Singer Sabita Chowdhury passes away

Eminent singer Sabita Chowdhury, the widow of legendary music composer Salil Chowdhury, died at her South Kolkata residence on Thursday.

She was 72 and is survived by two sons and two daughters. She was suffering from lung and thyroid cancer which was detected in January. Her mortal remains were kept at Rabindra Sadan in the afternoon for the music lovers to pay their last respects. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and Indranil Sen, Minister of State Information and Cultural Affairs department and Tourism also went to pay their last respects. While addressing a gathering at the Police Lines in East Burdwan, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences to the bereaved family. She said that she also had a word with Chowdhury's daughter Antara Chowdhury.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condoled Chowdhury's demise. "Saddened at the passing of popular singer Sabita Chowdhury. My condolences to her family, friends and fans," Banerjee tweeted.

Married to one of the greatest composer of Indian music Salil Chowdhury, Sabita Chowdhury made a deep impression as a singer on her own right.

Because of her unique style of singing, many of her Bengali songs have retained their charm among the public through the decades. The songs like Halud Gander Phool de ene de and O bou kotha bole pakhi ar dakis na are still popular and are sung at musical soirees by the singers of this generation. She also did playback for a number of Bengali and Hindi films. Music composer Debojyoti Misra said: "She was like my mother."

Chowdhury, who had been actively involved with the Salil Chowdhury Foundation to preserve his songs, had rendered many popular songs in Bengali and Hindi.