Interview with Nasima Shaheen

With her commitment and devotion to her craft, Nasima Shaheen has carved a niche for herself as an accomplished Nazrul Sangeet and adhunik singer. After successfully completing courses in Nazrul Sangeet and classical music from music school Chhayanaut in 1988, Shaheen started her professional life as a teacher (of Nazrul Sangeet) at the institution in 1990. Shaheen is an enlisted singer of both Bangladesh Betar (radio) and Bangladesh Television.

Solo albums featuring Shaheen released so far are: “Pathik Eshechho Naki” (2002), a collection of Nazrul songs; “Ke Tumi Amarey Dako” (2003), a collection of old Bangla songs; “Shanjher Pakhira” (2006), a collection of Nazrul songs; “Akashey Bhorer Tara” (2007), a collection of Nazrul songs and “Keno Phirey Geley” (2009), a collection of adhunik songs.

The last album was launched both in Bangladesh and Kolkata, India. The album features 12 adhunik songs. Eight of the songs have been composed by Kolkata musicians, while Dhaka composers have done the rest.

Eminent lyricists K.G. Mostafa and Mohammad Rafiquzzaman have penned the songs featured in the album. Eminent music personalities of Kolkata, including Jatileshwar Mukhopadhyay, Abhijit Bandopadhyay, Atanu Chakrobarty and Srikant Acharya have written some of the songs. “Srikant is one of my favourite singers. When he agreed to write a song for me, I was overwhelmed,” said Shaheen.

Though she is a distinguished Nazrul singer, Shaheen is also comfortable rendering songs belonging to other genres. “Apart from Nazrul, I’ve sang adhunik songs since childhood. I’d like to continue pursuing both genres,” said Shaheen.

As a teacher at Chhayanaut, Shaheen finds many inspirational aspects of practicing Nazrul Sangeet. She is determined to teach Nazrul Sangeet in the accurate way. She said, “There are confusions regarding the authenticity of some Nazrul Sangeet ’swaralipi’ (notations). However, at Chhayanaut, we always try to go with the original/authentic swaralipi.”

At present, Shaheen finds a positive change regarding Nazrul Sangeet as music students are becoming more interested in learning songs of our National Poet. “Not that long ago, majority of the students enrolling in Chhayanaut took the Rabindra Sangeet course. Gradually this trend is changing and more students are now keen on Nazrul and his songs,” said Shaheen.

Shaheen is a regular performer at Chhayanaut but she understands the need to promote young, emerging talents. “We should encourage young talents. It’d be nice if veteran artistes sometimes decide to let young singers/musicians perform in their slots,” said Shaheen.

Shaheen wants to continue rendering and recording memorable songs, regardless of the genre. Her plans also include an album featuring songs of the pancho kobi (Tagore, Nazrul, DL Roy, Rajnikant and Atul Prasad).

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