Interview with Nancy

The song ‘Didha’ from the soundtrack of the film 3rd Person Singular Number, appeared to have struck quite a chord with young listeners. In a short span of time, its appeal spread like a rumour, being played in music stores, aired on FM radio and of course, set as the caller tune by many a mobile phone user. Composed by Habib and featuring Nancy, the intrigue with the song has to be noted as a vital element in drawing cinema-goers to Farooki’s film.

And Nancy, who has lent her voice to the song that deals with the universal topic of ‘confusion’ that human beings tend to suffer from every now and then, seems to have reached the vertex of fame overnight on the back of it.

Surprisingly enough, her personal traits are diametrically opposite to the splendour of her songs, voice and indeed her name. She leads a very simple life that would surprise most of her fans.

Jeans and fatuas for instance does not find its way in her wardrobe, neither does she have much time for dancing with her hips swaying during shows and perhaps most notably, Nancy does not fuse English or Hindi in her predominantly Bangla diction, like most pop singers seem to. Although her simplicity has come at the expense of having to stomach a few insults at times, nothing seems to be able to sway her from her set path.

Nazmun Munir Nancy was born on December 13, 1987. Her father, Naimul Hoque, deputy director of the Defence Audit Directorate and mother Josna Hoque, a social worker both have high hopes about Nancy excelling in whatever field she chooses to ply in.

‘While we lived in Faridpur, my mother wanted to be a singer and take lessons on music. One day, when my father came to know of the matter, he brought a music teacher home and my mother started taking lessons from the local teacher, Tarapada Das,’ she said.

When Nancy was about five years old, she also began taking lessons on classical and Nazrul from Tarapada Das and later, when the family moved to Netrokona, she took lessons from Gopal Dutta. Nancy did a five-year course on song and dance at the local branch of Shilpakala Academy and then at the local unit of Bangladesh Udichi Shilpi Gosthi for another five years.

Nancy’s turning point was a jingle for Meril beauty soap. Before coming to Dhaka, her family arranged a familial occasion in their house in Netrokona which popular singer Ferdous Wahid happened to attend.

‘I sang a song in his presence during the gathering and later, when his son Habib Wahid, needed of female vocalist for a jingle for a television commercial, Ferdous Wahid told Habib about me, that I was a good singer and he could use my voice in his work,’ said Nancy, who subsequently worked in that project.

Then Mostofa Sarwar Farooki started working on the film Third Person Singular Number and the song Didha was composed. Farooki wanted Nancy to lend her voice to the song and the rest is history.

She has bagged many a prize at different music competitions. In the year 2000, she stood first in the category comprising students of high school and she received the prize from the hands of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a National Education Week function at Osmani Memorial Auditorium. She believed it to have been a great inspiration in helping her move forward.

Again, in the years 1999, 2000 and in 2001, she bagged prizes at National Education Week programmes.

She became an enlisted artiste at Bangladesh Betar in 2002 as a Nazrul, modern and folk song singer in C-Grade and began performing for BTV in several programmes, including Saptaya Dinga and Jiban Bangladesh Maran Bangladesh till 2005.

Nancy had always been a bright student, standing first from class one to class ten. ‘But I was very sad because I could not acquire an A+ in my higher secondary examination,’ she said.

She has been married to her husband, a businessman since 2006 and has a three-year- old baby girl named Rodela.

Nancy is currently engaged in her stage performances and playbacks for the film ‘Speed’, ‘Bailey Road’, ‘Love 21’.

‘Now I have the desire to play a role in Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s drama. He can represent a character exactly how he or she is seen in reality. Not that I will act professionally in dramas though, as I want to persist with my musical career.’

‘I have another plan and that involves dancing. Since I took lessons on classical dance for many years during my childhood, I want to present my dance performances soon and release a CD with Nazrul songs,’ she concluded.

Ariful Islam Mithu

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