasgupta, Dilip Mukherjee, Subhas Mukherjee and others. Some of his popular songs are Emon shokal, Tomar sange dekha na hole, Keu bole agun. Eminent singers like Banashree Sengupta, Pintu Bhattacharya, Sriradha Bandyopadhyay, Ajoy Chakraborty had sung many of his compositions.

Mukhopadhyay got the best music director award for feature film Durian, Nilkantha and Nati Binodini. He was a talented music teacher and his teaching career spanned for more than 50 years. He was loved and respected by his students for his simplicity and humility. Bestowed with subtle humour, he always encouraged new-comers. He was a disciplinarian and a perfectionist and the artistes, both seniors and juniors, could not leave the sound studio unless he okayed a song. Despite that, he was widely loved by all.