Sudakshina Sarma
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
A brief biography
July 3, 2023: The Indian Express
Noted singer Sudakshina Sarma was the younger sister of Assam’s icon Bhupen Hazarika.
Born as the fourth child in Assam’s musically-famed Hazarika family, Sarma began singing from an early age with her elder brother Bhupen Hazarika.
As a nine-year-old, she recorded four songs for gramophone records in Calcutta (now, Kolkata) under the supervision of Assam’s legendary cultural activist Bishnu Rava. She sang “E Joy Raghur Nandan” during Mahatma Gandhi’s last visit to the state in 1946 who blessed her, and asked her to never stop singing.
Following Gandhi’s death, Hazarika had composed “Prithibir Shirot bajrapat porile” (A sudden devastation strikes the world), which Sudakshina sang when his ashes were immersed in the River Brahmaputra at Sukreswar Ghat here.
She lent her voice to playback singing in several Assamese films, including ‘Maniram Dewan’, ‘Chikmik Bijuli’, ‘Parghat’, ‘Abooj Bedona’ and ‘Hepah’, among others.
Married to eminent singer Dilip Sarma in Kolkata, the couple were known for their proficiency in Rabindra Sangeet and had devoted their lives to the various forms of music, including folk, classical, light classical and modern.
Besides modern Assamese songs, the eminent singer lent her voice to various genres of musical heritage of the state, which include ‘Borgeet’, ‘Kamrupi’, ‘Goalparia’, ‘Bongeet’, ‘Biyanam’ and ‘Bihunam’.
The couple became close to Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), Assam Branch Secretary Hemango Biswas in the 50s and became its active members till the end.
The couple travelled across the state and beyond, singing songs of love, war, brotherhood and harmony.
The duo regularly held workshops on the songs written by Assam’s cultural icon Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, which are popularly known as ‘Jyoti Sangeet’.
The couple was jointly awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2002.
An acclaimed artist of All India Radio, Sudakshina Sarma continued to teach music to children till a few years ago before she suffered from several old-age-related ailments, including dementia.
