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The Romantic singer Sailen Mukherjee had remained unsung.


The Romantic singer Sailen Mukherjee had remained unsung.

The 50s and 60s are considered to be the golden age of Bengali music. Singers of different style and classical background had glorified Bengali music including male singers like Manobendra Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Shyamal Mitra, Hemanta Mukherjee, Dhananjoy Bhattacharya, and female singers like Sandhya Mukherjee, Geeta Dutt, Shipra Bose, Ila Bose and others.

Sailen Mukherjee appeared in Bengali musical arena during that time. Some of his basic discs had been extremely romantic. His song “dar chop chop ko” takes the listeners to paradise with the background of boat travelling across river Ganges. His song “chander alloy rater pakhi” is equally romantic. The use of the piano in the romantic songs of Sailen Mukherjee requires special mention.

He was brilliant in his song “betha Jodi pao tobu jeno”. The song has slow beat to suit the mood created by the lyrics. His fast number “e mon amar jano” had been very popular in the 60s. The other song which require special mention include “ei shur hrihaye charalo”. Sailen Mukherjee gave life to epic poet Satyendranath Dutta’s brilliant poetry “jhorna jhorna shundari jhorna”. The tune of the song had balanced the words written by the legendary poet and expresses the flow of water of spring. The other landmark songs of Sailen Mukherjee included "eto je shonai gaan", "tomar moner ei prante", "aji oi akash pare", "tomay dekhechi koto rupe kotobar", etc.

Sailen Mukherjee sang two songs to address the women of Bengal including “ogo lojjaboti” and “priyo bandhabi”. The shy representation of Bengali women had been expressed by Sailen Mukherjee.

Sailen Mukherjee had given immortal music to another singer of golden age namely Manobendra Mukherjee. One of the most romantic songs included “tumi thako ami jai”. The song of Manobendra Mukherjee composed by Sailen Mukherjee which stormed Bengal in the late 50s included “bare bare ke jeno dake amare”. Sailen Mukherjee’s other composition for Manobendra Mukherjee which was equally romantic included “malatire sune jete hoyeche tumi kotodur”.

Sailen Mukherjee romantic tunes to female singers of the golden age as well. One of his romantic number composed for Alpone Banerjee included “bole chile tumi gaan shonabe sei ashae din guni”. His romantic composed for Bani Ghoshal namely “je phool bidayer pothe nirobe jhoriya jae” flabbergasted the bengalies. His romantic tune composed for Sujata Chakravarty namely “Jodi jaano e premer nei kono khoy” also stormed Bengal in the early 60s.

Sailen Mukherjee did not get a scope of composing music for many Bengali films as the film arena was dominated by Manobendra Mukherjee, Hemanta Mukherjee, Shyamal Mitra and others. Even then Bengal cannot forget and ignore the contribution of Sailen Mukherjee during the golden age who always remained unsung and unrecognized. His songs and compositions should be preserved and restored.